A Tudor Resurgence in 1977 After a surprisingly successful 1976, and with competition in the Electric Football marketplace essentially non-existent, Norman Sas consolidated Tudor’s line for 1977. There would only be three games, with the top model being the Super … Continue reading
America’s Bicentennial Year The American Bicentennial year started with Coleco launching its Telstar home video game console at Toy Fair. In addition, 1976 started with Munro Games on the way to bankruptcy (July). So neither company was overly concerned about … Continue reading
Munro Games Is In Trouble Munro Games overextended itself in both Electric Football and table hockey in the early 1970s. So by 1975 the company is in deep financial trouble. Desperately trying to make a go in Air Hockey while … Continue reading
Oil Crisis Hits the Economy The oil crisis hit the U.S. at the end of 1973. This sent the U.S. economy into free fall and the toy business into turmoil, with toy shortages during the 1973 Christmas season. The toy … Continue reading
Too Much Electric Football Part 2 Coleco was also starting to downsize and economize, making smaller Electric Football games and games with more plastic in them – i.e. cheaper games. They were even making several Electric Football models that didn’t … Continue reading
A Battle For Toy Buyers With four different companies making Electric Football games, catalog space and toy store shelf space was becoming scarce. The problem was so serious that by summer there would only be three Electric Football makers left, … Continue reading
1971 Part II Tudor and Gotham Tudor continued to bring out new models in 1971, including a College game. Once again they supplied Sears with a Super Bowl, and Ward with a special model. But in Sears they had to … Continue reading
Coleco Command Control Coleco continues to push the competition in Electric Football by bringing “Command Control” to Toy Fair. Command Control consists of two metal rods under the game offering magnetic control of one player on each team. Kids playing … Continue reading
A New Competitor in Coleco Tudor’s success with Electric Football enticed a third toy maker onto the vibrating gridiron in 1970. That company was Coleco, who was no stranger to the sports toy market thanks to their successful line … Continue reading
Our Electric Football Game Top 20 Countdown continues with the 1971 Coleco Command Control Electric Action Football 5795 at No. 16. Coleco had a strong Electric Football debut in 1970, despite having boxes with thinly disguised Tudor Electric Football players on … Continue reading
Electric Football history in the “here and now” was our blog topic last week, and we continue today with the Electric Football makers that were headquartered outside of New York City. And what’s unique about toy makers Coleco and Munro … Continue reading
It was 45 years ago this spring that Electric Football’s third manufacturer stepped onto the vibrating gridiron. That company was Coleco Industries of Hartford, Connecticut. Coleco’s path to Electric Football began in late 1968, when they purchased Canadian toy maker … Continue reading
Our Electric Football Game Top 20 Countdown concluded last week with the 1967 Tudor NFL “Grass Field” No. 620 taking the top spot. Since it’s been 5 months since we started this thing, we’re going to recap all that has … Continue reading
The Electric Football Game Top 20 Countdown continues with one of the “grandest” games ever commercially produced at No. 4 — the 1972 Munro Day/Nite Electric Football game. The Day/Nite game story really begins in the 1960’s, when Tudor and … Continue reading
A lot of great Electric Football games have been made through the years, and we’re going to honor them this fall with The Unforgettable Buzz “Top 20 Countdown.” Beginning next Friday we’re going to feature one of Electric Football’s most … Continue reading
Electric Football has many nooks and crannies for aficionados to dive into. One of our favorite sections, and one that is a bit under appreciated, is Electric Football’s long and intriguing paper trail. This fascination with paper probably owes a … Continue reading
Electric Football TudorCON 14 Buzz display continued….Next up we chose to display a 1970 CFL Coleco Grey Cup game. We like this game because Coleco first entered Electric Football in 1970, and the extra twist of dual 50-yard lines, CFL … Continue reading
Electric football inventor Norman Sas was honored by LIFE in their end-of-the-year publication Farewell Remembering The Friends We Lost in 2012. There, among notable individuals like Neil Armstrong, Andy Griffith, Dick Clark, Mike Wallace, Etta James, Alex Karras, and Ernest … Continue reading
Electric football once had a relationship with a professional football league that was not the NFL. That league still exists, and in fact, played its championship game this past Sunday night. Not only was this game the pinnacle of the … Continue reading
When Coleco jumped into electric football in 1970, it produced some very striking games. The company had done its homework well. Coleco’s games were solidly built and featured inviting graphics, on the field and off. The large 3-D grandstands were … Continue reading