This is a photograph of the inside of Coleco's Electronic Quarterback, illustrating the electronic components which make a hand held electronic game functional. According to H.J. Blumenthal in his book The Complete Guide To Electronic Games (Scarborough, Ontario: New American Library, 1981, pp.4-5), over 300 million electronic games were sold between 1976 and 1980. He views electronic games as an outgrowth of public interest in electronic calculators, digital watches, pocket language translators, videotext, digital sound, and personal computers.
He indicates that by 1981 previously conservative game manufacturers had moved into the forefront of the computer revolution by creating special-purpose portable computers for use in playing games. The following are examples of the many hand-held electronic games available on the market in the early 1980s, most of which are reviewed in Blumenthal's book.
The Museum collection includes Word Games, Space Games, Sport Games, Playing Card Games, Chess , and a Miscellaneous group. Here is a sample!
| Sensor & Lexor | Match Me | UFO Blaster |
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| Baseball | Superstar Football | Baseball |
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| Quaterback | Lucky Puck | Pinball |
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| Reader's Digest Q & A | Computer Gin | Chess |
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Last update March 12, 2010