Merlin, the Electronic Wizard by Parker Brothers
Merlin was a handheld electronic game first made by Parker Brothers in 1978. Merlin is notable as one of the earliest and most popular handheld games, selling over 5 million units during its initial run, as well as one of the most long-lived, remaining popular throughout the 1980s. It was distributed in France by Miro Meccano.
Merlin was created by Bob Doyle, a Harvard PhD. and inventor who had previously worked with NASA. The play area of the game consisted of a matrix of eleven buttons; each button contained a red LED.
I did never own this game in my childhood, as it was an expensive video games at that time. My cousin was owning one, and I remember playing with it a lot in the 80’s.
It is not rare to find them on the Flea market in France, I did pay 2euro for this item in mint condition.
Links
