[jhbadger]

They even made "fake" electronic games like Blip -- a version of Pong that was electromechanical rather than electronic. Presumably at the time that was a cheaper way to do things, but like mechanical watches it is in a way more impressive than using electronics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blip_(console)

[Mountain_Skies]

We had Blip and a baseball game that tried to look like an electronic game but we instantly knew it was inferior to the "real" thing. Looking back on it now, the mechanical games were more impressive, even if the electronic games were more expensive due to the various ICs.

Though Blip used batteries, it didn't go through them anywhere near the rate something like Head-to-Head football did. The baseball game was completely human powered, making them both far more useful in our rural area where batteries weren't available without a trip to town. Plus batteries were an added expense.