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What was your first electronic toy? |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Nov 2006
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What was your first electronic toy?
Seems most toys are electronic these days, but thinking back my first electronic toy in the 70's was a Chad Valley Sliderama projector with a Rupert Bear theme. It was a lurid orange projector which took three D cells and you pulled a strip of film through to tell a story in 6 frames. It was very dim and drank batteries.
Just for nostalgia I won an example on eBay this week and tried it out again after a 30 year gap. Well it was actually good fun and I had a laugh using it. Yes, the pictures were a bit blurry and the whole thing glowed orange but it was fun, and that is what a toy is about after all. So what was your first electronic toy? Was it any good? |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Jun 2016
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Probably a Bigtrak, or a Starbird Avenger
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#3 |
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It was called Merlin and it looked like a large red mobile phone.
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#4 |
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Quote:
It was called Merlin and it looked like a large red mobile phone.
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#5 |
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Grandstand Astro Wars.
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#6 |
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Aside from a BBC computer, I think it may have been an electronic chess set.
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#7 |
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Join Date: Aug 2005
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A dachshund that walked and yapped.
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#8 |
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Quote:
A dachshund that walked and yapped.
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#9 |
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Join Date: Jul 2007
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SIMON - the game where you had to copy the sequence of bleeps/lights that the game emitted.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-1970S...kAAOSwcBhWUHIM |
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#10 |
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Not sure which came first or perhaps I got them at the same time but it was either a Little Professor or a Major Morgan.
Little Professor looked like a calculator. It would ask you questions and you'd type in the answers. I loved it! Major Morgan had a touch screen with letters on it. When you pressed them they would produce sounds. I'd say they were musical notes but they didn't exactly sound great, a bit like a bad computer of the 80s. You got little colour-coded overlay cards that you'd slot in and it would teach to play nursery rhymes etc. |
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#11 |
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Scalextric - got a set in 1961 from my uncle who had been give the set to trail by the manufacturers. I recall it had 2 x Vanwall racing cars. My Dad gave it away when I was 14, as I didn't have time to play with it any more.
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#12 |
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: London
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Quote:
Seems most toys are electronic these days, but thinking back my first electronic toy in the 70's was a Chad Valley Sliderama projector with a Rupert Bear theme. It was a lurid orange projector which took three D cells and you pulled a strip of film through to tell a story in 6 frames. It was very dim and drank batteries.
Just for nostalgia I won an example on eBay this week and tried it out again after a 30 year gap. Well it was actually good fun and I had a laugh using it. Yes, the pictures were a bit blurry and the whole thing glowed orange but it was fun, and that is what a toy is about after all. So what was your first electronic toy? Was it any good? |
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#13 |
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Join Date: Nov 2007
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A little red transistor radio
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#14 |
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Nottingham
Posts: 5,537
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Can't remember what I had first so I'll list several I remember having in the late 70s / early 80s.
Digital Derby Auto Raceway Invader from Space Atari 2600 Electronic Battleship |
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#15 |
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Rabbit
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#16 |
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probably a sewing machine but whatever it was was most likely chad valley because my aunt worked there.
we used to get a fair bit of chad valley. |
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#17 |
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Tamagotchi
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#18 |
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: London
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Speak and Spell.
Had great fun typing in random letters and listening to the result. Wasn't aware of swear words at that age otherwise it probably would have confiscated really quickly. Game-wise one of those LCD handheld games where you just had to move a car from side to side to avoid obstacles. |
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#19 |
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Join Date: Feb 2013
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^^ Think mine was a Speak and Spell too
I did get a tape recorder/player sometime around the age of 9 or so too, not a stereo unit mind you just mono. |
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#20 |
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Join Date: May 2011
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Stylophone
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#21 |
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Location: London
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#22 |
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: London
Posts: 16,515
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Rolf Harris xylophone
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#23 |
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Join Date: Nov 2006
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Quote:
probably a sewing machine but whatever it was was most likely chad valley because my aunt worked there.
we used to get a fair bit of chad valley. |
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#24 |
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Join Date: Oct 2012
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I can remember having a speak and spell and a speak and maths..also had a Binatone games console but the only thing I can remember playing on it was the tennis thing that was two white lines and a white dot.
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#25 |
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Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: London Town
Posts: 141
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I was going to say "Operation" but was just reminded by another post that Xylophones existed so that was probably it.
I still have it somewhere, the big problem was the little white wire that connected the stylus, after a lot of use the kinks on the wire started to break Also had a space invaders hand held, basically just worked by illuminating pre-defined images and would light up and off as they marched across. Unfortunately Christmas Afternoon one of my nephews came to visit and he hammered the keys so heavily that the game was broken by Christmas Day Evening |
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