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What was your first red LED handheld (and other recollections)..


Keatah

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This is a great reality check for me. Thanks. I actually own the full size pinball game, so finding the handheld always seemed like a nice novelty to go along with it.

 

I can't stand the artwork on Raise the Devil tho... Just looks seriously ugly to me. I wish I could find a high quality scan of the Black Knight Entex plastic... I'm not above altering a Raise The Devil handheld if that's the only difference. I'd just need to get it reproduced on a transpancy and it would save me hundreds.

You and I think alike it is why I haven't just picked up Raise the Devil as it's ugly, ugly even by it's generation standards against other similar devices like the WIldFire pinball or others. It's just ugly, badly designed art over a nice concept which Black Knight paint make very appealing. I almost ended up owning that cabinet too 3 years back but the moron never got back to me as he kind of was a waffler and not really online savvy much which in turn had me find another badly listed gem I do have now which is a home used only Pinbot. I still wish I did get the other at times as it's almost as cruel but a lot less testy in places where the ball can foul up (vortex and drop gate.)

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Haha! Glad to know it's not just me (as far as the intolerably ugliness of Raise the Devil).

 

Hey I tell you what... If you or I find a really good scan of the face of the Entex Black Knight, let's get in contact and see if we can convent one.

 

Very cool on the Pinbot. My Black Knight was from an arcade placer I knew personally. He had bought it new... But years of service meant it needed a lot of work. Actually the whole back of the chest had dry rot from sitting in his (once flooded) garage for a decade or so. All detailing restoration work done lovingly by yours truly.

 

The best story I have about my particular machine is it was once said to have been placed in a Hells Angel's house which was frequently occupied by guys on speed. The placer said it was a great location because guys would stay up all night playing. It also sports a gigantic padlock and bar across the front of it, as good supporting evidence for his story.

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Hey, Raise the Devil looks a lot better than what I had.. Cosmic Pinball ordered from Sears catalog :lol:

Sears-CosmicPinball.jpg

 

 

Huh. I donno. While I admit Cosmic Pinball does look pretty sad, at least it has an inoffensive minimalist charm to it. Maybe almost deconstructionist, but that might be going a bit too deep.

 

And anyway, didn't know this existed. Thanks! I kinda have a thing for primitive pinball handhelds, but maybe that's because I love Wildfire so much.

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Question is though is it 100% just a re-shell of the exact same game, or are there other design differences.. e.g. sound, speed, gameplay, or whatnot. Guess it could be asked at the handheldmuseum forums for the people there who actually have it.

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  • 10 months later...

Sorry to piggyback off this topic, but this is the closest topic I could find for my inquiry {I'll likely start a new ASAP} 1st- these old Entex handhelds are the "coolest". Also, a bit obscure, it seems, and they've really been distracting me from my console play. BUT - does any kind soul know how to open Entex Spiders??? I really don't want to just break it open, but I'm about ready to. Thanks.

 

p.s. - by the way Captain, sorry I lost touch with you back there a ways, but how's that Wico Intellivision treating you?

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My first was the Tomy Digitial Diamond...

 

Tomy-DigitalDiamond.jpg

 

http://handheldmuseum.com/Tomy/Diamond.htm

 

What was cool about was I can still play the game w/o batteries since it was mechanical and I can still see the ball. A real good thing since my old man was real cheap about buying new batteries...

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does any kind soul know how to open Entex Spiders??? I really don't want to just break it open, but I'm about ready to. Thanks.

 

I don't have that but here's a pic of it open if you haven't seen it yet (from handheldmuseum.com) .. might offer some clues:

 

Entex-SpidersGuts.jpg

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p.s. - by the way Captain, sorry I lost touch with you back there a ways, but how's that Wico Intellivision treating you?

Hi jatari87! Nice to hear from you! I like the thing still, and am still really happy about it. Thank you! Actully playing a game with it tho is usually more challenging than using the stock disc controllers. It is stiff. What they say about that is true.

 

It's my go-to controller to hand to my young daughter (unplugged) when she wants to feel like shes playing the game with daddy.

 

I'm still looking for a second one. I should post that in the 'whats your irrational want?' thread.

 

Do I have anything to add to THIS thread right now? Um, lemme think. Not really...

 

Oh wait actually... Anyone know a method of "fixing" a Mattel Basketball handheld? A couple of the LEDs are out on mine in the playfield.

 

Fond memories of that one. My son likes it too, now. It might not have been my first red led game (or maybe it was), but it definitely dates far into the way back. Heh... And it's definitely HIS!

