Monday, May 6, 2024

Compu-Ball!!!

...Sort of... But more on that later.

First, I apologize for missing last week! We've been having terrible allergy weather lately and mine turned into an upper respiratory infection. So, I slept right through the deadline! I'm sorry!

Now, this week we have an item that I picked up at a thrift store over ten years ago. It's a "Computer Football" game from 1969! Let's take a look!

This is a BIG game! And pretty heavy. It's made of that space age material called "wood."



Here's the cover without the tape measure...



Inside you find all the bits and pieces. 



The playing surface is actually pretty nice. All the plastic bits are moveable.



This is where the batteries go in the back.

 

The instructions explain the idea behind the game. There aren't actually any processors or integrated circuits here, just hard wired circuits that are either "On" or "Off" depending on the selected switches. Pretty primative, but not really as primative as the first computers.

I put batteries in it, but couldn't get lights. That being said, I'm not sure my batteries were good. There's really not much that can go wrong.



Here are the actual game rules. Although they seem complicated, I'm pretty sure that once you start playing it gets easier.



Computer Games made other games as well, or at least they had a catalog for them. I've only seen Football, and then only one other example at an estate sale.




If my game doesn't work, I'm out of luck. No one ever sent in the registration card!




 So there you have it! As primitive as it may be, it's better than electric football with it's players vibrating in silly circles all over the field! I guess I'll have to get fresh batteries and give it another whirl!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!


4 comments:

  1. I've never heard of these "Computer Games" before. And yeah, in 1969 they didn't have actual computers for home use yet; not until '75 or so.
    My older brother had (probably still has!) the vibrating football game, which was kind of fun (and funny) to watch, with the players moving around more or less randomly, as you noted.
    As you said, this game looks pretty complicated but probably wasn't. It takes a lot of words to describe a fairly simple procedure. I hope you get the thing working, just to see it 'in action'. Even if it isn't the batteries, it probably wouldn't be too difficult to see what the problem is. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey JB!
      Yeah, if I saw a vibrating electric foorball game at an estate sale, I'd probably buy it!
      I'd like to get this game up and running, but I have to remember to get batteries! Hopefully, I will!
      I've already looked at how the back comes off. I was hoping for screws, but no; they seem to be staples. Hopefully, I won't have to open it up, but I will! I will!!!
      I'll do an update once I figure it all out!

      Delete
  2. I thought this was going to be one of those vibrating football games, which we had. Dumbest game ever! Nothing happened! They'd just wiggle around! Maybe I didn't do it right, but I think it found its way into the closet forever.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, I had one too. I never could figure out what you were supposed to do with that little felt football!
      In retrospect, the randomly running players looked a lot like out frontyard football games. Maybe they were onto something...

      Delete

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