VINTAGE 70'S MERLIN 6 GAMES IN ONE TOY COMMERCIAL

[saml760]

you can get this at ebay,which is where i got it.

[187SicknesS]

ha! i still have mine, its in the other room now.

[katrus]

I had one of these as a kid. I remember really enjoying it. Took 6 AAs, if memory serves me right, and ran for quite a while on them.

[ericn9vjg]

Back in the day when this came out, nothing included batteries. Many games were still wind-up devices.

[oneeyesmiley55]

I used my family's Merlin to play the tone from the "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" movie over and over. Didn't summon any aliens, but Merlin *was* loads of fun.

[Mysterycat74]

My sister wanted Merlin SO BAD! The girl down the street had it and we'd always just use it as a fake phone whenever we'd all play "house" or whatever. (The batteries were ALWAYS dead and it took very ODD, expensive hard-to-find hearing-aid type batteries!) When she FINALLY replaced the batteries and we actually played with it...I have to say it was the lamest most boring toy on the planet! Even for the early 80's! Tic Tac Toe? Gee...that's SECONDS of fun I could play on a piece of PAPER!

[ZuzuBailey]

@Mysterycat74, Merlin took 6 AA batteries, not "ODD, expensive hard-to-find hearing-aid type batteries". Back in the 70's, AA batteries were referred to as "pen light batteries".

[Bubbaist]

I had one of these when I was 8 in the late 70's. It was a lot of fun then. It wouldn't be to kids today.

[Mysterycat74]

@Bubbaist Yea, I know...and they WERE odd! even my parents thought so back then! SIX pen light batteries weren't cheap! way more than buying 2 regular NORMAL batteries! I remember my parents having the HARDEST time finding pen light batteries (and hearing aid/pen light batteries were basically the same thing!) Especially SIX since I think they only came in packs of 2 and four and maybe 8, which wasn't cheap. 6 batteries is a bit excessive!

[CoolGreenAppler]

You're supposed to TRY to play Blackjack 13. It never said it was actually possible.

[Earych]

Simpler days. God these get me misty :(

[chandrahazelwood]

I was just reminising on my wonderful childhood.

[avengingkitty]

wow i remember this!

[mizlandry]

I had a Merlin. I loved this thing. I just sent it to electronic recycling a few years ago. For the record, it's the pinlight BATTERIES that were not included.

[coneyandapop]

My mother bought one of my cousins this one Christmas and I was slighty envious she got that. I still had great gifts that year.

[erinmsomers]

I remember my cousins had this and I had no damn idea what the hell it was..

[j2773]

@erinmsomers Same here!

[parp12345]

I had the UK version as a child and there was a sticker on the battery cover at the rear of the unit with the list of games and if you peeled it off it had the list of games but the US names such as tic tac toe etc.

[scottandrewhutchins]

We had this, but it stopped working via battery and worked only on AC adapter.

[pewmanfustudios]

I still have this. I found it in the closet and it still works. There is a "modern" version out now. It is almost the same, but has push buttons.

[rickynovosad]

well......junior.....the thing had and mine still does and work too! 11 yess 11 count'em 1-9 and 1 at the top and 1 at the bottom center of the other center 9. very fun and also one time on a flight i forgot to turn it off and started up a playback game while in my seat sorage pocket ,igues i hit a key to trigger it it was flashing and beeping .. well thecrew went berzerk!!!! what is that !!!ect. even the captian got involved with the thing they thought it wwwwas abbbbomb! kids always carry'em

[c8udyp]

I used to play "magic square" on that thing ad nauseum

[manfocused]

I never understood this game. I was born in '73 so maybe being so young was the reason why.

[kdc43]

@manfocused 1973?........UR old.

[manfocused]

@kdc43 Lmao! Is that supposed to be an insult? I'm 38, that's not old. You do realize you will be 38 one day, too, right?

[kdc43]

@manfocused I'll be 38? That's impossible.

[DinoMireles78]

yup, still know the lyrics verbatim.

[KrlsB33]

They have a new one of these for sale but it's not the same. It talks with a really annoying voice and the buttons are different. I remember thinking the buttons on my old one were really futuristic. :D

[BrianlovesSunshine]

My brother got this and I got a Simon.

[c0deMunkey]

6 penlight batteries... wow have not heard AA batteries called "penlight" batteries in years.

[Aeolis7]

I own one of these... today! It still works.

[tdickensheets]

We had one of those.

[vorevox]

@tdickensheets ...I had one 'back in the day' also.

[chandrahazelwood]

omg I had one of these. are they for sale still?

Tiney, WI

[clintonearlwalker]

@chandrahazelwood I just looked on e-bay, there's about 5 of them on there for sale.

[ArielMarianne]

Where did you take it?



[fjccommish]

Merlin plays six different games, each one of them is just as lame.

[swimmerB0B]

i still have my merlin and it's still boring... data man was much better.

[JohnnyBGood103170]

@swimmerB0B I have mine too.

[oakland2949]

and it took hella batteries. I bought a Speak and Spell several years ago. 4 C batteries. Hilarious.

search youtube Circuit Bent Speak and Spell.

[gavincurtis]

When the phone range, I figured she would have put the Merlin up to her head. But this was before the idea of even a wireless handset.

I have my Merlin somewhere in storage....

[kycruisecrazy]

I used to go through sooooooo many pin lite batteries. What a cool game.

[DoctorOttoOctavius]

I had this. It sucked.

[10Dec1971]

I got two of them for Christmas 1978! One from "Santa" and one from my aunt and uncle!

Dawn

[Aeolis7]

I still have my Merlin, and it works!

[luisisfresh79]

THE FIRST I-TOUCH?!?!

[Hydrocram]

it's still smaller than a 1st generation cell phone

[leokimvideo]

@Hydrocram lol

[FiendsInRedSatin1]

I faintly remember this back in the day. Electronic games have come a LOOONG way since then.

[govermentufo]

hahaa i got that origal in the box mint condition

[pardyhardly]

I used to spend hours playing that.

[ghostdancer2302]

Still have mine too, and it actually works.

[krowstudio]

I still have this - I think I played with it quite a bit.

[scohart]

Love it... I was just at a convention and someone had this... I had forgot about it till then, how cool was this toy? They still have some to buy on ebay and such... I might grab one.

[CrappyApple001]

I got this for Christmas in 1978. At the the time, it was THE toy to have. I played with that thing fir hours, hours and hours...