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This may be stretching the definition of "red LED handheld", but it was a handheld game and it did use red LEDs:

 

wCd2IE5.png

 

Strangely enough, I think that I received this fairly late in its life, or after it had gone out of production - I want to say that I got it somewhere around 1981, and I'm pretty sure that Touch Me was no longer being made by 1980.

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Well - Thanks all for the info on Spiders. The pic was a great help & Sly informed me that additional screws are under the Spider marquee as well {I hope/plan to get in there shortly}. Captain-my solution to that Basketball problem might be get a new game {just PM me if you want one-I got an extra that only needs its battery connector re-soldered} but, of course, that may be no fun {If you figure it out though, let me know, I've got a Tudor Football with some blown "pixels" that might be nice to fix}. And, on that note, to return to topic, mine was Football Electronic Game {apparently by Sears}. Many a night I laid there playing this thing after being sent to bed wondering what Santa Claus was thinking when he gave me this. It was lame even by the standards of the day, and its only real entertainment appeal was trying to score a touchdown in one play and trying to drain as much of a quarter as possible in said play. Fortunately, my friend {who obviously didn't buy his own batteries} would rent me his Coleco Electronic Quarterback for $1 a night. Needless to say - I don't remember who had the honor of throwing the battery away the next day.

post-48636-0-55047300-1549341160_thumb.jpg

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I know what you mean... This stuff is fun, but there's always the risk of frustration. Thanks for the offer of the spare Basketball if I have to go there.

 

I might bust open the Mattel Basketball and see if I can see any creative way to solve it. I want to see if there's enough room to solder and glue a surface mount LED in there.

 

I fixed an Entex Space Invader that way, with a couple of those half-sized teardrop red LEDs (just the cheap ones that come in bags of mixed LEDs if you've ever bought those from an electronic supply place). That worked perfectly... Can't tell at all that a repair was done except the little spaceship / bullet is just a tad brighter in those two spots.

 

If I follow through with the basketball game, I'll post my findings here.

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Not a "red LED" game but one that I had and don't remember what it was called was a reflex game with a line of about 8 LEDs that would light up as though a ball was travelling from one end of the device to the other. There was a button on either end that you had to press at the right time to "deflect" the ball back.

 

I think it was a Parker Brothers game, as it was similar in shape to Merlin and similar in design style to Wildfire. I have been searching old Wish Books and eBay for the last few hours trying to find it to no avail...

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I was too poor to have games like that back then. Add to that the fact that I have little interest in sports. I didn't play or own one of those red LED games until the last couple of years.

 

I played the game (soccer) for a few days then put it away. Eventually, I sold it to an AtariAge member who happened to be in town on business.

 

This whole genre of games was just a Blip on my radar.

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Not a "red LED" game but one that I had and don't remember what it was called was a reflex game with a line of about 8 LEDs that would light up as though a ball was travelling from one end of the device to the other. There was a button on either end that you had to press at the right time to "deflect" the ball back.

 

I think it was a Parker Brothers game, as it was similar in shape to Merlin and similar in design style to Wildfire. I have been searching old Wish Books and eBay for the last few hours trying to find it to no avail...

It actually was called REFLEX. I had one last year, got it at a flea market for a dollar complete in the box. It was alright but I got bored of it quick and dumped it at a half price books and got a little more than I had into it, and then they ended up having to clearance it out for a dollar too. :D

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this is a great topic.

 

so many memories, and systems in here.

 

here's my story..

 

back in the 70's, i wss really into calculators and electronics, and electronic toys, so somehow ended up

with tons of them, and a lot of gimmicky ones too...

 

==========================================

 

mattel ones

----------------

basketball

soccer

 

still have them, and they work, later on got the US hockey to complete it, which is different from the canadian hockey

 

 

autorace

battlestar galactica -> took it a friends house at some point, and it was dropped, and never worked again,

replaced with a cheap one off ebay

 

coleco

----------

zodiac -> i have no idea why i got this one, i don't even care about horroscopes

http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Coleco/Zodiac.htm

 

various

----------

blip -> electro mechanical

 

speak n spell -> still have it, and the new one with the membrane keyboard,

also have speak n math, and read for cheap much later

 

ti little professor

 

milton bradley comp IV puzzle game

http://www.handheldmuseum.com/MB/CompIV.htm

 

some kind of weird 2 play game, where you press a big button, and the later you press it the

faster it goes to the other side,and then the other person hits the button to send the light back.

 

-------

also had tomy digital derby, which was electromechanical with lights:

http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Tomy/Derby.htm

 

much later got the entex pac man 2 -> 2 player pac-man

 

 

that's it for now, but i still have them somewhere, and never had rechargeable batteries, so we

were always buying lots of replacements, especially 9 volt ones.

 

 

later

-1

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