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DO YOU REMEMBER THESE CLASSIC GRANDSTAND GAMES?

13/2/2017

25 Comments

 
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Grandstand Leisure Products was part of the Harrogate-based Adam Leisure Group, a company upon which there is very little information to be found. This leaves me to speculate that it was named in honour of Adam, the first man, and initially promoted the recreational benefits of apple-eating and concealing your wicked parts beneath a frond.

Having had limited success in the 70s with a couple of Pong clone consoles, and a variant of the Fairchild Channel F system, the Adam group had more success importing electronic games from the Johnny Foreigner likes of Tomy and Epoch, rebranding them under the name Grandstand. 

While sports fans of the 70s and 80s tended to think of Frank Bough or Desmond Lynam when they heard the name, for most children of the era Grandstand became synonymous with tabletop electronic gaming.

Though the company's later handheld LCD titles were somewhat less memorable, those earlier, bulky machines, brought a slice of the arcade into the home. Even though the games were far more limited than most of the other game systems of the 1980s, it was all about that style over substance. The latter of which is something which Grandstand presenter Frank Bough knew all about.

​Here are 10 of Grandstand's best-remembered machines. 
INVADER FROM SPACE
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Many of Grandstand's games were a variation on a theme... that theme being: Space Invaders rip-offs. Invader From Space - the singular noun failing to prepare the player for multiple invaders from space - was only slightly less misleading than the screen's concentric circles.

Though these promised a game with some sort of exciting radar function, many youths, I suspect, were disappointed that these were merely a cosmetic whimsy, and that the game was played in a narrow screen roughly the same dimensions as a stick of so-called Juicy Fruit.

Which fruit? Wrigley's never specified. I had my money on "sour plum".
SCRAMBLE
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Known as Astro Command when originally released by Epoch, Grandstand's version was more honest/blatant when it came to the game's inspirations. Namely, Konami's 1981 arcade game Scramble. With its dazzling colour visuals, and jarring sound, Scramble displayed many of the hallmarks for which Grandstand would be famed.

​The company later released Pocket Scramble - an LCD update with none of the original's pleasingly tactile casing, and controls that were about a millimetre away from being touch-screen.
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ASTRO WARS
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Not only Grandstand's most iconic product, but one of the most iconic games of the 1980s, Astro Wars was a barely-disguised Galaxians rip-off, with a bold, magnifying screen.

​The game has become such a classic that it has even been adapted for smartphones - complete with the original sound effects, and the memorable opening tune. Indeed, that tune was played at the recent inauguration of President Donald Trump, by a redneck with a kazoo.
TRON
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Based upon the movie of the same name, Grandstand's Tron is perhaps best remembered for its see-through casing, behind which you could see some pretend electronics. Which, frankly, seemed like a lot of effort to go through, given that beneath the card were some real electronics. Perhaps they weren't futuristic enough.

Though its sound effects were truly horrific - a grating buzz which sounded as if an agitated wasp was trapped inside the machine - Tron managed a decent job of recreating the movie over a couple of different stages, featuring both the movie's light bikes, and energy disc-lobbing.
THE BIG GAME
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The game itself wasn't all that, but The Big Game had a truly lovely casing design - with its garish yellow stadium and stadium seating for ants. It was the first two-player, head-to-head, game of the era. Indeed, this might be the game for which Grandstand was created. That said, points lost for calling it "soccer" instead of the sport's proper name, "kicky ball-o".
FIREFOX F-7
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Unlike the Clint Eastwood movie of a similar name, your craft in Firefox F-7 wasn't controlled by your mind, but with a little joystick the same as all the other Grandstand games. Obviously. Kicking off with a rather nice 3D effect, it sadly just becomes a background distraction to an otherwise mediocre and bewildering shoot 'em up.
CRAZY MONSTER
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Crazy Monster required players to manoeuvre their character into an underground cavern inhabited by a "crazy" monster, to collect water so that they could water their apple tree. Full points for originality, and a further bonus point the little nubby joystick.
MUNCHMAN
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Released in the US as Pac Man, and in Japan as Puck Man, Grandstand rebranded this game as Munchman in the UK.

