Blip (Tomy)
“The Digital Game.” Uh-huh, yeah, right. This baby was _mechanical_. But apparently, it was pushed and perceived as a handheld digital game unit, and reportedly it was a hot seller on or about Christmas 77. Not sure, since I didn’t grow up in the US of A, but I did have one, and I have to admit that despite its digital posturing, I did have some fun with the thing for a while… at least until I figured out its “secret.”
It needed two AA batteries, but interestingly enough, not to power the device. The batteries were just for the red LED “ball.” It used a manual wind-up power source instead.
For 1 or 2 players. Three buttons on each side; you had to anticipate (and press) which of the three buttons the red “blip” would land on to hit the ball back. You miss, and your opponent (or the computer) scores.
The secret: At least on my unit, you’d notice that the blip would more often than not NOT land on the button directly opposite the button it came from (if it left opposing button 1, the blip would very rarely go to the button directly across from it, #3, and instead go to one of the other two). Figuring that out took a bit of the fun out of it. 
Please, comment below and share your Tomy Blip memories with the rest of us (or give any additional information on the product).
