The visual output of these games can range from a few small light bulbs or LED lights to calculator-like alphanumerical screens later these were mostly displaced by liquid crystal and Vacuum fluorescent display screens with detailed images and in the case of VFD games, color. This simplicity means they can be made as small as a digital watch, which they sometimes are.

The controls, display and speakers are all part of a single unit, and rather than a general-purpose screen made up of a grid of small pixels, they usually have custom displays designed to play one game. Used to play interactive games, handheld electronic games are often miniaturized versions of video games. The earliest form of dedicated console, handheld electronic games are characterized by their size and portability. Several of these subsequently were ported to systems with video displays, eliminating the need for a teletype printer.Įxamples of text-based Teletype games include: This transition was accompanied by a simultaneous shift from the mainframe environment to the personal computer. As computer screens became standard during the rise of the third generation computer, text-based command line-driven language parsing Teletype games transitioned into visual interactive fiction allowing for greater depth of gameplay and reduced paper requirements. This naturally tends to reduce the size of the gaming universe or alternatively to require a great amount of paper. Practically this means that each action taken will require a line of paper and thus a hard-copy record of the game remains after it has been played.

Teletype games lack video display screens and instead present the game to the player by printing a series of characters on paper which the player reads as it emerges from the platen. The earliest form of computer game to achieve any degree of mainstream use was the text-based Teletype game.

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