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
Name That Tune (UK game show) name as many tunes as possible within 30 seconds. The clock stopped as soon as a contestant buzzed in to provide the title, although, after five seconds, the clock stopped and the tune was thrown out. Each tune was worth £50 but the seventh tune was worth £200. The contestant who named seven tunes correctly won the game and went on to the Big Prize Tune. The contestant was escorted on-stage into an isolation booth (which was wired so that they could only hear the host and the piano). Then, the pianist opened a golden envelope, with the sheet music