On Wed, 19 Dec 2001, Glen Goodwin wrote:
> Right around 1960 or '61 (I was five or six years old at the time) I
> was given a toy computer. I suppose it was meant to represent a
> mainframe (what else could it have been, given the era?) and there was
> a rectangular (4 x 8? 5 X 7?) array of blinkenlights on the front of
> it. There was also a tray in the front which accepted a small punched
> card. A set of these cards came with the toy. Each card had a
> multiple-choice question printed on it, as well as four answers to
> choose from, numbered A through D. Additional card sets could be
> purchased separately.
>
> When a card was placed into the tray and the tray was then closed, the
> blinkenlights would display a "random" pattern for a couple of seconds
> (always the same pattern) and then the array would display the correct
> answer to the printed question, A B C or D. It didn't take long for
> me to be able to read the holes in the cards, and I even "modified" a
> couple of them so that the toy displayed an incorrect answer.
>
> Does *anyone* remember this thing? It must have cost a few bucks back
> then. What was it called?
Glen,
This fine toy is called the Think-A-Tron and was made by Hasbro. I've got
one in the box (one of the few good deals I've gotten on eBay).
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger
http://www.vintage.org
Received on Wed Dec 19 2001 - 01:26:30 GMT