Unlike video game systems, Simon could only do one thing. Simon originally had a retail price of $25, which amounts to about $92 in today’s dollars. Milton Bradley ultimately put Simon on allocation, meaning that stores received only a portion of their orders until they could ramp up production to meet demand. One store sold through 1000 of them in just five days.
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That winter, several stores reported a Simon shortage and long lines of people hoping to get a crack at a new shipment. Making a splashy debut at the trendy Studio 54 nightclub in New York on May 15, 1978, Simon quickly made an impression with adults and found itself hastily added to many holiday wish lists. Simon was the hottest toy of the 1978 holiday season. Milton Bradley licensed the idea, and Simon (named after the children’s game Simon Says) was released in 1978. Baer selected the four notes played by a bugle. Crucially, the four tones they selected were much more pleasant to the ear. (It was only fitting, as Atari had taken a cue from the Magnavox Odyssey to create their arcade hit Pong.) Along with programmer Lenny Cope, Baer and Morrison worked for nearly two years on a handheld version originally titled Follow Me that had four buttons. Using Touch Me as a jumping-off point, they decided to try and craft a better version. While they liked the premise-players had to repeat a musical sequence-they felt the execution was lacking and the sounds were unpleasant. He and Marvin Glass employee Howard Morrison had seen it at a trade show in 1976. Working as an independent consultant for the toy firm Marvin Glass and Associates, Baer was drawn to an Atari arcade game called Touch Me. Years later, Baer would have another idea. The system would become the Magnavox Odyssey, which went on sale in 1972. In 1971, Baer and his employer, Sanders Associates, filed for and later received the first-ever video game patent. Baer visualized a system that could be connected to a television to play games on the screen.
In the 1960s, German refugee and former World War II Army intelligence officer Ralph Baer was a military engineering contractor who decided to moonlight as a video games pioneer. Simon was invented by Ralph Baer, the “Father of Video Games.” For more on the game’s history, keep reading. (Or frustrating, depending on one’s perspective.) Simon was a hit upon release and has remained a pop culture fixture for over 40 years. As the patterns grow more complex, the game becomes more challenging.
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To play the game, users must memorize a series of tones and lights on the four-button surface, then repeat them in order. Not exactly a board game but not quite a video game, it straddled the line between the past and future of recreational diversions. Introduced in 1978, Simon represented an evolution in tabletop gaming.
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