Entex Industries, Inc. was an American

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pe ...

and

electronic game An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common ...

manufacturer based in Compton,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. The company was active during the 1970s and 1980s.

Background

The company was formed in 1970 by ''G.A. (Tony) Clowes'', ''Nicholas Carlozzi'' and ''Nick Underhill''. It was based at 303 West Artesia Blvd, Compton. Its name was derived from taking Nicholas' and Tony's initials and adding an 'X' on the end to form ''NTX'', which when spoken sounds like ''Entex''. Nick Underhill's initial was not included as he had joined the company after the name had already been chosen, but before it opened for business. The company logo consisted of an

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

bullseye with a smiling face in the middle. In 1980, the company achieved sales in excess of $100 million. The company folded in the early eighties, due in part to increasing competition from

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...

s and

computer game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

s which quickly became a preferred form of entertainment, much to the cost of the electronic games industry.

Products

The company originally made

model kit A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

s and

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlockin ...

-like connectable toy bricks called '' Loc Blocs'', before later moving into the handheld and tabletop

market. Electronic games produced by Entex have been described as ''"high end"'' and ''"high-quality"'' and the company itself used the motif ''"Games for the discriminating player"'', indicating that the more expensive end of the market was specifically targeted. Many Entex products were rebadged and sold under license outside the US.

Conventional Electronic Games

Entex produced

LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but i ...

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 (cor ...

and VFD-based electronic games, including 3-D Grand Prix, Blast It, Defender and Pac Man 2 amongst others. In 1976, Entex Industries released the Gameroom Tele-Pong dedicated

home video game console A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. Home consoles are generally less powerful and customizable than ...

Programmable Electronic Games

In order to compete with video consoles, Entex introduced two cartridge based tabletop electronic game systems in 1981–1982, called Select-A-Game and

Adventure Vision Adventure Vision is a cartridge-based video game console released by Entex Industries in either August or October 1982. The launch price of the system was $79.95. The monitor, game controls, and computer hardware are all contained within a single ...

. In particular, the ''Adventure Vision'', along with its cartridges have become highly sought after collector's items.

References

{{reflist Electronic games Defunct companies based in California Defunct video game companies of the United States Toy companies of the United States Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Compton, California