Merlin
While home gaming played on the television was gaining steam, there was still a strong market for handheld electronic games. Merlin, developed by former NASA employee Bob Doyle, brought electronic gaming into homes in the late 1970s, but its reign continued well into the 1980s. The game was a long, narrow, bright red rectangle divided into three segments. Players could choose between six games like Tic-Tac-Toe, blackjack, Magic Square, or just make music, all by using eleven red LED-lit buttons. The microprocessor inside the unit controlled all gameplay, ran by a battery, making Merlin an easily portable game. There were five million Merlins sold during its initial run, and it inspired other electronic gaming, with ever-increasing technological and visual capabilities.