Think-A-Tron, made by Hasbro.
I had one too (and still wish I had it)
These do show up on eBay from time to time.
Rick Bensene
The Old Calculator Web Museum
http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Glen Goodwin
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2001 9:19 PM
To: classiccmp
Subject: Ancient "toy computer"
Okay, in order to pose this question I have to come clean
here and admit my
age:
Right around 1960 or '61 (I was five or six years old at the
time) I was given a toy computer. I suppose it was meant to
represent a mainframe (what else could it have been, given
the era?) and there was a rectangular (4 x 8? 5 X 7?) array
of blinkenlights on the front of it. There was also a tray
in the front which accepted a small punched card. A set of
these cards came with the toy. Each card had a
multiple-choice question printed on it, as well as four
answers to choose from, numbered A through D.
Additional card sets could be purchased separately.
When a card was placed into the tray and the tray was then
closed, the blinkenlights would display a "random" pattern
for a couple of seconds (always the same pattern) and then
the array would display the correct answer to the printed
question, A B C or D. It didn't take long for me to be able
to read the holes in the cards, and I even "modified" a
couple of them so that the toy displayed an incorrect answer.
Does *anyone* remember this thing? It must have cost a few
bucks back then. What was it called?
Glen
0/0