It's hard to believe that a game like Tomy Blip could captivate a generation, but it was high on many Christmas lists in 1977. The game was a simple electromechanical version of Atari Pong: an LED bounced back and forth across the court, powered by a windup timer. The only reason the unit required 2 x AA batteries was to light the little LED ball on the play field. And -- although I never realized it as a kid -- there is something incredibly ironic about a unit marketed as "The Digital Game" which makes a mechanical "bZzzz... Bzzz... bzzz..." noise as you play.
Tomy sold millions of these little portables, no doubt riding on the success of Atari's much more expensive electronic TV games. I remember gazing at one for hours in the back pages of the Sears Christmas Wishbook, imagining it as far more pong-like than it really was. Perhaps the real secret of Blip's success was hidden in the tag line on the box: "Take it anywhere. No TV set is needed." Parents probably envisioned a portable game as a great way to keep kids from taking over the living room TV set so they wouldn't miss James Garner receiving his weekly pistol whippings on The Rockford Files.
[Update: Here's a link to a vintage Blip TV commercial on YouTube, via technabob in the comments. Thanks!]
Tomy Blip [handheldmuseum.com]



Until recently, the unit was only available through offshore distributors. Because of its growing popularity, the system is now available in the USA directly from GP2X Store in Yorba Linda, California. One thing I really appreciate is that they offer spare parts at reasonable prices - so you don't have to pay a fortune to replace a scratched screen panel or lost joystick cap. We're also really pleased to mention that GP2X Store is sponsoring Retro Thing this month. Thanks, guys!

The device used a complicated dual LED/mirror system (licensed for a reported $5 million from an American company) to generate a 384 x 224 pixel monochrome image for each eye. The oscillating mirrors generated a distinctive buzzing sound while running and proved too fragile for a portable system: one good drop and things would never be the same again in Mario Land.
Modojo is taking a nostalgic look back at the SEGA Game Gear this week, following up on their recent piece about the quirky



