Skip to content
The Glow of the Game

Two volumes · 252 games · 1972 to 1985 and beyond

The Glow of the Game

Before the Game Boy and the home computer, there was the glow: red LEDs behind smoked plastic, blue-green vacuum fluorescent screens and the first grey whispers of LCD. Two A4 hardbacks, every game photographed from the author's own collection.

Order the books Look inside

Save 10% Buy both volumes together and save 10%.

The Glow of the Game Volume OneThe Glow of the Game Volume Two

From the Preface

Press start

Every collection starts with one game. Mine started in a corner shop on stilts, with a pound note in my pocket and a red LED blinking behind a sheet of smoked plastic. This book, and the one that follows it, is my attempt to explain why that light still matters.

The games are arranged by year, and each year opens with a chapter that sets the scene: the technology, the money and the mood. After that, every game gets its own spread: the photograph on the left, its story on the right.

— Gordon Stevenson, from the Preface

252
games across two volumes, every one photographed from the author's own collection
588
full-colour A4 pages in two case-bound hardbacks
1972–85
from the first red flicker of LED to the pocket LCD revolution, plus the odd ones out

The books

Two volumes, one glow

Cover of The Glow of the Game Volume One
Coming soon

Volume One

The Glow of the Game

1972–1980. From the first red flicker of LED to the rise of LCD

Before the Game Boy and the home computer, there was the glow. Volume One follows the handheld and tabletop electronic game from 1972 to 1980, from dice that roll themselves to Mattel’s Auto Race, Parker Brothers’ Merlin and Simon.

Games
138
Pages
316
Format
Hardback, case bound, full colour, 150gsm coated paper
Size
A4 portrait (210 × 297 mm)
Get notifiedSee inside & full game list
Cover of The Glow of the Game Volume Two
Coming soon

Volume Two

The Glow of the Game

1981–1985 and beyond. From the golden age of VFD to the pocket LCD revolution

By 1981 the chips were cheap, the factories were ready and the arcades were packed. Volume Two covers the golden age of the handheld: Astro Wars, Coleco’s tabletop Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, Nintendo’s Game & Watch, Tomytronic 3-D and the crash of 1983.

Games
114
Pages
272
Format
Hardback, case bound, full colour, 150gsm coated paper
Size
A4 portrait (210 × 297 mm)
Get notifiedSee inside & full game list
The Glow of the Game Volume OneThe Glow of the Game Volume Two
Save 10%

Better together: buy both volumes

Both volumes together: 252 games, 588 pages, from the first red flicker of LED to the pocket LCD revolution. Buy the pair and save 10%.

Get notified about the set

Look inside

A spread for every game

The photograph on the left, its story on the right: specs, how to play and three interesting facts.

See all the spreads
Double-page spread: Auto Race · Mattel Electronics · 1976
Volume One Auto Race · Mattel Electronics · 1976
Double-page spread: Simon · Milton Bradley · 1978
Volume One Simon · Milton Bradley · 1978
Double-page spread: Astro Wars · Epoch · 1981
Volume Two Astro Wars · Epoch · 1981
Double-page spread: Thundering Turbo · Tomy · 1983
Volume Two Thundering Turbo · Tomy · 1983

From the pages

A few of the games inside

More game excerpts
Auto Race, Mattel Electronics, 1976
Volume One Mattel Electronics · 1976

Auto Race

Mattel’s Auto Race is widely regarded as the first handheld game to be entirely electronic.
Simon, Milton Bradley, 1978
Volume One Milton Bradley · 1978

Simon

Watch, listen, repeat. Simon plays a sequence of lights and tones on four coloured lenses and dares you to copy it, one step longer every round.
Speak & Spell, Texas Instruments, 1978
Volume One Texas Instruments · 1978

Speak & Spell

Listen to the synthesised voice say a word, spell it out on the alphabetical keyboard and see how many you get right out of ten: Speak & Spell is the talking tutor that put a speech synthesiser in…
Electronic Detective, Ideal, 1979
Volume One Ideal · 1979

Electronic Detective

Ideal’s Electronic Detective is a battery-powered whodunnit: a computer holds every alibi, and one to four detectives race to question the suspects and name the killer.
Merlin, Parker Brothers, 1979
Volume One Parker Brothers · 1979

Merlin

Merlin was one of the first hand-held games with a computer inside.
Star Wars, Kenner, 1979
Volume One Kenner · 1979

Star Wars

Kenner’s Battle Command is widely cited as the first officially licensed Star Wars electronic game.

