These came out in 78 and were sold through the 80’s. For some reason, inflation calculators for pounds sterling differ a lot, but looks like £22 in 1980 might be in the £90-122 range today.
Wikipedia says they could play these games,
- Tic tac toe
- Music machine
- Echo, a game similar to Simon
- Blackjack 13
- Magic square, a pattern game similar to Lights Out
- Mindbender, a game similar to Mastermind
And about the music machine,
The music machine game functions as a musical instrument; in this mode, each key is assigned a musical note, and sequences of notes can be recorded and played back. This makes Merlin one of the earliest digital sequencers as well as an early consumer-level electronic synthesizer.
1970’s
1970s
Save the apostrophes from overuse before they go extinct.
Haha, yes. I almost never make that mistake with words, but I got into a bad habit with numbers and it’s hard to break. I guess I need to read Strunk and White again.
-Who’s Merlin is that?
-Oh that? That’s the 1970’s.
I had one and loved it.
The kerning on that ad is so painful I went blind for a moment. Seems like a cool device though.
Canyououtsmart Merlin?
I actually think it’s some of the worst kerning I’ve ever seen. For no reason, too. It doesn’t fit the shape of the ad or anything.
Remark able!
Remark…able.
An adult thought that was reasonable.
apowerfulcomputerbrain
I feel like this could be in a textbook about what not to do.
This was my favorite toy as a kid!
They definitely learned into the futuristic look for the time.
Indeed. It has a little bit of early cell phone vibe, except before those were a thing.
Time for a Merlinphone kickstarter?
That would be hilarious. I’m in. :)
Thought maybe it could be charged in a Simon docking station, but perhaps that form factor is more suited to a robot vacuum cleaner.
