Inventor of Electric Football Game Passes On To The Big Vibrating Field In The Sky.

[lexsooner]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/norman-a-sas-87-inventor-of-tudor-electric-football/2012/07/14/gJQAIE8tkW_story.html

Norman Sas, 87, an engineer, invented the Tudor Electric football game, the one so many of us had as kids, a game which really did not work very well and was near impossible to play, but was so memorable that I had to post this thread. I can't imagine with today's quality controls, that something that worked so poorly would ever make it to store shelves. If you big kids remember, the game involved these little football player figures on a metal field which vibrated. No matter how low you set the vibrations, the figures went every which way. If you turned the virbration setting high, the figures would tumble over and fall off the field. The funniest part was when the figures linked arms by accident and started going around in circles, like they were square dancing. Then you could try a forward pass with that little felt football using the qb figure's plastic arm. You had to hit the receiver with the felt football in order to advance the ball, but inevitably the felt ball went flying about halfway across the room. The chance of making a completion was about the same as Jake Sills making the Pro Bowl. I am sure some collectors would want this thing, even though tens of millions of them sold, so they are not rare. It definitely was one of the most unique and memorable games I had as a kid. RIP Mr. Sas. Feel free to share your Tudor Electric Football stories. If anyone actually played a full game with this thing, I give you my highest compliments.

[bluedogok]

Had one....RIP Mr. Sas

[Harris County Sooner]

I had one also. I don't think I ever completed a pass but I could kick 80 yard field goals.

[lexsooner]

I had one also. I don't think I ever completed a pass but I could kick 80 yard field goals.

Kudos! Field goals were actually possible - not easy, but at least possible. Completing a pass was like hitting the lotto (less chance than getting struck by lightening twice in one day). The only thing you could count on with the game was at least one pair of players hooking arms and going around in circles. You supposedly could control the movement of the players by adjusting the little plastic tips underneath the players, but that never worked. They just went every which way.

[Harris County Sooner]

Kudos! Field goals were actually possible - not easy, but at least possible. Completing a pass was like hitting the lotto (less chance than getting struck by lightening twice in one day). The only thing you could count on with the game was at least one pair of players hooking arms and going around in circles. You supposedly could control the movement of the players by adjusting the little plastic tips underneath the players, but that never worked. They just went every which way.
I had some luck with trimming the front plastic tab to make them move straight and a little faster.

If you happened to drop a player on the field when setting up it would mess up the formations. When I played with my Dad we made it a 5 yard penalty if you dropped a player on the field.

[8timechamps]

I didn't have one, but a friend did. I remember when he got a "new" one, and it had a passing feature (the QBs arm was actuated). Of course we never read the instructions, so we never learned who to "throw" it. We were only allowed to play it in the basement, and looking back at how loud it was, I can understand why.

[MichiganSooner]

I always wanted this for Christmas but Santa never brought it down my chimney.

[Curly Bill]

I wanted one sooooo bad and just knew it would be the coolest thing ever! I got one for Christmas, and it sucked more than anything ever!

This guy should burn in hell!

[Seamus]

Harsh.

[Curly Bill]

Harsh.

You wouldn't say that if you'd got one for Christmas and then witnessed the suckitude that was electric football!

[goingoneight]

:les:FIRE NOMRAN SAS!!!!11111!!!1

[LASooner]

He's probably spinning around in circles in front of the pearly gates


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fHzWfq9XeBI/TshsfVzo9QI/AAAAAAAAA2A/GzdSd_YGszE/s1600/PB190004.JPG

[LASooner]

All you need to know about electric football, skip to 2:42 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn6BDeKn-qc&t=2m42s)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn6BDeKn-qc&t=2m42s

[cccasooner2]

I got one in the early 70's. All my games ended in 0-0 ties. It pretty much sucked and quickly found its way into the trash.

[oudanny]

Loved it. I painted one team crimson. I spent hours messing with the player's "feet" and logging how they ran. Then I designed plays with certain formations and players. I had a killer sweep. You could also roll the quarterback out and then let him go.

[Bourbon St Sooner]

I led the league one year completing 5% of my passes.

[Seamus]

You wouldn't say that if you'd got one for Christmas and then witnessed the suckitude that was electric football!

That response, plus LA's video clip, had me rolling! :D

[GDC]

Why does the OP hate Jake Sills?

[ouwasp]

If I remember correctly, mine had Minnesota Viking and Oakland Raider players. When I played around with it, I always made sure the Vikes "lost" because I didn't like Fran Tarkenton for some reason. I think it was because my bro liked him.

Those dumbazz Vikes would charge into a trap block play after play! After about 5 plays the game would be concluded for a few days...

[picasso]

I used to tap the field with my finger and make them move more accurately. Heh.

[LA.SoonerFan]

I had one as a kid. I have to admit, it got kind of old having to reset the players after every down. Those were the good old days.

[lexsooner]

In Bill Bryson's "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir," the author describes electric football as "The worst toy of the decade [the 1950s], possibly the worst toy ever built...it took forever to set up each play because the men were so fiddly and kept falling over, and because you argued continuously with your opponent about what formations were legal and who got to position the final man...it hardly mattered how they were set up because electric football players never went in the direction intended. In practice what happened was that half the players instantly fell over and lay twitching violently as if suffering from some extreme gastric disorder, while the others streamed off in as many different directions as there were upright players before eventually clumping together in a corner, where they pushed against the unyielding sides like victims of a nightclub fire at a locked exit. The one exception to this was the running back who just trembled in place for five or six minutes, then slowly turned and went on an unopposed glide toward the wrong end zone until knocked over with a finger on the two-yard line by his distressed manager, occasioning more bickering."

The game was developed two years after WWII, so it was 1940s technology. Of course if they built weapons like this, we would all be speaking German.

[Curly Bill]

Billy Bryson is genius! I read that book, but I don't really remember the electric football part??

[GDC]

Billy Bryson is genius! I read that book, but I don't really remember the electric football part??

I like his travel books also.

[Curly Bill]

I like his travel books also.

Same here. I've read:
A Walk in the Woods
In a Sunburned Country
I'm a Stranger Here Myself

[StoopTroup]

Everyone who still has one should go drop it off at his grave.

Thank goodness for PS3!

[landrun]

I don't know what you guys are talking about!?? My brother and I had one in the early 70's and we loved it!
We had the cowboys and the steelers and over time bought different teams. I think we could order them out of a magazine.

We loved the game!! :welcoming:

Oh... and you couldn't use the qb to throw. You had to throw the little ball yourself at the receiver.
... no wonder you guys hated it. You didn't know how to play it for 'real'. :chuncky: