Screens are for suckers. Released in 1978, Parker Brothers' Merlin had six "out of this world" games like Tic Tac Toe and Blackjack 13, and its Music Machine game let you use it as an elecronic synthesizer.
Even after Nintendo's Game & Watch arrived in 1980, it continued to sell, eventually topping 5 million units. I bet you could make a sweet plastic log cabin out of them. [Handheld Museum, Wikipedia, Image via Geek Joan]
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Gizmodo '79 is a week-long celebration of gadgets and geekdom 30 years ago, as the analog age gave way to the digital, and most of our favorite toys were just being born.