Mystery about the "cardiogram" solved
For years, Game&Watch collectors have been puzzling of what is known as the "cardiogram" logo. The logo is imprinted on a Fire of the Wide Screen series. It’s clear, that the game comes from Great Britain because it carries the CGL logo. So it was suspected that the company with the cardiogram logo should also come from England.
Old Cockpit Panel from a RAF (Royal Air Force) Tornado FighterNow the secret is revealed: It’s the company Plessey from the UK. Plessey was a British, international electronics, defense and telecommunications company founded in 1917. In 1989, it was acquired by a consortium of GEC and Siemens, which split the assets of the Plessey Group.
Quelle und weitere Infos: Wiki
Many thanks to Peter, Aris and Norman for the great hints!
PS: In the Promo FAQ, the Fire is no longer listed as a "cardiogram", but correctly as "Plessey" :)
News about Promo Game&Watch
The FAQ about the advertising Game&Watch was missing two photos:
Chef bélier and Parachute OMO. These pictures are now available and added to the FAQ:
Finally, four new Promo Game&Watch have been discovered!
Parachute Total, Parachute Tricots Saint James, Popeye Kanterbräu and Oil Panic Siteco:
These can also be found in the FAQ about the advertising games.
A big thank you to all the members, collectors and interested people in Game & Watch, who have provided photos and information and provide them here!
Some functions out of order
Some database functions are out of order due technical problems:
- Database search for games
- Price charts
Sorry for any inconvience.
Brazilian Game & Watch?
There's a very interesting story regarding a supposedly Brazilian set of Nintendo Game & Watch items...
Marcus Vinicius Garrett Chiado, a brazilian journalist and historical researcher of the genesis of video games in Brazil, told, in his most recent published work ("1983 + 1984 - Quando os videogames chegaram", yet with no translation to English or any other language than Portuguese), that a Brazilian businessman had interest to officialy sell our beloved gadgets here.
However, the negotiations didn't go forward because his original plan was to use his Brazil's plant to make the final assembly of G&W with parts coming from Japan, which didn't please Nintendo at a first glance. In addition, Nintendo required certain assurances that left the entrepreneur upset to the point of giving up the idea, mainly because his company was very well rated internationally and this lack of confidence hurt him. So, if this had worked, besides the classical international G&W distributions (tricOtronic, J.i21, CGL, Giochi Preziosi, OTOYS, NOA, Pocketsize, Videopoche and others less known - like the Argentinean blue-cased games), we'd have a new Brazilian line, with paperwork and manuals in Portuguese! and, maybe, with boxes containing its own artwork.
Surely it would have been a nice alternative to lower costs for Brazilian customers, who had to face high prices, lack of many items and rare places to find them, back in 80's!
For the interested ones, the original article is on page 21 of the above mentioned book, whose official Facebook page can be reached here (only visible for logged in users at Facebook).
Finnisch Manual
Instructions for the Game & Watch Games are available in several different languages. Newly discovered was a manual in Finnish for the game DJ Junior of the New Wide Screen series. A nice find of a retrogame collector named GameCollector90.
In Finland the games were imported and sold by the Finnish company Kioskkette Rautakirja. The manual is an original and was part of the Game DK Junior, which GameCollector90 had bought on the Swiss Ricardo auction platform.
The seller bought the game originally in 2004 on an auction platform in Finland.
Many thanks to GameCollector90 for the info and the photo!
First Promo Game&Watch from the Panorama Screen Series!
A few days ago, a collector discovered and bought a Promo Game&Watch from the Panorama Screen Series. It’s the first known Promo Game of the Panorama Screen Series ever!
The imprint shows the logo of the company Agfa. This company mainly is known for developing, manufacturing and distributing analogue and digital imaging products and systems.
Thanks a lot to our member bmogeda for the information and for the pictures.
New Promo Game&Watch "Phosphatine"
Recently a new promotional Gam&Watch game was discovered. It’s a Parachute that has the brand Phosphatine imprinted.
Phosphatine is a food based on cereals, especially for infants. It is produced by the company Blédina, which belongs to the Nestlé group. The game comes from a sales representative who sold Phosphatine over 30 years ago.
Game&Watch Promo "Coral" Rain Shower sold for over 2'000 Euro!
On November 21st, a super rare Rain Shower with the brand name of "Coral" imprinted on the front of the game was sold on ebay for EUR 2'300! Perhaps the most expensive promo Game&Watch so far.
Game&Watch Discovery of the Year!
Collectors of Game&Watch very well know the colorful Pocketsize Games that were released in the USA and Canada. And collectors know the nice carded Games as well. But up until now, no one ever has seen a carded Pocketsize Game!Our member Ash888 made the discovery of the year – a carded Pocketsize Snoopy Tennis SP-30 from the Wide Screen Series! An incredible find!
Ash actually owns this game now. He bought it a few weeks ago off a seller from the USA. Unfortunately the seller didn’t tell (or know?) anything further about this rare piece of Game&Watch history.
How many more carded Pocketsize Games are out there...?
See Ash’s post in the forum
New Game&Watch Promo "Lord Extra"
The series of special promotional games is extended by another game. On February 22nd, a tricOtronic Achtung Graben (Manhole) of the Gold Series was on ebay.
The extra outer cardboard is an advert for tobacco, precisely for Lord Extra cigarettes. This Promo clearly comes from Germany, because it’s a tricOtronic game and because Lord Extra is a German cigarette brand.
Unfortunately, the seller could not provide any further information about this promo. He bought the game on ebay himself a while ago.
==> Link to the auction | ==> Auktion as PDF
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