Simon, the revolutionary kids memory game
Around the same time Merlin made its appearance, another electronic game was making a name for itself. Simon was invented in the late 1970s by Ralph Baer, and distributed by game empire Milton Bradley. It was a simple circular device, with a control panel in the middle surrounded by four large, colored buttons. The buttons were red, yellow, green, and blue, and pushed by the player. Players would listen to a simple musical tone generated either by the game or by their opponent, and watch its corresponding button light up. They would then have to repeat that tone by pressing the correct button in the correct order. As the player advanced, the tones became longer and faster. Simon would inspire copycats, such as Waddington’s Wizard game, with similar gameplay but without the iconic flashing buttons. Simon reached its sales peak in the 1980s, and still sells decades later.