Lytle 1

Donnie Lytle

ITGM 705

Professor Myers

1/16/2011

Art Review 1:

Mattel Electronics- Football

When thinking back to the classic handheld games of years passed, the Nintendo

Gameboy is sure to come to mind. However, in 1977, over a decade before Nintendo released

its famous Gameboy, Mattel Electronics debuted the widely popular handheld videogame,

Football1. Considered by Time Magazine to be one of “the 100 greatest and most influential

gadgets from 1923 to the present,” Football proved to be a highly successful and revolutionary

device that “set the stage for the portable gaming devices

that flooded the market in the early 1980s1.”

The gameplay in Football was fairly straightforward,

the player would use the directional buttons to move his

running back (depicted as a bright red LED blip) down the

field, zigzagging past the defenders (marked by dim LED

blips)1,2. The defensive team was programmed to be

constantly moving towards the running back, so the player

1. Peter Ha, “Mattel Electronics Football,” Time, October 25, 2010, accessed January 16, 2011,

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2023689_2023681_2023598,00.html.

2. Euphrates, “Handheld Football Games,” ToyNfo.com: The Vintage Toy Encyclopedia, 1996, accessed January 16,

2011, http://www.bigredtoybox.com/articles/fbindex.shtml.

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would have to out maneuver the computer’s defense3. If the player did not score by the fourth

down, they would have the option to kick (by pressing “K”) or to run the ball as normal4. When

kicking, the game would determine if the player was close enough for a field goal and would

choose the action accordingly4. Football also provided the player a status button, which would

show field position, down, and yards to

go for a first down; and a score button,

which would show the teams’ scores

and the time remaining5. The player

would start the game by choosing the

difficulty, either PRO 1 or PRO 2. PRO 1

being normal and PRO 2 being the faster

paced difficulty5.

Initially, Sears, being the product’s primary and only distributor, cut Football’s

production short, putting just 100,000 copies of the game in stores6. Using an initial sales-based

computer model, Sears projected that Football would be a flop6. However, after six months

their sales projection was proven to be way off the mark as demand for the game skyrocketed.

By February of 1978, Sears was producing up to 500,000 units per week to keep up with the

public’s demand6.

3. Mattel Electronic: Football Game Instructions (Hawthorne CA: Mattel Inc, 1977), 6.

4. Mattel Electronic: Football Game Instructions (Hawthorne CA: Mattel Inc, 1977), 3.

5. Mattel Electronic: Football Game Instructions (Hawthorne CA: Mattel Inc, 1977), 2.

6. Rik, “Mattel's Football (I) (1977, LED, 9 Volt, Model# 2024),” Hand Held Museum, 2000, accessed January 16,

2011, http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/FB.htm.

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Mattel went on to create Football 2, an uprgaded version of Football that allowed the

player pass the football instead of being limited to running7. In 2000 Mattel released Classic

Football, a nostalgic remake upgrading the screen from LED blips to LCD dots8. Football was also

made into a keychain game in 20018.

In today’s world of the PSP and Nintendo DS, a world filled with cutting edge graphics

and intricate story lines and game mechanics, it is easy to scoff at the simplicity and bulkiness

off this ‘outdated’ technology. Even lines from the instruction manual such as “Treat your

ELECTRONIC FOOTBALL GAME like a calculator” and “No TV set required” help to show this

device’s age9. However, games like Football with their simple, mechanic-based design were

truly ground breaking, paving the way for devices like the Gameboy, the Gamegear, the PSP,

and the DS.

7. Euphrates, “Handheld Football Games,” ToyNfo.com: The Vintage Toy Encyclopedia, 1996, accessed January 16,

2011, http://www.bigredtoybox.com/articles/fbindex.shtml.

8. Peter Ha, “Mattel Electronics Football,” Time, October 25, 2010, accessed January 16, 2011,

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2023689_2023681_2023598,00.html.

9. Mattel Electronic: Football Game Instructions (Hawthorne CA: Mattel Inc, 1977), 7.

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Bibliography

Euphrates. “Handheld Football Games.” ToyNfo.com: The Vintage Toy Encyclopedia, 1996. Accessed

January 16, 2011, http://www.bigredtoybox.com/articles/fbindex.shtml.

Ha, Peter. “Mattel Electronics Football.” Time, October 25, 2010. Accessed January 16, 2011,

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2023689_2023681_2023598,00.

html.

Mattel Electronic: Football Game Instructions Hawthorne CA: Mattel Inc, 1977.

Rik. “Mattel's Football (I) (1977, LED, 9 Volt, Model# 2024).” Hand Held Museum, 2000. Accessed

January 16, 2011, http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/FB.htm.

Images:

1.1 Vintage Mattel Electronics Football Game 1970s. http://www.etsy.com/listing/60838426/vintage-

mattel-electronics-football-game.

1.2 Mattel Electronics Football. http://videogameconsolelibrary.com/blogs/mg/?paged=3.