Justin 5,450 Report post Posted November 27, 2014 Did anybody else have a Speak & Spell growing up? Texas Instruments found a tremendously clever use of their speech synthesis chip. The Speak & Spell was introduced in June, 1978 at the Summer CES, making it one of the very first handheld electronic devices with a visual display. Speak & Spell enjoyed a very similar lifespan to that of the Atari 2600, retailing from 1978-1992. 3 The Economist, Keatah and DeLorean reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeLorean 1,774 Report post Posted November 27, 2014 Wasn't that E.T.'s Phone? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeLorean 1,774 Report post Posted November 27, 2014 And, if yes, wouldn't that mean assembling the Speak & Spell is the entire objective of the E.T. game on 2600? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeLorean 1,774 Report post Posted November 27, 2014 1 RickR reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RetroVideoGameNerd 88 Report post Posted November 27, 2014 E.T. Spell Words! AHAHAHAHAHAAYeah, I had one, and it scarred me. IT sounded really demonic. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RickR 10,190 Report post Posted November 27, 2014 I didn't have one, but wanted one. I remember it wouldn't say "bad" words, but if you spelled them more cleverly, you could get close. Now THAT'S learning, folks. 3 RetroVideoGameNerd, Keatah and Atari Today reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RickR 10,190 Report post Posted November 29, 2014 I just learned that Commodore made a speech module for the VIC-20 and C64 called "Magic Voice" that used the same chip/design as the Speak and Spell. I guess the Scott Adams adventure games used it, as well as others like Gorf. 2 The Economist and DeLorean reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yo-Yo 878 Report post Posted December 1, 2014 Speak and Spell was so cool! It was kinda a big deal for a baby's toy to have speech synth in 1980. I'd love to see more on this. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Arenafoot 2,261 Report post Posted December 11, 2014 I have that same phonograph!!!!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StormSurge 1,941 Report post Posted July 27, 2015 I loved my Speak & Spell. Great toy. 1 The Professor reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mcorleonep 54 Report post Posted October 19, 2017 (edited) I remember that well. The must fun part about it was pressing the # button, then it would malfunction and the speech synthesis would produce some very interesting and hilarious garbled speech sound effects... Edited October 19, 2017 by Mcorleonep 1 Keatah reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