The games

252 games, from Blackjack to Barcode Battler

See the full list

Volume One 1972–1980

21 Blackjack Electro Tic-Tac-Toe Comput-A-Dice Flashpoint Roulette The Dice Auto Race Blip Dataman Electronic Master Mind Logic 5 Monkey See Alien Invaders Amaze-A-Tron Arcade Attack Armor Battle Baseball Bestech Missile Black Racer Bowling 300 Casino 21 Compu-Bowl Compute-A-Tune Demon Driver Elecroad Football Football II Foto-Electronic Bowling Hockey Intercept Little Professor Mathemagician Mind Boggler Scrabble Sensor Simon Soccer Space Alert Space Shot with Timer Speak & Spell Sub Chase The Game Machine Touch Me Alien Avenger Attack Invader Basketball Blockbuster Brain Baffler Computer Perfection Dentist Dr. Smith Easy Dice Einstein Electronic Concentration Electronic Detective Electronic Hockey Electronic Poker Follow Me Head to Head Hockey Ice Hockey Lightning Luke Major Morgan Maniac Merlin Missile Strike Name That Tune Pools Prospector Professor Einstein Red Light Green Light Rocket Pinball Solitaire Space Attack Space Battle Space Laser Fight Spelling ABC Star Wars Super-Sonic UFO Master-Blaster Wildfire Zap! Zodiac Blast It Champion Racer Charlie the Super Electronic Mini-Organ Computerized Chess Cue Ball (Bank Shot in the USA) Detective Shoestring Electric Bowling Electron Blaster Electronic Striker Exec-U-Play Executive Decision Maker Fabulous Fred Fire Away FL Battle Beam FL Beam Galaxian Galaxian Galaxy Invader 1000 Genius Gunfighter Head to Head Head to Head Football Jackpot Jimmy Math Marvel Melody Madness Milton Missile Invader Mr Subattack Musical Marvin Newport 500 Pocket Simon Power House Pinball Quiz Machine Racetrack Raise the Devil Sound FX Phasor Space Invader Space Invaders & Block Buster Spaceship Pinball Speak & Maths Speak & Read Split Second Strobe Super Simon Tactix Tennis Torpedo Shoot Yacht Four

Volume Two 1981–1985 and beyond

Alien Attack Amidar Astro Invader Astro Wars Black Belt Combat Pilot: Star Blazer Crazy Climbing Crazy Kong Electronic Reaction FL Packri Monster FL U-Boat Football Frogger Galactic Invaders Galaxian Galaxy Twinvader Head to Head Boxing Lightfight Mini Munchman Munchman Music Challenger IV Musical Challenger X 12 Ogre Eater Pac-Man PacMan2 Pak-Pak Man II Pass Me! Pocket Repeat Pomcard 5 Quiz Wiz Race ’N’ Chase Reflex Safari Super Space Invader 2 Super Space-Jack Swat Swat The Big Game Total Control 4 Tron Arcade Defender Caveman Changeman FL Cosmic Scramble Donkey Kong Dracula House Earth Invaders Fitter Flipper Électronique Galaxy Invader 10000 Great Escape Jet Fighters Jungler Kingman Lupin Maximus Monkey See Monster Chase Paint Roller Puck Monster Scramble Space Shot Stargate Super Cobra Super Kong The Dracula Turtles Zaxxon 3-D Shark Attack 3D Dogfight Basketball BMX Flyer Computer Pinball Computerized Arcade Cosmic 2000 Dig Dug Donkey Kong Jr. Firefox F-7 Golf Mario’s Cement Factory Monty Plays Scrabble Ms. Pac-Man Pengo FL Planet Zeon Pocket Scramble Popeye Q*bert Sky Attack Skyfighters Slot Elepachi FL Snoopy Thundering Turbo Zig Zag Monster Alien Chase Hyper Olympic Miracle Pinball My First Computer Pair Match Star Force Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends Trivia Timer Space Turbo Magic Brain Animator Mini Wizard Wizard Copy Cat Electronic Pinball Barcode Battler Lock-On Lights Out Game Robot 50

Gordon Stevenson

About the author

Gordon Stevenson

Gordon Stevenson has spent more than forty years collecting handheld electronic games, alongside a period owning full-size arcade machines. Across a long and varied career spanning over 30 years in the news industry for some of the UK's largest publishers, he has held a number of digital editorial and change leadership roles, including founding two dot-com startups. Despite this, he has always retained a deep affection for analogue pursuits, most notably an extensive (and ever-growing) vinyl record collection.

Over the decades, Gordon has also, more importantly, built an impressive archive of vintage electronic handheld games. This book is a natural extension of that lifelong passion, offering him the opportunity to share his private collection, unlimited enthusiasm and limited knowledge with a wider like-minded audience.

More about Gordon and the collection →

Be first to know

Get an email the day they're out

We only use your email to tell you about the book.