Sign of the times. A new item from Tudor, shrunken games from Munro, and no Electric Football on the cover of the Coleco catalog.

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 essentially betting the company’s entire fate on the game.

The plight of Munro Games – a Bob Griese game that shipped without any artwork on the frame.

Electric Football consisted of whatever is leftover from 1973 and 1974. The fact that there is leftover stock – games nobody wanted – emphasized Munro’s dire plight.

The 1975 Coleco Sales Catalog – there’s no Electric Football on the cover.

Coleco is still making Electric Football. But the company has its focus almost fully elsewhere. Competing with Brunswick in the Air Hockey category with their Power-Jet Hockey, while watching the success of the Magnavox Odyssey and Atari Pong console games.

Changes For Tudor Games

That leaves Tudor as the Electric Football stalwart, even though Ward decided to go with Coleco as their Electric Football supplier. This decision would have been based on what games Coleco “guaranteed” to Ward in a package deal.

Everyone in the toy business knew that if you wanted Electric Football, Tudor was the the best. And Tudor had been the Ward Electric Football supplier since 1962. There was no way around it for Norman Sas. The loss of Ward was going to hurt Tudor’s 1975 sales figures. More evidence of how the toy world was changing.

For Tudor, things continued to change at Sears. The mammoth retailer only wanted to sell two Tudor models instead of the usual three. And only the Super Bowl would be an NFL game. This meant Tudor would have to live with the wafer thin profit from the Sears’ No. 500 model. Revenues for the year would be further reduced.

Electric Football did appear in Christmas season advertising, but wasn’t featured like previous years by Sears and Ward. It would be a year that only the strongest toy companies would survive.

Earl & Roddy

To learn more about Electric Football, please check out The Unforgettable Buzz, Electric Football Wishbook, and Full Color Electric Football!