On this Turn the Table Tuesday Tom makes it more like a Gadget Warehouse Friday.
February 28, 2011 Post a Comment TTTT Tuesday, March 1st, 2011, Netcast 1297
For today’s Daily Giz Wiz Tom brought in something from his own collection of stuff he couldn’t part with. It’s his very own handheld Mattel Auto Race. I don’t own one of these “electronic marvels” of the past, and I never got to play with one. But Tom sent me a link to a great website where I got the info on the Mattel Auto Race that follows. The website has tons of info on all kinds of handheld games, so if you want to bring back memories of the past, be sure to visit them. Here’s their info on Mattel’s Auto Race: It was released in 1976, and was the first Mattel Electronics handheld game made available to the public (and is also the first ever all-electronic handheld, using no moving parts, just electronic components). Programmed by: Mark Lesser (a whopping 511 bytes of code!) (This game too easy for you? There's a speed control inside the game, it's like a little volume control. It's usually set right about in the middle, so you can make the game about twice as fast or twice as slow by moving this POT. Of course, you have to get those dang triangle screws out... :) Auto Race was released in two different box styles: The older (original) box was significantly larger than the second (smaller) version. The large version had the game packed in Styrofoam blocks, where the smaller version had the game packed in a plastic bubble-wrap bag. (Several of Mattel's earlier handhelds went through this change.) Some of them also have an A/C adapter port for powering the game. Auto Race was followed the much more popular Football, the game almost everyone thinks of when they think of the original Mattel line of electronic games.
Here’s where the photo and info above came from. It’s a great website for info on all sorts of handheld games:
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/AutoRace.htm
More Mattel Auto Race Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattel_Auto_Race
See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1297
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