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
Archon: The Light and the Dark Archon: The Light and the Dark Archon: The Light and the Dark is a 1983 video game developed by Free Fall Associates and one of the first five games published by Electronic Arts. It is similar in concept to chess, in that it takes place on a board with squares, but, instead of fixed rules when landing on another player's piece, an arcade-style fight takes place to determine the victor. Also unlike chess, each side has different pieces with ranging abilities. These abilities are enhanced when landing on a square of one's own color. "Archon" was originally developed for Atari