In 1978, a round piece of black plastic with four colored lenses, some lights and electronic sound effects took America by storm.
In 2003, the electronic game Simon celebrates its 25th anniversary. Hasbro marked the occasion with the release of of the two-sided Simon2 game, which includes the original classic Simon gameplay on one side and an all-new eight-button game on the other.
The "classic Simon" side of Simon2 features three games: standard Simon, Challenge Simon, and Group Simon.
The new eight-button game on the other side is for Head-to-Head Simon, which includes four games: Double Simon, Ultimate Simon, Extreme Simon, and Counterattack Simon.
I spoke with Chris Byrne, known as The Toy Guy, about the impact Simon had when it was first released in 1978.
"It created quite a sensation," he said. "It's hard to remember back then how relatively new the personal computer was, or how relatively new even things like a Texas Instruments sophisticated calculator were. We were in our first love affair with the computer chip, and this was the first game that capitalized on that."
But it wasn't an instant hit. Byrne said that Simon's popularity grew slowly before it became a hit with members of the mass media. "Simon really became one of the first toys that the mass media kind of turned into a cultural thing," he said. "Simon was one of the first times that we saw the translation of a product intended for kids and families into the culture as a whole."
Eventually, Simon became popular enough to warrant the 1980 release of Super Simon, a beefed-up sequel.
Byrne, the author of Toys - Celebrating 100 Years of the Power of Play, which is published by and available through the Toy Industry Association, said that Simon was just as pervasive in American pop culture as Trivial Pursuit would become in the 1980s -- although the latter game maintained its status over a longer period of time. In fact, people organized parties around the chance to play Simon.
In the 25 years since Simon was first released, electronics have become much more powerful and much less expensive. Simon2 reflects these improvements.
In Ultimate Simon, for example, players compete directly against each other trying to be the first to complete a series of signals. The first player to earn 10 points wins. Four levels of difficulty (3, 5, 7 or 9 signals) are available.
"The new Simon reflects the greater sophistication of electronics today," said Byrne. "It does a lot more, it's smaller, and less expensive. But at the base of it, the gameplay experience is still identical -- man against machine, or man and man against machine."
The new game, Byrne believes, appeals to fans of the original as well as a new generation of Simon players.
"I think the neat thing about Simon is there's a combination of both [the retro and modern] markets," he said. "I think it's still a great game, still a lot of fun. Simon is simple to learn and easy to do -- but not easy to master. That's a big component."
Although the era spawned Simon, the late 1970s weren't a great time for American board games in general.
In Germany, the Spiel des Jahres award -- which is given credit for helping to sell millions of copies of new and innovative games over the years -- was first presented in 1978. But in the United States, staples like Monopoly, Scrabble, Clue, and Sorry were not being challenged by strong newcomers.
There was a hobbyist gaming community, with companies like Avalon Hill publishing quality games, and breakthrough games like Cosmic Encounter available. But as far as mainstream culture was concerned, board games were for children and families.
"The board game business really tapered off in the late 1970s," said Byrne. "That was partially because of Star Wars [action figures], and the [revived popularity of] GI Joe dolls. It was a second heyday for the Pop-O-Matic games, like Trouble and Headache. But until Simon, games had been relegated back to classic family games or kids' games."
This article was originally published in June 2003.
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