After seeing this 1980 Coleco catalog (via waxy.org) only one item stood out in my mind: Quiz Wiz.
Somehow over the past decade or so I totally forgot about Quiz Wiz. In an era when toys used serif fonts, Quiz Wiz was the super duper way to test your trivia knowledge. The game was controlled by interesting cartridge holders – you slid the Quiz Wiz unit into the trivia cartridge. Just the opposite of what you’d expect, in other words.
The whole thing was simple and fun. If you got a question wrong, you’d hear a raspberry. If you got one right, uh, something good.
I remember boning up on trivia with the Quiz Wiz now that I’ve seen the 1980 catalog, but I’m not sure why I forgot it otherwise. Maybe the trivia was a little too trivial?
Posted in Childhood Memories
Paul October 18, 2006, 11:34 am
(PS: I also definitely had Lil Genius.)
Ryan October 18, 2006, 12:50 pm
Ah, the Quiz Wiz. I had one of these as well. I bet it’s still in my parent’s basement on the games shelf.
COD October 18, 2006, 2:19 pm
Not only did I have Quiz Wiz and the Lil Genius Calculator, but I also had several other items from that catalog.
-Head to Head Baseball
-Head to Head Football
-The Rod Hockey Game
-Mr. Quarterback
Unfortunately, being a military family, my parents cleaned out the old stuff with every move.
Steve A October 19, 2006, 12:20 am
COD, being a military family I MISSED most of that stuff. I have no idea WHAT that is! Most of my 1980s were deployed somewhere in the Mediterranean or Northern Atlantic/Caribbean. Sheesh, time flies.
Ciao,
Merle October 19, 2006, 2:21 am
I had something called “Quiz Dragon” — not sure if it was a derivative or not. It was fun, except for the sports questions, which I could never get…
Aanen October 20, 2006, 12:41 pm
My brother had the football game. It was actually kinda fun to play.