Handheld electronic game by less bright dots). In 1978 the Milton Bradley Company entered the handheld market with Simon, a simple color-and-sound-matching game. Simon had no dedicated display, but featured four colored, lighted buttons; the original version was large enough to be used as a tabletop game or a handheld; later versions became increasingly smaller. The same year, Parker Brothers also released Merlin, a more sophisticated handheld which could play six different games using an array of 11 buttons with integrated LEDs. Despite their relative simplicity, each of these early games was highly successful. The initial success of Mattel and Parker Brothers' entries
Lock-out device players ring in on a question, the host can ask each of the main contestants for an answer in the order they rang in before moving on to the spoilers in the order they rang in (should no one provide the correct answer) by using the numbers on the podiums. Lock-out device A lock-out device is a system used on game shows, particularly trivia shows, to determine in real time which contestant has activated their signal first. The system is designed to detect the first signal it receives and ignore subsequent signals. The system provides some indication of which contestant