My First Video Game Console

What a test of my memory! My very first video game console was the VTech Socrates Educational Video System. It was my first real electronic toy, too, aside from those battery-draining, D-pad with 2-button, cartoon themed games that my mother would have to keep my brother and I quiet.

I received the gift of Socrates around 1989, which probably had a hefty price tag on it at the time. It was awesome: the “keyboard” was removable and could double as a weapon, the controllers could be taken out to give the keyboard a nun-chuck feeling, and all of it was so heavy that nobody would dare steal it. Aside from the joy of the parts of the system, the games weren’t that bad at all. I don’t remember having any extra games for it, but all I cared for was the math. I fondly remember owning the addition sections and guessing on the multiplication questions, pretty much what I do today. Plus, Socrates was a robot, contrary to what my Cultures professor said.

The real question is, what happened to educational video games? What happened to promoting them? Look at this Socrates ad, as an example. Although I have never tinkered with the Leapfrog stuff, I think they saw how much fun I had learning with a digital medium. It doesn’t have to be graphic intensive, either, look at Oregon Trail 1! I learned that bad meat would spoil without salt, and that dysentery means you’re screwed.