A Childhood Memory

During this past weekend’s D&D game we got to discussing toys and games of our youth and that sparked a memory in me.

I recall having a toy car that was battery powered and operated via punch cards. The cards, some were pre-programmed and others were blank so you could program the car’s route yourself, fed through the toy directing it around an imaginary track. I also mentioned that I had searched for this device on Google. Not to own one, I’m not that into nostalgia, but rather just so I can see clearly what is only hazy in my memory.

Apparently my Google-Fun has popped a level because Sunday I found it easily on line, including several for sale on various sites.

I present Hasbro’s Amaze-A-Matics.

The information says that this was from year 1969 so I would have been eight. Strange I thought I was younger, but there it is 1969 and the Internet is never wrong. (Well, in this case I do think the Web’s right.)

When I saw the photos and the cards I knew I had found the correct product. I remember the cards more clearly than I remember the car itself. I honestly could not tell you which model I had.

So there you have a bit of toy trivia from the late 1960s, punch card programmable toy cars.

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