Speak and Spell: Bringing Kids Education to Gaming
While video games set up their cultural empire, kids continued to covet handheld electronic toys. Texas Instruments wasn’t looking to revolutionize the late 1970s technological learning toy market. It was doing well with its calculators, computer electronics, and microprocessors. But four engineers, two of which helped develop The Little Professor, convinced the electronics giant to give it a try.
The Speak and Spell blended fun, a unique solid-circuit technology, and education, pleasing kids and parents. The idea was simple; the game tells the player to spell one of its 200 words. The player would have to spell the word on its built-in keyboard. If they spelled the word right, they would hear “That is correct” or “That is right!” and moved to the next word. Speak and Spell got an added marketing boost when it featured in the blockbuster hit movie E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial.
