Recently, retrosound77, an Instagram account about interesting vintage stereo gear, posted a video about the Toshiba AS-10, a portable cassette player smaller than an actual cassette. However, for a brief moment, he showed a size comparison to another cassette player that instantly intrigued me: The Spectra LGW-40 is a cheap portable cassette player with a built-in Poker/Blackjack LCD game. As an avid game collector and cassette enthusiast, the device captivated my attention for obvious reasons. The "game" section of the tape player wasn't anything special at all—basically a Tiger LCD game glued onto a cheap walkman. But it was this curious combination that seemed utterly bizarre. Was this the only instance of a video game and a cassette player combined into a single product? As I did more research, I found out this wasn't a one-off 1990s novelty from a single manufacturer. Far from it.
Omega, Yorx, Spectra, Windsor, Ross, Alba, and Tessella were all brand names that apparently released their own cassette player/game combo (or, at the very least, they had put their own branding on the same crapgadget). There were racing versions, football/ soccer, the previously mentioned card games, and even Tetris! Of course, the latter was never branded as such, and went by "Brick," "Falling Block," or "The Wall" (video below) to make lawsuits much less likely.
There was even a version with interchangeable game cartridges! The devices were sold through discount stores and catalogs, and in the UK through the Argos, though the history on these is a bit fuzzy, likely due to the fact that they never caught on.
Even if you were the (un)lucky ones who was gifted one of these instead of the far-more-durable Walkman and Game Boy, don't rush to your attic thinking you're sitting on a goldmine. LCD game+cassette player combos can be found for as cheap as $5 on eBay. Whether its internal components have lasted–which they certainly weren't built to do—is a gamble you'll have to take.
Previously:
• 1980's Sony Walkman ad features a vibing monkey
• This magnetic media enthusiast built an 8-track tape 'walkman'
