Blip (stylized as Blip. THE DIGITAL GAME) is a tabletop

electro-mechanical Electromechanics combine processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Electromechanics focus on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems interact with each ...

game marketed by

Tomy (trade name, trading as Takara Tomy in Asia and Tomy elsewhere) is a Japanese toy company. It was established in 1924 by Eiichirō Tomiyama as , became known for creating popular toys like the B-29 friction toy and luck-based game Pop-up Pi ...

starting in

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The system can play a

two-player A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

that is very similar to

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...

's video game

Pong ''Pong'' is a 1972 sports video game developed and published by Atari for arcades. It is one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, but B ...

, and a single-player game. In

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the system was sold under the name ''Blip-o-Mat''. In

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, the game was marketed as ''World Tennis''.

History

''Blip'' was designed by Hikoo Usami for the Tomy Kogyo Co., the patent being filed in

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

and awarded on December 19, 1977. Tomy marketed ''Blip'' in the U.S. starting in 1977. In Japan, ''Blip'' was marketed as ''World Tennis'' and differed from the U.S. game by having the words "World Tennis" emblazoned on the screen and replacing the 1, 2, and 3 on the screen with silhouettes of tennis players. The ''Blip'' name remained on the Japanese version. In France, the game was marketed by Meccatronic. The German version was called ''Blip-o-Matic'', although the ''Blip'' name remained on the case.

Gameplay

For a two-player game, the game's selector switch is set to position 2 (for two players). The game is then turned on and the red

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

ball lit up. Whichever side the ball is on serves first. The server's score counter is set to "0" while the receiver's counter was set to "R". The timer is then turned. A push of the "serve" button starts the game. The players must anticipate where the ball would land in one of three spaces on the "playing field" marked 1, 2, and 3. The player must then push the corresponding button ''before'' the ball "lands" on the space. If the player is successful in anticipating the ball's space and pushes the button in time, the ball is then "returned" to the opposing player. If the player anticipated wrongly, the ball stops and that player must then serve the ball, giving the opposing player 1 point. Game play continues until either the timer stops or 10 points was earned by one of the players. ''Blip'' is also capable of being played by a single person when the selector switch is set to position 1.

Components

The game is housed in a plastic case with a translucent screen. On the screen is a dashed line dividing the screen in half (and simulating a net) and at either side are the three positions for the ball to land. The upper portion of the case also contains the three position buttons, the serve buttons, the player selector, and the timer dial. The underside contains the wheels to turn the score counters and the battery compartment. It is the timer which provides the motor function to the game. Upon the timer dial being turned, a spring is wound which then, via several gears, drives the arm upon which the LED light (the ball) is mounted. The movement repeats after the ball hits each player's side 36 times, so it is possible to memorise the sequence of buttons to press. The LED (and series resistor) is the only electrical component of the game, and is powered by two AA batteries. As a result, with sufficient ambient light the game is playable without batteries as one can see the unlit LED under the screen.

Reviews

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Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

References

{{Reflist 1970s toys Products introduced in 1977 Takara Tomy