I had this cool game. I’m thinking about 1962. Twelve years old sounds right. It wasn’t Battleship, though, it was a Destroyer/Submarine game that was played like Battleship.
It was a plastic console game, that had a round, green radar screen with the requisite grid marks. It was divided into two hinged panels. You lifted your screen half and below was a corresponding plastic grid where you set your submarines, like battleship. The subs were flat slabs that plugged into the grid.
Instead of calling out grid numbers, each player had etch-a-sketch style x/o knobs that moved your destroyer cursor underneath the green screen. The screen was translucent so you could see the little + cursor moving around the grid. When the attacking player chose a grid space, he would depress a control button which would cause the cursor to mechanically descend (like a depth charge). It had an electrified spring on it. If there was no sub there, it wouldn’t touch the bottom and nothing would happen. But if it was over a sub, the spring would compress causing the cursor to light up signaling a hit.
Where it got cool was the submarines defensive capability. (Like Battleship?) you placed mines to protect your submarines when you set up your side. The mines were these plastic cylinders that were taller than the sub pieces. If the attacking destroyer cursor brushed across one of these, it would bend the spring causing a loud buzz and a red light to indicate your destroyer was…destroyed.
But what was even cooler, was that each player had a little periscope to view your side that let you watch your opponent attack you, and you could see whether he was closing in on your sub, or about to get blasted by a mine.
I’ve looked on the old toys and game sites, but I can’t find any sign of it.Anybody have an idea?
Wow… that sounds very familiar, as if one of my cousins had it.
This is probably NOT it, but might be a good starting point for further research.
For one thing, the date (1973) is much too recent. You wanted something from the early 1960s I think.
Battleship was launched as a boardgame in 1967 by Milton Bradley.
Wow, this sounds vaguely familiar to me, too. Since it’s so close to being Battleship, perhaps a thorough search of Battleship’s makers’ history might bring up something; perhaps it was the same company? It sounds rather advanced for the time, actually. I’d play that now.
I’m surprised to hear that MB came out with BATTLESHIP only in 1967. I swear I can remember playing it when I was in grade school. (Of course, that may have been just the old-fashioned version, with pensil and paper…)
OK, Sonar Sub Hunt is unknown to me.
Amazing what you can find when you hunt around for a bit.
The Web is like everyone’s collective attics all mooshed up together.
