Sears Catalog

[gamme]

I noticed Atari Age was asking for scans of any Sears catalogs besides the one they had listed. I have one. The cover of it is a boy and his father playing Target Fun and catalog has written in a wavy, colorful font the words "FunMachine". It is dated 1978.

 

I was wondering if anyone else already has this one scanned somewhere. if not I will gladly scan it.

 

-gamme

[the 5th ghost]

I noticed Atari Age was asking for scans of any Sears catalogs besides the one they had listed. I have one. The cover of it is a boy and his father playing Target Fun and catalog has written in a wavy, colorful font the words "FunMachine". It is dated 1978.

 

I was wondering if anyone else already has this one scanned somewhere. if not I will gladly scan it.

 

-gamme

 

[gamme]

Thanks man. I went ahead and did the scans before I saw your reply so I'll post them anyway. Some of the text is hard to read in a few of the photos on those ones. I broke it up into 9 scans. Your scans are great because you get a sense of how the catalog is like a poster. These scans here can be used to read the text more easily.

[gamme]

P.S. If you look closely in that pic with the kid holding the Atari game, you'll notice some ancient language written on the game boxes in the background...likely another hidden Satanic message. I always knew video games were the devil.

 

[the 5th ghost]

Mine aren't scans, just pix using my camera.

 

Yep, the artwork is funny, especially how the kid and his dad are holding their controllers. Plus the fact that there is NO CARTRIDGE in the console! No wonder it was called the "Fun Machine", you didn't even need a cart to play!

 

I also like the "scatter shot" in Target Fun

 

I posted this catalog awhile ago here in the forum. At the time it was the 1st time people saw it; your's is the second, cool find!

Edited July 9, 2006 by the 5th ghost

[Paranoid]

P.S. If you look closely in that pic with the kid holding the Atari game, you'll notice some ancient language written on the game boxes in the background...likely another hidden Satanic message. I always knew video games were the devil.

 

That is actually the original language of the alien race that Robert Noyce, Gorden Moore and Andy Grove reverse engineered in founding Intel . It is well known that Jobs & Woz, Gates, H&P, and Bushnell were all initiates in a secret Silicon Valley society that was diviluged this information, along with how it would be used to ultimately enslave us all.

 

Man, those pictures take you back. They used to run Sears TeleGame ads in comic books, didn't they? Ones that used this kind of artwork. Soooooo seventies...

[Gabriel]

In the pic where dad and son are playing Target Fun, check out how they're holding the controllers.

 

Little Billy grips hard with his fist, and shakes. Look's like he's on the upstroke.

 

Dad is more into using his thumb and forefinger.

 

Neither one has any finger near the fire button, but that's OK, because they don't have the controllers plugged in anyway. Maybe they're wireless. That may be the case as lil' Billy is shaking his cannon and rapidly firing at ... well, whatever the hell is on the screen.

 

Then there's the other picture of Billy holding a cartridge from his collection. Look at the size of that thing! It must be Tank Plus for the Sears Tele-Neo-Geo. And look at his library! He's got at least 16 games! That would be damn impressive for the time, if they weren't all the same title.

[shadow460]

That's all ok, though. They must have had to stand on their heads in order to play Codebreaker.

[A.J. Franzman]

Yep, the artwork is funny, especially how the kid and his dad are holding their controllers. Plus the fact that there is NO CARTRIDGE in the console! No wonder it was called the "Fun Machine", you didn't even need a cart to play!

In the pic where dad and son are playing Target Fun, check out how they're holding the controllers.

 

Little Billy grips hard with his fist, and shakes. Look's like he's on the upstroke.

 

Dad is more into using his thumb and forefinger.

 

Neither one has any finger near the fire button, but that's OK, because they don't have the controllers plugged in anyway. Maybe they're wireless.

Also: Both joystick controllers are missing their rubber boots. The console Power switch is "off". There is no power cord to the console, or RF cord between the console and TV.

 

The missing cartridge in the console slot may not actually be a mistake - the VCS was originally going to include one built-in game ROM. It is very likely that this would have been "Target Fun" for the Sears version and "Combat" for the Atari version. You can see the provision for this built-in game on the motherboards of all six-switch units.

Edited July 10, 2006 by A.J. Franzman

[gamme]

In the pic where dad and son are playing Target Fun, check out how they're holding the controllers.

 

Little Billy grips hard with his fist, and shakes. Look's like he's on the upstroke.

 

Dad is more into using his thumb and forefinger.

 

This is likely Dad's first time playing, as he's looking at his son's face instead of the screen. He's probably thinking, "alright, this might be fun for 2 or 3 minutes but why did I just blow $200 on this????"

