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
The Who, What, or Where Game in various subjects; one category per game usually "Pot Luck," with random questions) had three question choices: a "who" question (dealing with people), a "what" question (dealing with things), and a "where" question (dealing with places). Each question had odds attached to it depending on the difficulty of the question. Easy questions paid off at even (1:1) odds, noted by an E under the question, but more difficult questions offered higher odds, usually 2:1 or 3:1. Each question was read only once. Originally players could wager up to $25 for first round questions and $50 for second round questions, but