Sanyo Sound and Game - Basketball - Model RP77

(Sanyo Electric - 1983)

This hybrid system tried to take advantage of some of the booming trends of the day, electronic gaming and Nintendo's popular Game & Watch series of handheld video games. So they grafted an LCD game with a digital clock onto the front of a portable AM/FM radio.

On paper it made sense, but in practice, like most of the trend of dedicated handheld electronic games, they fell victim to monotony of repetition as consumers moved on to cartridge based systems so they would have more variety.

Sanyo even missed the mark with the LCD basketball game they chose to integrate, as it was extremely limited in scope and playability.

The radio portion of the Sound & Game was pretty solid with the features you would expect from a portable radio of that era. Though it did feature two headphone jacks to share your favorite radio stations with a friend. It also had a two setting tone control (lo and high) for extra bass or standard listening. It even came with a fake leather shoulder strap since it didn't have a belt clip like most portables... presumedly because you would be playing the game non-stop so a belt clip didn't make any sense.

Basic specifications for the Sanyo Sound and Game handheld electronic game are listed below.