The Entex Select-a-game is a handheld game system released in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

Entex Industries Entex Industries, Inc. was an American toy and electronic game manufacturer based in Compton, California. The company was active during the 1970s and 1980s. Background The company was formed in 1970 by ''G.A. (Tony) Clowes'', ''Nicholas Carlozzi' ...

. Entex released six games for the device before they dropped support in 1982 in favor of the

Entex Adventure Vision Adventure Vision is a cartridge-based video game console released by Entex Industries in either August or October 1982. The launch price of the system was $79.95. The monitor, game controls, and computer hardware are all contained within a single ...

Hardware

The Select-a-Game uses a 7 x 16

vacuum fluorescent display A vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) is a display device once commonly used on consumer electronics equipment such as video cassette recorders, car radios, and microwave ovens. A VFD operates on the principle of cathodoluminescence, roughly s ...

(VFD) array of large dots as the main display. It can display two colors, red and blue. These are combined with static overlays for each game. Together they make up the display. The system is basically a display and controller for the games with no built-in

processor Processor may refer to: Computing Hardware * Processor (computing) **Central processing unit (CPU), the hardware within a computer that executes a program *** Microprocessor, a central processing unit contained on a single integrated circuit (I ...

power. Each game cartridge contains a microprocessor programmed with the appropriate game code in it. In this respect, it is very similar to the concept of

Milton Bradley Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and ...

Microvision The Microvision (aka Milton Bradley Microvision or MB Microvision) is the first Handheld console, handheld game console that used interchangeable ROM cartridge, cartridges and in that sense is reprogrammable. It was released by the Milton Bradley ...

system released a few years earlier. The system can be powered by four C batteries, or by an external A/C power supply. The power supply was only available by mail-order.

Games

The games released for the system are: *''

Space Invader 2 Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually conside ...

'' *''Basketball 3'' *''Football 4'' *''Pinball'' *''Baseball 4'' *'' Pacman 2'' *''

Battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

'' (not released) *''

Turtles Turtles are an order (biology), order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) an ...

'' (not released) ''Space Invader 2'' came with the system. In late 1981, Entex was sued by

Coleco Coleco Industries, Inc. was an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as The Connecticut Leather Company. It was a successful toy company in the 1980s, mass-producing versions of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game console ...

, which held the licensing rights to handheld versions of Pac-Man at the time, for copyright infringement over their upcoming release of ''Pacman 2''. The game was pulled shortly after release as part of the settlement. Because of this, ''Pacman 2'' is the rarest game released for the system. The game cartridges play very similar to their hand held counterparts (Entex made quite a few hand held games such as ''Space Invader 2'', ''Basketball 3'', ''Pacman 2'', etc.).

References

Handheld game consoles Products introduced in 1981 1980s toys {{Videogame-hardware-stub