Popular Post RickR Posted May 30, 2015 Popular Post Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 LOOK what I found! I got this in a bundle of broken handheld games. It just needed some serious cleaning, and a new battery connector soldered in. Now it works perfectly and looks great. What an uncomfortable name they chose though. "Touch Me". Things were quite a bit different in the 70's I guess. I suppose you'd put on your polyester leisure suit, head on down to the Regal Beagle, and ask attractive people if they'd like to play "Touch Me". Then whip this thing out of your breast pocket, and everyone gets a good laugh. Yes, that's exactly how it was in the 70's I'm sure. Sabertooth, StormSurge, Yo-Yo and 5 others 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo-Yo Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 Man! That is in PERFECT shape!! That's an awesome find! I always thought those were really cool toys. RickR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeJ07 Posted May 31, 2015 Report Share Posted May 31, 2015 Man, I want that. RickR 1 Quote "I'd buy that for a dollar!" -Smash T.V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaximumRD Posted May 31, 2015 Report Share Posted May 31, 2015 WOW what a gem right there ! RickR 1 Quote I am Rob aka MaximumRD aka OldSchoolRetroGamer and THIS is my world http://about.me/maximumrd "For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday." - M. Bison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Adventure Square Posted May 31, 2015 Report Share Posted May 31, 2015 Aw..here I was jumping in here, certain that someone was calling me to share a moment, but it turns out to be about a 70s handheld toy. Story of my life. But seriously cool, still. yeah, I can bet the marketing team that came up with this name were high-fiving each other. The Simon color-match craze was rather fun. The memory game tested your concentration mettle in a way that was intriguing for everybody. Did not have a SImon myself, had an 'Einstein', from Castle toys - a rectangular, white, four large buttoned apparatus that did its job well enough. As for Touch Me, I'm sure Mr. Furley could have made good use of it. RickR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted May 31, 2015 Report Share Posted May 31, 2015 I had (and still have) Pocket Simon......... StormSurge, The Professor, Atari Adventure Square and 3 others 6 Quote Brian Matherne - owner/curator of "The MOST comprehensive list of Atari VCS/2600 homebrews ever compiled." http://tiny.cc/Atari2600Homebrew author of "The Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion" book series available on Amazon! www.amazon.com/author/brianmatherne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosweargamer Posted June 1, 2015 Report Share Posted June 1, 2015 Some interesting things related to touch me. Many believe Atari stole Pong from Ralph Baer and that Ralph Bear stole Touch Me from Atari and turned it into Simon, which became more successful than Touch Me. So in a way, Atari made more money than Baer from his invention Pong while Baer made more money from Atari's invention of Touch Me. Also, Brain Games for the 2600 is basically based off of Touch Me; RickR, The Professor and Atari Adventure Square 3 Quote The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted June 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2015 Here's the other two in the lot I got. Both are working now. Just needed some TLC. Mostly it was the power switches that went bad. Coleco Football and Milton Bradley Comp IV. And here's a shot of the whole handheld collection I've been building over many years. These things are a lot of fun, and don't take up much space. StormSurge, Arenafoot, MaximumRD and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted June 2, 2015 Report Share Posted June 2, 2015 nice collection!!!!!! Quote Brian Matherne - owner/curator of "The MOST comprehensive list of Atari VCS/2600 homebrews ever compiled." http://tiny.cc/Atari2600Homebrew author of "The Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion" book series available on Amazon! www.amazon.com/author/brianmatherne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormSurge Posted September 22, 2015 Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 I need to pick some of those up. Nice collection!When I was a kid, my father bought a new recliner. (I'm assuming it was new.) A couple of days later, he found a Mattel Basketball wedged in the cushion. That was a good day. RickR and Justin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted September 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 I have two broken "Touch Me" handhelds on the way. Keeping my fingers crossed that they can be fixed. If so, they will be for sale for a nice fair price if anyone is interested. StormSurge, Rowsdower70 and The Professor 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowsdower70 Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 I have two broken "Touch Me" handhelds on the way. Keeping my fingers crossed that they can be fixed. If so, they will be for sale for a nice fair price if anyone is interested. Or perhaps for trade for another project? RickR 1 Quote "For you - Rowsdower from the 70 - have been appointed Omnivisioner of the Game Grid." ~ Atari Adventure Square Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted September 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 A Tale of Two Touch Me's I received two broken Atari Touch Me's from Ebay, and they were both in really rough shape. I was able to cobble parts together from both to make one working unit. And it works great! Buttons all cleaned and restored. Electronics touched up. Replaced speaker. Replaced 9V battery connector. The other is forever broken, but makes a nice shelf display. The good, working, darker one is now up for trade if anyone is interested! StormSurge 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo-Yo Posted September 27, 2015 Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 That's interesting that one is more orange than the other one. I wonder if they were manufactured in different countries, or if one of these is "the Heavy-Sixer of the Touch-Me's" StormSurge and RickR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted September 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 That's interesting that one is more orange than the other one. I wonder if they were manufactured in different countries, or if one of these is "the Heavy-Sixer of the Touch-Me's" I was thinking the same. My first one in post #1 is the same "orange". There are slight differences throughout...circuit board, label, plastic thickness all a little different. I'd guess the yellow is newer/cheaper. Yo-Yo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo-Yo Posted September 27, 2015 Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 Man, I'd really like to learn more about this. I've always been intrigues by the idea of Atari handhelds and the lack thereof. I want to know why so many Atari handhelds were cancelled, and why Touch Me didn't become as known as Simon. Also the name, I wonder who came up with "Touch Me" and who in the marketing department thought that was a good name for a kids game. RickR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo-Yo Posted September 27, 2015 Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 Also, I used to confuse Touch Me with TI's Little Professor, they were in the same aisle at Sears. Arenafoot, StormSurge and RickR 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted September 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 Man, I'd really like to learn more about this. I've always been intrigues by the idea of Atari handhelds and the lack thereof. I want to know why so many Atari handhelds were cancelled, and why Touch Me didn't become as known as Simon. Also the name, I wonder who came up with "Touch Me" and who in the marketing department thought that was a good name for a kids game. It is interesting. I may take a video of Touch Me so you can see it in action. The problems I see that Simon seemed to fix: The name. "Simon" is a perfect name for this game. "Touch Me" is creepy, and not even descriptive of the game action. Buttons - they are tiny on Touch Me. Much larger on Simon. Color - The lights on Touch Me are all red. Simon used light up colored buttons instead. Sound - Not very pleasing on Touch Me. Almost musical on Simon. What Atari got right: Size. Touch Me is totally portable. It fits in a pocket easily. Simon is huge. Timing. Touch me came out years earlier than Simon. Engineering - Touch Me is really well made considering it was Atari's first handheld. Simple design, small size, reliable components. Justin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted September 27, 2015 Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 Nice concise review Rick I'd love to see a video. StormSurge 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted September 28, 2015 Report Share Posted September 28, 2015 What Atari got right: Size. Touch Me is totally portable. It fits in a pocket easily. Simon is huge. Unless you had "Pocket Simon" like mine - above post #6 StormSurge 1 Quote Brian Matherne - owner/curator of "The MOST comprehensive list of Atari VCS/2600 homebrews ever compiled." http://tiny.cc/Atari2600Homebrew author of "The Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion" book series available on Amazon! www.amazon.com/author/brianmatherne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo-Yo Posted September 28, 2015 Report Share Posted September 28, 2015 Pocket Simon is still a good chunk larger than Touch Me though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted September 28, 2015 Report Share Posted September 28, 2015 (edited) How about the Radio Shack Pocket Repeat / Tandy Electronic Repeat for small size and handheld? I never owned one, but always saw them advertised in the Radio Shack catalogs and sales flyers on a regular basis. Edited September 28, 2015 by arenafoot StormSurge 1 Quote Brian Matherne - owner/curator of "The MOST comprehensive list of Atari VCS/2600 homebrews ever compiled." http://tiny.cc/Atari2600Homebrew author of "The Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion" book series available on Amazon! www.amazon.com/author/brianmatherne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormSurge Posted September 28, 2015 Report Share Posted September 28, 2015 I've never seen the top version, but the bottom one definitely looks familiar. I only had a Pocket Simon, which was great. Arenafoot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted September 28, 2015 Report Share Posted September 28, 2015 I only had a Pocket Simon, which was great. Me too! StormSurge 1 Quote Brian Matherne - owner/curator of "The MOST comprehensive list of Atari VCS/2600 homebrews ever compiled." http://tiny.cc/Atari2600Homebrew author of "The Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion" book series available on Amazon! www.amazon.com/author/brianmatherne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeJ07 Posted September 30, 2015 Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 I wonder why Atari never capitalized on the handheld market. They certainly had the technical know-how to have at least attempted, but after Touch Me, they never made another beyond prototypes. Yo-Yo and RickR 2 Quote "I'd buy that for a dollar!" -Smash T.V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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