''Electronic Quarterback'' is a

handheld electronic game Handheld electronic games are very small, portable devices for playing interactive electronic games, often miniaturized versions of video games. The controls, display and speakers are all part of a single unit. Rather than a general-purpose ...

made by

Coleco Coleco Industries, Inc. was an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as The Connecticut Leather Company. It was a successful toy company in the 1980s, mass-producing versions of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game conso ...

in 1978. It is powered by a

9-volt battery The nine-volt battery, or 9-volt battery, is an electric battery that supplies a nominal voltage of 9 volts. Actual voltage measures 7.2 to 9.6 volts, depending on battery chemistry. Batteries of various sizes and capacities are manufactured; ...

or an AC adaptor, and it differentiated itself from the other similar handheld electronic American football games of the era, notably

Mattel Electronics The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. The name is a portmanteau of "intelligent television". Development began in 1977, the same year as the launch of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. In 1984, ...

's version, by having two blockers and giving the quarterback the ability to pass. Like many electronic games in the late 1970s, it was also released by

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

under their own brand and the name ''Electronic Touchdown''.

Gameplay

The game plays a simplified version of American football with three offensive players and either six or seven computer-controlled defensive players depending on the player-selected difficulty. As implied by the game's name, the focus is on running and passing; gameplay proceeds essentially without punts or kickoffs. Kickoffs typically result in a touchback, with the following drive starting at the 20-yard line; however, according to the game's instruction manual, occasionally the game allows a kickoff to be run back.

References

American football video games Handheld electronic games Products introduced in 1978 Video games developed in the United States 1970s toys {{amfoot-videogame-stub