Games and Toys
Gadgets, Gizmos and Gimmicks by Peter Leigh
As someone who grew up in the 80s, some of my favourite memories are of playing with 70s and 80s tech. My introduction to the world of computing, as an example, started with the Sinclair ZX81. I could spend hours playing blocky black and white games in complete silence. And Toy Day at school in […]
Teddy Ruxpin
Teddy Ruxpin was an animatronic teddy bear that would come to life and read you stories. Don’t get me wrong, he was no Chucky from Childs Play, no no no, he was a cute bear whose calming voice was incredibly entertaining and in no way disturbing. You inserted specific Teddy Ruxpin story cassettes into the […]
Purple People Eater
This was a game in which you had to remove little plastic people from the mouth of a gelatinous purple people eater. It worked in much the same way as Operation, in that you used metal pliers to extract people from the monsters metal-lined mouth. In a way this is most 80s boys dream, getting […]
Speak and Spell
What an amazing piece of 80s electronic gadgetry this was! A bright orange TALKING computer game, with loads of buttons and LOADS of spelling games! I loved my Speak and Spell! It was created by Texas Instruments and was probably the most popular toy of 1978. It practically ate batteries, using 4 at a time, […]
Cue Ball
Alex Higgins Cue Ball, or Bank Shot as it was also called, is an L.E.D. pool game made by Palitoy. The idea of pool, as I’m sure you know if you’ve ever played pool or snooker, is to hit the white ball with your cue, making it collide with the different coloured balls in the […]
Demon Driver
Demon Driver was a revolutionary game in two ways. Firstly, the road on which your car would drive was an endless inner workings used to revolve. See what I did there? Revolve? “Revolution”-ary? No? *sigh* Secondly, and more importantly, it gave you the feeling of being a “proper” driver. There was a steering wheel that […]
The Quarter Arcades ‘PAC-MAN™’ ¼ Scale Arcade Cabinet
Numskull Designs is incredibly proud to team up with BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment for the first in a series of Quarter Arcades exclusives! The world’s most recognisable video game ‘PAC-MAN’ has gone back to where it began with one of the most realistically-presented formats of the original platform. ‘PAC-MAN’ as a character inspired generations and the […]
The Videokid – Out Now on Steam!
Are you ready for The Videokid challenge? Test your skills to the max with this fun & challenging arcade style skate game set in a retro 1980s neighbourhood filled with danger… Platform: Steam (PC only) Price £2.99 Genre: Action/arcade Skate, hitch and grind your way through hazardous streets; dodging 80s bikes, cars, trucks, trains & […]
Poochie
My sister had a Poochie. I thought it was a strange idea for a toy, a bright pink and white stuffed dog, but in retrospect it wasn’t any stranger than any of the toys I had at her age. At her age I had an Action Man which, lets be honest, was a Barbie for […]
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 […]
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