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VECTREX - pearl among the game consoles

The Vectrex had many ingredients to become a big success in the early eighties, but for several reasons this striking game console failed to fulfil this promise. But this doesn't bother today's collectors: because of the design the Vectrex and all accessories have become items he MUST have.

Among the game consoles the appearance of the Vectrex was unique: an elongated monitor that was hidden about three inches deep in an arcade-like, black case. The player immediately thought himself in his own arcade. Also unique was the controller of the Vectrex. Hidden in the lower end of the case it was invisible, but once outside the controller turned out to have enormous proportions: it measured 8 x 3 inches, with four buttons and a self-centring joystick.

Pinpoint-sharp images The Vectrex owed its name to the vector technique that was used in the arcades (for instance in Asteroids and Space War), but until then not yet in game consoles. Different from the raster technique in the usual screens, it wasn't necessary to project all points of the screen again and again: the projection could be limited to those parts of the screen that were in use at that moment. The result were pinpoint-sharp images. Also typical, although not directly favourable, were the overlays like the ones used with the Magnavox Odyssey ten years before. Because the Vectrex had a black-and-white monitor, it was decided to supply every game with its own coloured and transparent overlay, that could be attached to the screen. The overlays livened up the games and moreover protected the eyes for the bright and a bit blinking light that was typical of the vector technique. The Vectrex was sold with a build-in game, Mine Storm, a derivative of the arcade hit Asteroids. The other games were sold on cartridges, which could be plugged into the right side of the console that one would have placed on their adjustable desk. All together more then thirty different cartridges appeared in the stores.

Father of the Vectrex
The 'Father of the Vectrex' was Jay Smith together with his companies Western Technology and Smith Engineering. The idea for a 'mini- arcade' was born in the early eighties, initially thought with a 5-inch monitor. Smith and co. in July 1981 went with it to Kenner, but this company didn't like it. But General Consumer Electronics (GCE), known because of it's game & watches, was enthusiastic and wanted to cooperate with Smith, on condition that a bigger monitor would be used. And that's how, after code names like HP-3000 and Vector-X, the Vectrex with a 9-inch screen was born. Manufacturing of the newcomer among the game consoles started in the summer of 1982 and in November 1982 the first Vectrex consoles appeared in American stores. Now, for 199 dollar, the consumer could create his own arcade. 

Clearance prices Although General Consumer Electronics quickly sold it's stock of Vectrex consoles, the company had to contend with financial difficulties. In the beginning of 1983 GCE was bought by Milton-Bradley (MB), the game manufacturer that in the 'electronic part' of the market had big successes with Simon, but that was rather envious of the profits manufacturers like Mattel had with real consoles. MB immediately decided to expand the Vectrex to Europe. 1983 Became the most important year in the short history of this special game console. Then the Vectrex was sold in many places in the United States and Europe, and in that year the most game cartridges were manufactured. 32 Million loss Nevertheless, the sales figures were disappointing en in February 1984 MB was forced to discontinue the manufacturing of the Vectrex. This decision didn't come entirely unexpected: an omen for the fate of the Vectrex had been the enormous drop in the selling prices. When we take the prices in the U.S. as an example, we see that MB like GCE took 199 dollar as the starting price, but later the selling prices descended to 150 and even 100 dollar. The result was that MB suffered a loss of 32 million dollar. Even after the discontinuing of the manufacturing, MB had full warehouses. De stock of Vectrex consoles was sold to discounters, which gave them for prices of 45 dollar. For the cartridges they asked 5 to 10 dollar, compared with 30 to 40 dollar in the beginning.

Long live the Vectrex!
But... the Vectrex isn't really dead. All the rights on the Vectrex and related stuff went back to Smith Engineering. Without profit motive the company makes possible the distribution of cartridge-ROMS, overlays and manuals.
In 1988 Smith Engineering even developed plans to come with a handheld model of the Vectrex, but it abandoned the plan because of the imminent coming of the Nintendo Game Boy.

Specifications of the Vectrex