Cracking open the famous Simon

Sep 7, 2008

TechRepublic looks at the innards of the classic Milton Bradley game, the life of many '80s get-togethers.

"Simon is a computer. Simon has a brain. You either do what Simon says or else go down the drain."--The Simon slogan, 1978

Simon is a computer in an 1980s sense, I suppose. It has a Texas Instruments SN75494N for brains. It was a great game--host to many get-togethers and birthday parties.

Simon was released in 1978 by Milton Bradley. Invented by Ralph Baer and Howard Morrison, the story goes that the huge popularity of Simon was spurred on by the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which was released at the same time.

Since its release, there have been untold copycats of the game, including online versions.

Still good fun and remarkably simple, one can still get Simon new, even today--30 years later.

Here we have Simon as it would appear in your closet, under the couch, or wherever games are found in your place.

Notice in yellow print "A Computer Controlled Game." Funny how that was a selling point then. Now it's a given.

Credit: Drew McBee/TechRepublic