- Children's Discovery System
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The Mattel Children's Discovery System was an early electronic educational toy product released in 1981. The Children's Discovery System was targeted toward children aged 6 to 11[1] and mimicked the look of a contemporary consumer-grade computer.
Contents
Specifications
The Children's Discovery System used a 16-by-48 matrix LCD screen[2] and was powered by six size AA alkaline batteries.[3] The screen was much wider than it was tall, therefore only a grid of 8-by-2 text was possible, allowing for a maximum of 16 characters on-screen at any given moment.
The unit came preprogrammed with three modes: Art mode, Music mode and Type mode. The Discovery System came with a specially laid-out membrane keyboard to better accommodate the built-in modes and also made use of keyboard overlays for use with expansion modules. Also included with the unit was a large activity book with over 100 suggested learning activities specially-tailored for the Discovery System.[4]
Expansion module cartridges
- Arcade I
- Arcade II
- Art
- Computer Programming
- Foods
- Fractions I
- Fractions II
- Geography I
- Math Quiz/Calculator
- Memory Logic
- Music
- Nutrition
- Presidents
- Science I
- Spelling Fun
- US Cities
- Words I
- Words II
References
- ^ "Handheld Game Museum - Children's Discovery System (Mattel 1981 catalog)". http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/Mattel1981/Mattel81_10.htm.
- ^ "The Great Game Database - Mattel Children's Discovery System". http://www.ggdb.com/GameByName.aspx?c=Handheld&s=Other&l=C&vid=6592.
- ^ "Computer History Museum - The Children's Discovery System computerized learning system". http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102630217.
- ^ "Handheld Game Museum - Children's Discovery System (Mattel 1981 catalog)". http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/Mattel1981/Mattel1981-10.jpg.
External links
- The Great Game Database - Mattel Children's Discovery System
- Digital Press - Game Listings: Mattel[dead link]
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