[the 5th ghost]

The missing cartridge in the console slot may not actually be a mistake - the VCS was originally going to include one built-in game ROM. It is very likely that this would have been "Target Fun" for the Sears version and "Combat" for the Atari version. You can see the provision for this built-in game on the motherboards of all six-switch units.

 

I highly doubt that since the same catalog shows the Target Fun cart, and cleary states that it is included and how to insert it into the console. Either the artist thought the cart *completely* inserted so the top of the cart was flush with the control panel, or it is just laziness on the part of the artist, which would also explain the orientation of the joysticks in the hands of the "gamers"

[the 5th ghost]

I'm also surprised that nobody mentioned the "excited" Basketball and Golf players under the "Animated Figures" caption

 

I love the little drawings used to illustrate the titles of each game. Somebody should make stickers or T-Shirts

[Paranoid]

Ok... are you guys SERIOUS?

 

The artist probably had never seen an actual 2600 in his life. He most likely got some promotional/stock photographs of a Telegames unit from Sears and was told, "We want a painting of a father and son sitting in front of a television using this computer to play TV games.

 

The Target Fun screenshot also is reused 3 times in this brochure. The score is the same, the screen image is the same...

 

Companies are a lot more careful about this stuff now, because of increased legislation on "Truth in Advertising", frivilious class action lawsuits, and consumers who are more saavy and less tolerant of these litle mistakes. This ad comes from a time when mom-and-pop grocers still existed and many people still had their milk delivered in the morning. It basically reflects an advertising paradigm that had existed since the 50s that has largely died out. This brochure shows a simple, all-American, wholesome experience. Sears was THE store of red-checkered table-cloth with Fried Chicken Mayberry picnic values. This ad predates toy commercials where the disclaimer, "Toy does not actually fly/walk/whatever" was necessary on a commercial.

 

Which is all part of the allure. Now any one of us could create a brochure that looks 100 times as professional and polished and print out a thousand copies in half an hour on our PC/Deskjet.

 

Looking at this ad makes me remember watching Electra-woman and Dynagirl and H.R. Puffenstuff on Saturday morning before riding my bike down to Spouse Rites to buy some Now and Laters, Hubba Bubba, and a comic book with my allowance money.

 

Look at the picture of the kid holding the cart. Look at the old fashioned steam engine train engine in the background that is a book-end. Kid at this age today are far more sophisticated. This is when Straw Hat Pizza and Olde Tyme Soda Fountain/Candy Store places were still around, and 50s serial westerns were still somewhat viable as adolescent entertainment on UHF stations (Think Lone Ranger... Roy Rogers, Howdy Doodie, the original Mickey Mouse club). Sears held onto this era of advertising, marketing, and traditional values a lot longer than most other retailers, too... which gave them an outdated, traditional feel that appealed to Senior Citizens but made them seem archiac and outdated to most consumers. That resulted in a huge shift in their approach to marketing in the late 80s and throughout the 90s, if anyone remembers, as they tried to redefine themselves as "The New Sears".

 

They had to, because all of the customers of the OLD Sears died.

Edited July 10, 2006 by Paranoid

[Gabriel]

I'm also surprised that nobody mentioned the "excited" Basketball and Golf players under the "Animated Figures" caption

 

 

They're ready to play!

[candiru]

The artist probably had never seen an actual 2600 in his life. He most likely got some promotional/stock photographs of a Telegames unit from Sears and was told, "We want a painting of a father and son sitting in front of a television using this computer to play TV games.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head right there.

 

Now any one of us could create a brochure that looks 100 times as professional and polished and print out a thousand copies in half an hour on our PC/Deskjet.

Sorry to go a little off-topic, but for this one, I've got to say that you must have an exceptional group people you associate with. On a daily basis I deal with our clients' ideas of what they *think* looks good....and trust me, their design sense ain't so great.

[Paranoid]

Sorry to go a little off-topic, but for this one, I've got to say that you must have an exceptional group people you associate with. On a daily basis I deal with our clients' ideas of what they *think* looks good....and trust me, their design sense ain't so great.

 

I was talking more in terms of our access to quality tools and materials required to put together a brochure like this.

 

Being able to actually put those resources together in a professional and asthetic manner is another matter entirely.

 

You've got to admit, the advent of desktop publishing has allowed some people who might never have known any better to discover that they've got more talent for this than people who worked for years in the industry. On the other hand, the same technology has established that almost EVERYONE else, regardless of what tools you give them, still needs a professional to get the job done right.