​It still kept the box and logo artwork, however, which did little to try and convince customers - or, presumably, Namco's lawyers - that this was anything other than a massive rip-off. Somehow, despite being a disappointing version of the Pacman experience, Munchman - perhaps because of its distinct casing - is one of the best-remembered Grandstand games.
CAVEMAN
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What are cavemen best known for? That's right: stealing dinosaur eggs. Cavemen loved the eggs. Scrambled, poached, over easy... No wonder those dinosaurs went extinct. It is this historically accurate epoch which is depicted in Grandstand's Caveman - perhaps best remembered for its bold graphics, and cartoony dinosaur antagonist.
LIGHT GAMES SYSTEM
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Wait a minute... this isn't an electronic table top game! No - but it might be Grandstand's greatest folly; a cartridge-based system, which featured a built-in projector... allowing you to play games on a big screen! Or a sheet draped over your bunk bed. Or the living room wall. Or Uncle Dustin's hairy bare back.

"Please, Uncle - put your clothes back on. I've told you - dad doesn't like it when you ask me to project things onto your skin."

The 13 availble games were simple LCD affairs - racing, flying, shooting etc. - and though it was a nice idea in principle, it failed to really catch on. File it in the drawer labelled "Novelty Gaming Disasters" - just behind the Virtual Boy, Xbox Kinect, and Wii U.
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
GAMES OF MY YEARS: ASTRO WARS BY MR BIFFO
MOBILE GAMING: THE INDUSTRY'S DIRTY SIBLING - BY MR BIFFO
​
"HELLO MOTO": 6 NINTENDO GAMES YOU NEVER KNEW SHIGERU MIYAMOTO WORKED ON
25 Comments
Trevor Cod
13/2/2017 12:31:49 pm

Firefox was the BUSINESS!*


* Only one I ever had.

Reply
Paul
13/2/2017 12:43:47 pm

You left out Earth Invaders, which was a kind of "dig a hole until the aliens fall in then fill it in before they escape game". I had that one.

Also Mini Munchman, which had a definite sequence of events to follow, and if you did it enough times, you’d max the score out. My sister had this game, and I could max the score almost with my eyes closed. This upset her, and usually ended up with me being told off. I was forbidden to beat her high score after a while, which was a tad unfair.

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Fancy Pants
13/2/2017 01:58:19 pm

Earth Invaders was a great game. Still have it at my mum's house, but it doesn't work.

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paul
14/2/2017 01:38:14 pm

Doesn’t bode well for mine then, which is also at my mum’s house. I *hope* I took the batteries out of it, or it’s almost certainly curtains for it.

Alastair
13/2/2017 12:48:41 pm

I had a Tomy machine, some sort of shoot 'em up.

But it paled against what I recall was a Konami racing game. Straightforward game but lovely ergonomics, tall and thin, much like a Gameboy.

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Alastair
13/2/2017 12:51:34 pm

Like this but for F1; http://handheldempire.com/game_images/2096_1209245598485_Konami_Nascar_Racing.jpg

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favus
13/2/2017 01:00:36 pm

I had Munchman (bought it for 25p from a jumble sale) it was alright but the "down" button was a bit wonky, took it apart, it never worked again - I had pocket scramble - which was good too however the batteries ran out after about 2 weeks and nowhere sold them! literally nowhere.. they were really difficult to get - and I had Invaders from space and the big game (which I also bought from jumble sales) - They both worked pretty well - I never really "got" the big game, had no idea how to play it - because we were so poor as kids I had these games about 3 years after everyone else.

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favus
13/2/2017 01:41:54 pm

Addendum: Just looking at the big game, The version i had was american football... not British football, I presume it came off the American base near us when i were a lad - and thats why i couldn't get it!

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Nick
13/2/2017 01:28:57 pm

Why would Adam want to promote apple eating? Didn't that cause him and the Misses no end of bother?

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Nick
13/2/2017 01:37:15 pm

Oh, I don't remember any of these but the Astro Wars case looks really cool.


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rhubarb
13/2/2017 05:06:14 pm

My Older brother had the Scramble Game, but used to hide the power cable from me when he was out so I couldn't play it. However I managed to find a power adapter that would fit it and proceeded to plug it in and switch it on. Unfortunately instead of switching on I smelt a horrible burning then noticed a light glowing inside, once I realised it was on fire I proceeded to fling it out the (upstairs) window where I saw it still smoldering on the ground below.
Needless to say big Brother wasn't best pleased.....

Reminds me that I repeated the trick a few years later by setting fire to his football boots, which I then tried to disguise by spray-painting silver glam-rock style.

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Col. Asdasd
13/2/2017 11:01:53 pm

I had what must have been the Fairchild Channel F variant. Picked it up at a car boot sale I did.

'Twas a proper cartridge based console, you hooked it up to the telly and everything. It supported two players with a joystick and buttons on each side. There were multiple games per cart, of which we had two, and between them they sported maybe a dozen thinly variegated pong and breakout clones.

