Children's Discovery System
The Mattel Children's Discovery System is an early electronic educational toy product released by Mattel in 1981. The Children's Discovery System was targeted toward children aged 6 to 11[1] and mimicked the look of a contemporary consumer-grade computer.
Specifications
The Children's Discovery System used a 16-by-48 matrix LCD screen[2] and was powered by six size AA alkaline batteries.[3] The screen was much wider than it was tall, therefore only a grid of 8-by-2 text was possible, allowing for a maximum of 16 characters on-screen at any given moment.
The unit came preprogrammed with three modes: Art mode, Music mode and Type mode. The Discovery System came with a specially laid-out membrane keyboard to better accommodate the built-in modes and also made use of keyboard overlays for use with expansion modules. Also included with the unit was a large activity book with over 100 suggested learning activities specially-tailored for the Discovery System.[4]
Expansion module cartridges
- Arcade I
- Arcade II
- Art
- Computer Programming
- Foods
- Fractions I
- Fractions II
- Geography I
- Math Quiz/Calculator
- Memory Logic
- Music
- Nutrition
- Presidents
- Science I
- Spelling Fun
- US Cities
- Words I
- Words II
References
- ↑ "Handheld Game Museum - Children's Discovery System (Mattel 1981 catalog)".
- ↑ "The Great Game Database - Mattel Children's Discovery System". Archived from the original on 2011-07-11.
- ↑ "Computer History Museum - The Children's Discovery System computerized learning system".
- ↑ "Handheld Game Museum - Children's Discovery System (Mattel 1981 catalog)".
