Mattel Auto Race
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Mattel Auto Race was the first in the line of many Mattel Electronics games, and is credited with being the first handheld game that was entirely digital, having no moving mechanisms except the controls and on/off switch. Finding one of these systems in working condition is pretty rare.
[edit] Info
Mattel auto race was on the shelves by 1976, and is often forgotten because of the much more successful Mattel Football that was released shortly after it. Because it is not well known about, many people believe that Mattel Football was the first handheld when Auto Race came out at least a year before. The game itself used about 512 bytes in memory "half a kilobyte, or 1/2056 of a megabyte". Because of how early it came out, many clones of this game exist.
[edit] Gameplay
You are a bright blip (a vertical dash sign) on the bottom of the screen. You must make it to the top of the screen 4 times (4 laps) to win, but, as you make it towards the top, you must swerve past other cars using the switch at the bottom of the system to toggle between three lanes. If you hit a car, you keep moving back towards the bottom of the screen until you get out of his way. The goal is to beat the game before your 99 seconds (as high as the two digit timer can show) are up, and to get the shortest time possible. The car has four "gears" and the faster the gear, the faster the other cars come at you.
_____ 54 _____ I I iI I I I IiI !I I I Ii I I _____
Above is a mock-up of the Viewing screen. I's, and _'s are borders, i's are oncoming cars, and the ! is you. The number at the top of the screen is how much time you have left.
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