Buzzing About Electric Football

   The nation is buzzing over the news that Normam Sas recently passed away at the age of 87.  Sas is the inventor of electric football, a game that has captivated kids for more than 60 years.

   A mechanical engineer by trade, Sas worked for his father Elmer who owned the Tudor Metal Company. The company had created a motor that vibrated a metal sheet for horse and car racing games but Norman used the technology to invent the electric football game in 1949.

   Considering that the game is extremely noisy, unpredictable and somewhat futile to master; it is amazing that it became so popular.  Yet despite its flaws, Tudor sold 40 million electric football games over the next 63 years.

   The game was a hit because it allowed kids (and dads) to recreate NFL action on their dining room tables. In the days before video games, controlling the actions of players in a sports game was a unique experience.

   Of course the game only gave the impression that kids could control it. It was actually impossible to control the game because the small plastic players wandered helter-skelter around the field like they had recently attended a campus keg party.

   I inherited the original 1950’s version from my brother in the late 60’s. By then most players had lost their “cleats” and the teams had been painted and repainted at least 4 times. We overlooked its flaws and played the game for hours changing the rules to accommodate the lack of mobile players.

   A quick Internet search shows that some guys never stopped playing. Electric Football Leagues exist in numerous northern cities (think long winter days). The 17^th  Annual Electric Football Super Bowl and Convention was held in Columbus, Ohio in 2011 although no record exists of the 18^th annual event. It is possible that the other hotel guests complained at the buzz of 50 game tables below their room.

   I asked Facebook friends to post their own electric football experiences and found a common theme of futility.

   Tom Heline had an old game with metal players who had a mind of their own. He even kept a notebook of which direction players ran in so he wouldn’t give a ball to the guy who ran in circles.

   When the electricity was out, we just tapped on the board and it worked the same, said both Jim Cummings and Barry Lanier.

   “We used to stick a wad of cotton in the quarterback’s arm and let it fly. Unfortunately he almost never made a touchdown. Instead he would fall over and shake to the sidelines,” commented Mark Sceurman.

   Mike Keenen remembers being frustrated that his game vibrated too much and the players quickly fell over and just laid there shaking.

   I once bought an electric football game on Ebay and tried to convince my ten year-old son that we could spend some quality time together.  I didn’t remember the game being “that noisy” and it took way too long to set up plays. We played it about five times and then resold it on Ebay.  It just couldn’t compete with Madden 2003.

   So thank you to Norman Sas and Tudor Games for all of the collective hours that we played the most annoying and noisy game in our closet.