I found it in the bottom of a cupboard a couple of months ago while cleaning out my old room. It did not escape the bin-liner of destiny.

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Graxxon
14/2/2017 12:04:28 am

I had Invader From Space and it was fabulous. Sadly the buttons went a bit wonky eventually, although that did introduce a significant new challenge at a point where I'd basically mastered it.

It might still be in a cupboard somewhere actually, I'll have to have a look. Although I also remember getting several nasty electric shocks from the even more flimsy power adapter. Ah, what times!

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Bruce Flagpole
14/2/2017 10:47:16 am

I had the Grandstand BMX Flyer game. Not fancy enough to make this article obviously, but I loved it. Played it so much I can still hear the 'music' looping constantly in the back of my brain!

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Lorna link
16/2/2017 01:41:11 pm

Electronic Detective! That game was the business. Sadly, ours was from a bootfair and a third of the cards were missing.

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Leigh L.
16/2/2017 07:40:58 pm

Still got Scramble and Munchman. The bloody racket emitted by Scramble when you switch it on is still just as loud after 30-odd years.

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Chris Wyatt
16/2/2017 09:39:27 pm

I used to have Formula One, and my brother had Ghost Catcher (from the same series):

http://handheldempire.com/game.jsp?game=3339

Blinded by nostalgia, I ended up buying a Ghost Catcher off eBay re ently. I couldn't resist! Sad really...

I also used to have a First Talking Computer. I was kind of too old for it when I got it (a friend of a friend was trying to get rid of it), but the multi-adapter that came with it was extremely useful, until the Welsh terrier chewed it to bits.

Not Grandstand, but I used to have a Systema Dennis the Menace. I loved the Beano, and it was quite possibly my favourite toy; I wouldn't think twice about buying one if it popped up on eBay. Annoyingly, my parents sold a lot of my toys without actually asking me whether I'd like to keep them or not, but then again I'm a terrible hoarder, so maybe for the best.

Another Systema game we had (briefly, until I dropped it down the stairs and broke it) was a Dinorobot:

http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Systema/Dinorobot.htm

My brother was really angry with me, as we'd only just got the game off our Grandad! Shame.

I remember loving Dinorobot, but don't actually remember what you had to do in it.

I also had a Systema chess computer (and still have it now). Great piece of kit.

These old LCD games are notoriously hard-to-find, and only recently did I rack my brains to try and remember them all. It also intrigues me how rare they are (and will continue to become), so I try to pick them up when I see them (if the price is right).

:)

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Doug K
17/2/2017 02:02:49 pm

My brother got Astro Wars and I got Munchman for Xmas in the early 80s. I have happy memories of them both being set up on the coffee table in the living room and us taking shifts trying to beat each other's high scores. We nagged our Gran to buy scramble, so that was our holiday game when we visited her in Bridlington (which had amazing arcades at the time).

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Dave
18/2/2017 12:12:55 pm

Does anyone know what the highest score possible is on pocket scramble please?

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Chris Wyatt
18/2/2017 12:52:00 pm

12874670374.2, give or take

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P.J.
15/3/2018 11:14:17 pm

As a child I had Ghost Catcher (no doubt influenced by my mid-'80s love of Ghostbusters). A bizarre little game where your character has to use a crucifix to.. stop rising ghosts returning to the grave... until they eventually just kind fly off? Very strange.

Although not Grandstand, I also had the penultimate (and highly sought) Legend of Zelda Game & Watch by Nintendo. For a LCD game, it was very advanced. Until one day I slightly broke the screen, but the game was still playing. But the 12 year old me decided to open it up to "fix it", and unsurprisingly could never get it back together and working again! Even worse, I also had Star Trek 25th Anniversary by Konami, and decided to "carefully" take that apart to use as a guide of how to correctly assemble the Zelda one! 17 years later and I still have a bag with these two disassembled LBC games up in my parent's loft somewhere!!

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Chris Wyatt
16/3/2018 12:00:01 am

My brother had Ghost Catcher (mentioned it above). Would love to see a YouTuber cover these old LCD games, especially the ones I used to have as a kid.

Yep. One of the most bizarre ideas for a game. Would love to know how the idea came about.

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Gemma
15/8/2018 12:36:23 pm

I've just found my mini munchman and it still works. Wikipedia says the hi score is 1999, my highest so far is 1202...!

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Outa_ Spaceman
5/7/2019 01:46:32 pm

I worked for Adam Leisure...
It was a clusterfuck..😐

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Thurston
9/6/2020 03:54:03 pm

Really miss my Scramble game. Wish I had it now. Great for switching off and escaping for a time :D .

Reply



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