Split Second

Split Second was the Parker Brothers' rarer follow-up to electronic handheld games Merlin and Master Merlin. Split Second was a red handheld electronic game, and it was characterised by the fact every game for it involved an element of time (rather like that other popular 80s game Simon in that respect). There were around eight games available, with LED dots and lines to show game play, which was controlled by four arrow buttons below the screen, simple beeps and buzzes. The games included: Mad Maze, Space Attack, Autocross, Stomp and Speedball. The actual toy itself measured about a foot long. It was very popular in the early 80s and I'd like to say it paved the way for today's Nintendo DS and the Gameboy of the 90s. How else would kids get through a long car journey?

markus67