Edited July 10, 2006 by Paranoid

[A.J. Franzman]

[...] resulted in a huge shift in their approach to marketing in the late 80s and throughout the 90s, if anyone remembers, as they tried to redefine themselves as "The New Sears".

 

They had to, because all of the customers of the OLD Sears died.

Not quite all - I still miss the old Sears. Some vestiges of it yet remain, at least in the Sears and Craftsman brand products. AFAIK, their manuals still contain full exploded-view diagrams with part numbers so the home handyman can order them from his local Sears Service Center and do his own repairs. I rebuilt carburetors on my lawnmower and gas edger that way a few years ago. Unfortunately a design flaw and two over-expensive parts damaged by it have since led to disposal of the non-working edger, but the ~25 year old mower is still going strong. I resharpen the blade every year or two, and it's only about halfway worn out. I wonder if I'll have problems replacing it in another 25 years; maybe I should get a spare soon.

[Paranoid]

Well, even the Craftsman brand backed off on their generous warranty, didn't they? Of course, so did Rolls Royce.

 

I mean, in the past, if you bought a Craftsman tool, and drove off with it on the fender of your truck and lost it, they would give you a new one. Don't they have a "premium" line of Craftsman tools that offer this "classic" warranty service, but the regular Craftsman tools offer a much more modest warranty, now?

 

But yeah, your Lawnmower/Edger story sounds like the frugal crusty old WW-II rationing survivor Sears Customer's of old...

 

My Nephew is married to an English woman, and her father lived through the bombing of England by the Axis, and the rationing that went along with it. Evidently, to this day, if there is a loose thread on a coat or jacket, he'll rip it off and carefully wind it up and save it, saying, "You never know when such a thing might come in handy". They give him such a hard time about it. "Yes, if the Germans invade again, you'll be able to craft a defensive camo net for the house from all the jackets you've saved threads from over the years!"

[Ron Albanese]

To the essay writing guy: it seems like your a little down on "the Sears of old." What's that all about? Theirs is ultimately the most successful of the department store pardigm through the years (i.e. "one stop shop"), and you can still see its influence througout the industry. Target emulates much of the Sears of old (they now sell intruments, etc.), and Sears themselves have reverted to some of their old practices. In the late '80 early '90s, they pulled out electronics, etc. Now, they're back. They push the lifetime guarantees on Craftsman stuff. They rock out the home and garden ... everything goes in cycles .. and they sell those too, to ALIVE people!

 

Great scans! I have some Sears catalogs from '78-'79 where the 2600 gets major coverage ...

 

Just sayin,

 

Ron!

[Paranoid]

To the essay writing guy

 

 

Now I've been accused of flaming Sears!

 

(to the tune of Peace Sells)

 

I'm not down on Sears... I shop there... all the time...

Edited July 12, 2006 by Paranoid

[Ron Albanese]

Nah, not really flaming, just commenting. You posted it, and I read it! It was just that your essay just seemed a little funny and bizarre (ha ha), but definitely not "bazaar," as I wouldn't want to see you unfurl your viewpoints on those market places ...

 

Ron!

[Paranoid]

Heh. No problem. I just got a kick out of being called, "That Essay Writing Guy"... no confusing who you were talking about.

[ATARIPITBULL]

This is not a Sears catalog page, this comes out of and old Montgomery Wards catalog and what I find kind of funny is that they have a few games listed for sale that I would say are kind of hard to find like. Sorry the picture is kind of hard to see, but my camera does not take good close ups.

 

1) Incredible Hulk/ Players: 1 or 2/ Cat Num: 60T6476DP/ Price: $27.95.

 

2) Lord of the Rings: Do not order until Nov of 83/ Players ?/ Cat Num: 60T6502DP/ Price: $31.95

 

3) The Fall Guy/ Players 1/ Cat Num: 60T4404P/ Price: $6.95

 

They made it seem like the Hulk & Fall Guy were ready for sale.

 

[NovaXpress]

That's fantastic because this is a post-crash clearance sale. They probably had a prior catalog which announced Fall Guy before the cancellation. The new designer just copied the list to promoted the Fox liquidation.

 

The best are the G.A.M.E.S. ads from that era, they offered every game that had ever been announced. There are some real shockers to be found on their lists.

 

It just shows how far in advance this stuff had to be printed in the days before Kinkos. The Hulk and Octopussy were heavily advertised in many comics and magazines.

Edited July 13, 2006 by NovaXpress

[ATARIPITBULL]

That's true, but the Fall Guy for only $6.95, with that price it was a turd before it even came out.