1967 Tudor Rule Book

Electric football, from the early 1960’s on, was associated with the NFL. Actually, for most of us the equation looks like this:  

Electric Football = NFL

There aren’t many other toys or games that carry such a strong association with a major sport.  Table hockey will always be the NHL, and Madden will always be the Madden, but beyond that…comparisons get pretty thin (in other parts of the world the game Subbuteo = soccer)

One of things that made Tudor electric football special was the catalog that came in each game. In the center of the catalog were four amazing color pages that showed off the latest NFL games, and of course, the latest line of Tudor NFL teams.

Whether intentional or not, Tudor created a portable dream machine that was easily hidden in notebooks at school. No math problem could ever match the tough calculus of 49ers in white or dark. Or maybe the Cowboys in dark. Nah, they can wait…how about those cool looking Steelers with the yellow apron?

Teams on the order form were checked, unchecked, then checked again until the paper was almost worn through. Such were the impossible choices that needed to be made before sending your order to Brooklyn.

One of the important things that Tudor’s miniature NFL did was keep you interested in electric football year after year. Tudor didn’t have to sell you a new game each year to keep you playing. A new team or two on the field each year was all you needed.

So long after other toys had found a permanent place in the attic, we’d keep playing electric football. It was always fun, and there was always something new to dream about. And that’s why so many of us are still at it – we discovered we can still fulfill our team dreams some 40 years later.

Earl & Roddy

Tudor’s 1973 Electric Football NFL Rule Book