Marx 1974 Mechanical Pong Tabletop

[Scooter83]

I came across this cool item today and wanted to share it with everyone here. After 38 yrs, most everything works on it. The light works ( the puck lights up ), the gears for the controls and scoring work, No chips cracks missing pieces of plastic on the field. Does have a missing batt cover but thats to be expected on something this old at a flea market.

 

Heres a little back round on this cool little unit ( from: http://www.grandoldtoys.com )

 

By 1974 the Marx Company was on its way out. It had been purchased two years earlier by Quaker Oats and in two years following it would be sold off in bankruptcy to a holding company. The same year was a turning point for the toy industry because it marked the beginning of the revolutionary home video market with the introduction of PONG.

 

To capitalize on this quickly growing market, Marx produced their own version of the super selling PONG....well, soft of. For a number of reasons, mostly financial, the Marx version of PONG did not use any digital technology. Contradictory to the current trend it was completely analog. In other words it was a battery operated mechanical PONG with gears and lights. It also was completely styrene plastic.

 

Since the toy was not a digital system which connected to a TV, Marx built their toy to resemble an entire television set complete with tube, screen and housing. It had no electronic components except for a motor and a light bulb. It used a delicately balanced cantilevered plastic lever tipped with a glowing light bulb. The bulb represented the tennis ball. A small battery powered motor moved plastic gears which, in turn, moved the position of the lever and the light bulb.

 

As the motor changed the position of the "ball", players controlling the paddle's would hit the bulb when it approached their side. The bulb would bounce off the paddle and return it in the opposite direction. If the lever made it past the paddle it would physically strike a bell signaling a goal. Score was kept manually with a rotating wheel on the top of the set. It couldn't have been more simple. It was also big, bulky, and difficult to move without breaking unless you reinserted the shipping bolt which locks in the cantilever mechanism. The bolt was the first thing to remove when it was unpacked for the first time and was probably the first thing thrown away.

 

The box for this toy looks very spectacular with staged color photography and caricature illustrations drawn by Mad Magazine's Jack Davis. It gave the toy a more polished appearance, but the problem was that inside the box was still an analog system. No wiring (except for the batteries), no electronic boards, no chips, no technology. A couple of gears and a well engineered system was all it took to make it possible, but it was not PONG.

 

Edited November 24, 2013 by Scooter83

[Austin]

Very cool! What does it look like when it's on?

[Scooter83]

a little white light is the puck and when working properly it bounces from one end of the screen to the other. On this unit the bracket for the gyroscope is broke so it needs some repair work but outside of that it lights up and should be fully functional after i get it fixed. Its cheaply made but at the same time its complicatedly made.

[fiddlepaddle]

I had one of those for several years and just sold it last year. It's a really cool thing to look at, especially if you take the screen off see how it works. Fragile, though, as the plastic is bound to dry out over time.

[darthkur]

I had one of these. Got it for an x-mass gift back in the 70's. No idea what happened to it though. Wish i still had it.

[schuwalker]

I have one of these as well.

 

The one I have is green though with stickers of a male and female tennis players 70's style on the faceplate.

[+save2600]

Love this kind of ingenious and creative tech!

[fiddlepaddle]

Regarding the fragility, when I got mine, the swing arm was cracked at the center where it swings. I just used plastic model glue to chemically melt it back together and it worked after that. I only used the thing a few times though because I expected it to break again with all that plastic banging and churning around inside. It became a look-but-don't-touch conversation piece, and that's why I ultimately sold it, since I prefer to keep things I can actually play with.