Colonel K
Strobe
I think I was the only person in the world to own a Strobe. Genuinely, I don’t know anyone else who owned one, and in researching my memories of Strobe I scoured YouTube for the TV advert. It wasn’t there. When I was at my Grandads one December, he said he had bought me an […]
Slinky
The Slinky was one long piece of curly metal that, according to the adverts, you would make walk down stairs. You set it on the top step, flipped the top section of the Slinky onto the step below and momentum pulled it down onto itself and flipped down onto the next step down. Theoretically, if […]
Swingball
Imagine the business meeting where someone pitched the idea of Swingball… “Guys, I’ve got a great idea for you which is going to make tennis slightly more dangerous and a lot less exercisey…. “ “Ok, I’m interested. Hit me with it.” “Funny you should say that… We’re going to tie the tennis ball to a […]
Rubiks Puzzles
The Rubiks puzzles were SO frustrating! Firstly, the Cube. The Rubiks Cube came out in the late 70s, but has never really gone away. Kids nowadays still play with Rubiks Cubes, making them one of the most recognisable toys in the world. The idea of the Rubiks Cube was to twist and rotate sections of […]
Knightmare
“Where am I?” “You’re in a room. There is a table in front of you and a sleeping orc on the right.” Don’t worry, you’ve not accidentally clicked to go to the chatroom. This is the audio-descriptive world of Knightmare! Knightmare was a TV show in which children had to remotely navigate a blindfolded, (or […]
Viewmaster
I think everyone at some point has owned a Viewmaster. It was a bright red handheld viewer for looking at stereoscopic images. The Viewmaster discs had small images around the outside. When you inserted a disc into the top of the viewer, two almost identical images aligned with your left and right eyes, giving the […]
Little Professor
I used to get confused between the Little Professor and Major Morgan. It was because they both had faces and keypads. I remember wanting both of them and writing them on the list I sent to Father Christmas when I was young, but I never received either. I knew that one of them played music […]
Simon
I’m not sure why the circular beeping toy was called Simon. As far as I know, it is the only toy to be given a human name. I liked the fact that he was human. I felt more connected to my Simon than my other toys. Me and my Simon got on really well. So […]
Play Expo 2016 Review
This years Play Expo managed, once again, to do the impossible – to top the previous years Play Expo! Replay Events, the organisers behind this and all other Play events, managed to gather together a whole host of retro and modern day gaming fun, and cram it all into Event City in Manchester for a […]
Sinclair Vega+ Launches 20th October
Earlier this year, Retro Computers Ltd launched an Indiegogo campaign to acquire funding for the Sinclair Vega +, the sequel to their original Vega console. On the 20th October the new Sinclair Vega + with be launched! The original Vega was a device that you could plug into any TV and play any of the […]
PLAY Expo Manchester 2016
With special guest talks from Fighting Fantasy author Ian Livingstone CBE, C64 programmer Tony Crowther, and The Last Ninja 2 creator Mevlut Dinc, PLAY Expo Manchester is looking to be another great event! Running over the weekend of 8th to 9th October at Eventcity in Manchester, PLAY Expo brings together the best gaming from previous […]
Skool Daze
Skool Daze, originally released 1984 on the Spectrum and C-64, is being remade, and this time its an official remake from Alternative Software! In the original you played the part of Eric. The aim of Skool Daze was to retrieve Eric’s school report from the headmasters office by making the teachers shout out individual numbers […]
Hyper Sentinel
Publishing giant Hewson Consultants are making a long awaited return to gaming with their imminent release, Hyper Sentinel, currently looking for funding on Kickstarter. If you loved 80s classic shoot-em-ups like Uridium, Hyper Sentinel will help feed your hunger for the genre. Check out the Kickstarter video below. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robhwson/hyper-sentinel From just £4, you can help […]
Power UP at the Science Museum
Game faces at the ready for a summer of hands-on video fun at the Science Museum Power UP runs Friday 22 July – Sunday 7 August sciencemuseum.org.uk/powerup The Science Museum has come up with the perfect family friendly summer holiday solution for kids who envisage endless weeks of house-bound gadget overload and parents who desperately […]
Interview with Hewson Consultants
With the recent release of Hewson Consultants book, Hints and Tips for Videogame Pioneers, I thought it would be a great idea to have a brief chat to original founder Andrew Hewson, and games developer Rob Hewson. Andrew Hewson was the original founder of 80s publishing giant Hewson Consultants. Rob has been the lead designer […]
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80sNos Discord Chatroom
