An Electric Football Sell Out Tudor was riding high into 1978. They completely sold out their Super Bowl line in previous year, and were going to earned their first Sears Excellence Award since 1974. Part of the reason for that … Continue reading
A Tudor Resurgence in 1977 After a surprisingly successful 1976, and with competition in the Electric Football marketplace essentially non-existent, Norman Sas consolidated Tudor’s line for 1977. There would only be three games, with the top model being the Super … Continue reading
America’s Bicentennial Year The American Bicentennial year started with Coleco launching its Telstar home video game console at Toy Fair. In addition, 1976 started with Munro Games on the way to bankruptcy (July). So neither company was overly concerned about … Continue reading
Munro Games Is In Trouble Munro Games overextended itself in both Electric Football and table hockey in the early 1970s. So by 1975 the company is in deep financial trouble. Desperately trying to make a go in Air Hockey while … Continue reading
Oil Crisis Hits the Economy The oil crisis hit the U.S. at the end of 1973. This sent the U.S. economy into free fall and the toy business into turmoil, with toy shortages during the 1973 Christmas season. The toy … Continue reading
Too Much Electric Football Part 2 Coleco was also starting to downsize and economize, making smaller Electric Football games and games with more plastic in them – i.e. cheaper games. They were even making several Electric Football models that didn’t … Continue reading
A Battle For Toy Buyers With four different companies making Electric Football games, catalog space and toy store shelf space was becoming scarce. The problem was so serious that by summer there would only be three Electric Football makers left, … Continue reading
A New Competitor in Coleco Tudor’s success with Electric Football enticed a third toy maker onto the vibrating gridiron in 1970. That company was Coleco, who was no stranger to the sports toy market thanks to their successful line … Continue reading
Twenty years after creating Electric Football, Tudor secured the game’s status as an all-time “Featured Toy.” They did it with their new Sears-exclusive Super Bowl model, a game that recreated in miniature the most important game in professional football history. … Continue reading
The AFL Gets Electric Football Respect Tudor expanded their Electric Football line to include an Official AFL game in 1968. The AFL No. 520 model came with the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Jets, with the Jets being … Continue reading
Tudor Takes the NFL License Electric Football’s place in American culture changed forever in 1967. The year is a dividing line for how the game is viewed, with the event dividing the pre-1967 and post-1967 periods being Tudor unseating Gotham … Continue reading
Tudor’s Answer to the Big Bowl Tudor and Ward took on the Big Bowl challenge. Lee Payne got to work and designed a bowl-like grandstand for a special Ward-exclusive Electric Football game. The game was the 1966 Sports Classic “accordion” … Continue reading
The Gotham Big Bowl Gotham and Sears unveil the most extravagant Electric Football game ever made – the Gotham NFL Big Bowl. The game has an elaborate double-deck grandstand that stretches 2/3 of the way around the playing field. And … Continue reading
The Fab 5 Norman Sas was a Toy Manufacturers Association vice president in 1964. And that year Tudor redesigned their legendary No. 500 model and also their 3-D Electric Football players. The No. 500 became more colorful game, including a … Continue reading
Tudor and Gotham War of Words Tudor’s new Sculpt-Action players are so successful that Gotham “borrows” from Tudor and makes their own 3-D Electric Football players. The two companies have a public “War of Words” in the toy trade publication … Continue reading
Tudor vs Gotham The Electric Football competition between Tudor and Gotham is truly “on.” After Gotham unveiled the NFL G-1500, Tudor responds by creating the first ever 3-D Electric Football players. The players were designed by Lee Payne, who also … Continue reading
Electric Football Is a Top Toy A new decade begins with Electric Football having a prominent place in the toy world. This even includes a “Top Toy” designation! Tudor’s game is available at retailers around the country. This includes pharmacies, … Continue reading
Tudor and Gotham Compete For Sales Tudor and Gotham continue their Electric Football competition as NFL pro football becomes more popular in American culture, thanks in large part to television. Gotham Being Sold by Sears and Montgomery Ward at … Continue reading
At No. 15 on the Electric Football Game Top 20 Countdown is the 1970 Montgomery Ward No. 627 model. After watching with envy as the the 1969 Sears Super Bowl game became one of the most popular items in Electric … Continue reading
Fifty year ago in 1966 Tudor didn’t have the NFL, and were actually in the process of trying to convince NFL Properties that they were worthy of the NFL. It was a tall order. Current NFL licensee Gotham was heading … Continue reading