We’ve already talked about Tudor Electric Football turning 65 this year. But that’s not the only Electric Football anniversary that falls in 2014. This fall is also the 60th anniversary of Gotham Pressed Steel’s entry into Electric Football.

The 1954 Gotham G-880 All-Star Electric Football Game.

It was in 1954 that Gotham fired up its toy store aisle competition with Tudor by selling the Gotham All-Star Electric Football game. While Gotham didn’t make a giant dent in Tudor’s sales that year, Gotham’s ambitions led the company to create the Gotham G-940 Electro-Magnetic Football game in 1955. The G-940 was the first Electric Football game with grandstands (it came with two metal end zone grandstands), and the first Electric Football game to make it into the Sears Christmas catalog.

Gotham also was the first Electric Football maker with an NFL license, which it debuted on the first large Electric Football game ever sold in 1961. The NFL G-1500 is a landmark in Electric Football history, leading to an “arms race” in Electric Football features that would go on for the next 15 years.

It was this competition between Tudor and Gotham that produced the first 3-D players, the Big Bowl, a miniature NFL, the first Electric Football Super Bowl game, and a Joe Namath-endorsed game.

1961 Gotham NFL G-1500 model. It was the first NFL-licensed Electric Football game.

The success of Tudor and Gotham eventually enticed two other toy companies into Electric Football, giving the game a total of 4 different manufacturers in the early 1970’s. By the time Gotham was absorbed by Munro Games in 1973 it had left a significant legacy in Electric Football. That legacy started 60 years ago this fall.

The complete Gotham story and much more can be found in our book The Unforgettable Buzz: The History of Electric Football and Tudor Games.

Earl & Roddy