Tiger Electronics Ltd. (also called Tiger and Tiger Toys) is an American company that makes toys. It is most famous for creating handheld electronic games, the Furby, the Talkboy, Giga Pets, the 2-XL robot, and audio games like Brain Warp and Brain Shift. When it operated as an independent company, known as Tiger Electronics Inc., its main office was in Vernon Hills, Illinois. Since 1998, Tiger Electronics has been owned by Hasbro.

History

Gerald Rissman, Randy Rissman, and Arnold Rissman started the company in June 1978. It began by making simple items like phonographs, then later created handheld electronic games and educational toys. One important product was the 2-XL Robot in 1978. In 1984, they created the K28, also known as Tiger's Talking Learning Computer. This product was sold in stores like Kmart around the world. Tiger also made many simple handheld electronic games, such as Electronic Bowling, and games based on popular movies like RoboCop, Terminator, and Spider-Man. In the early 1990s, they released the Talkboy, a portable cassette player and recorder that appeared in the 1992 movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Later, they made the Brain family of games, including Brain Bash, Brain Warp, and Brain Shift. Tiger also licensed the Lazer Tag brand from the company Shoot the Moon Products, which was formed from the remains of Worlds of Wonder.

During the 1990s, Tiger's most successful product line was its licensed handheld LCD games. In 1993, GamePro highlighted three reasons for their success:

• Effective licensing: Tiger's marketing director, Tamara Lebovitz, said the company stayed updated on popular trends by reading magazines and talking to studios. As a smaller company, Tiger could quickly secure licenses for popular movies and shows. This allowed them to release games while those movies and shows were still popular.
• Low price: Tiger's games cost about $20 each. Other handheld games at the time cost more than $30 and required an extra system (costing $50 or more) to play.
• Simple gameplay: While older players found Tiger's games basic, children aged five to twelve enjoyed their easy-to-learn mechanics. Many other games of the time were too difficult or complex for younger players.

In 1994, Tiger introduced a special line of LCD games called Tiger Barcodzz. These games used barcodes from products to create player stats. The line was very popular in Japan, where reality shows featured players competing to find the best barcodes. Tiger also made a version of Lights Out around 1995. In 1997, they released Fishing Championship, a fishing-themed game shaped like a small fishing rod. Another 1990s product was Skip-It.

In 1995, Tiger bought the toy division of Texas Instruments. Tiger agreed to make and sell electronic toys for Hasbro and Sega.

Since April 1, 1998, Tiger Electronics has been part of Hasbro. Hasbro paid about $335 million for the company. In 2000, Tiger made electronics with the Yahoo! brand, including digital cameras, webcams, and a "Hits Downloader" that let users access music from the internet through Tiger's "HitClips" players. Tiger also makes the iDog Interactive Music Companion, the ZoomBox (a portable projector that plays DVDs, CDs, and connects to gaming systems), the VideoNow personal video player, the VCamNow digital camcorder, the ChatNow line of kid-friendly two-way radios, and the TVNow, a handheld DVR player. They also released an electronic tabletop version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with voice recordings by host Chris Tarrant and an electronic version of The Weakest Link with voice recordings by Anne Robinson.

Products

Tiger is best known for creating low-end handheld electronic game systems with LCD screens. Each unit has a fixed image printed on the handheld, visible through the screen. Static images light up individually to show characters and objects, similar to numbers on a calculator or digital clock. Tiger also made its own games and obtained licenses from popular companies to sell versions of games like Capcom's Street Fighter II, Sega's Sonic 3D Blast, and Konami's Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. Later, Tiger introduced "wrist games," which combined a digital watch with a smaller version of a Tiger handheld game.

In 1995, Tiger released Super Data Blasters, a line of sports-themed handhelds. Each device displayed current player statistics for a specific sport, allowed users to record new stats, included a built-in game for the sport, and had features like an address book and calculator.

In 1998, Tiger launched 99X Games, a series of handhelds with dot-matrix screens that allowed varied backgrounds and gameplay for a single game. These systems used software stored in ROM and were dedicated consoles, similar to plug-and-play TV games from the 2000s. Two systems running the same game could connect via a cable to allow two players to compete.

Tiger created three notable cartridge-based systems. The first was the Quiz Wiz, a popular quiz game where players inserted a cartridge and used a corresponding quiz book. The second was the R-Zone, which used red LCD cartridges projected onto a reflective screen covering one eye, similar to Nintendo's Virtual Boy. The third was the Game.com handheld, designed to compete with Nintendo's Game Boy and Game Boy Color, as well as Sega's Game Gear and Genesis Nomad. It included a touchscreen and limited Internet connectivity. However, the R-Zone and Game.com were not commercially successful and received poor reviews.

Hasbro, which usually avoided high-tech toys, supported the development of the Furby. With Hasbro's help, Tiger released the Furby in 1998, where it became a major success. The Furby was the top toy of 1998 and 1999. Hasbro has continued to release new versions of the Furby, though the 2012 and 2016 lines did not include the Tiger Electronics logo on packaging.

From 1994 to 1999, Tiger created the Brain Family, a line of electronic handheld audio games. In 1994, it released the Brain Bash, which had four purple and four yellow buttons and five game modes. One mode, called Touch Command, required players to press buttons based on voice commands like "one touch one."

In 1996, Tiger released the Brain Warp, a spherical game with six colored knobs. Three versions of its circuit board caused audio and pitch changes. A 2002 re-release used the second version's programming with an improved speaker. This game resembled Bop It, where players had to move a knob based on voice instructions. A Star Wars version, Death Star Escape, was released in 1997 with different game orders and six Star Wars characters.

In 1998, Tiger released Brain Shift, a game with six colored LED lights. It featured a low-pitched "Orange!" voice and a memory game. Both Brain Shift and Brain Warp included a code buster game where players had to find specific colors in 60 seconds. Some Brain Shift units had a faulty chip that caused audio issues on low batteries.

Tiger became a major producer of electronic toys based on licenses like Star Trek, Star Wars, Barney & Friends, Arthur, Teletubbies, Winnie the Pooh, Franklin, Neopets, Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Weakest Link, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Batman Returns, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and Sonic the Hedgehog.

In 1996, Tiger made replicas of the Turbo Man doll from the movie Jingle All the Way. The toy included features like a disk shooter, boomerang, light and sound jetpack, and a voice box. However, it only had four phrases instead of the five advertised in the movie.

In 1999, Tiger released Boogey Ball, an electronic LED light game. The first version had issues with gameplay and audio, while the second version fixed these problems. The game resembled Pac-Man, where players moved a green LED light through a maze of 30 lights to avoid or catch other lights. The game used voices similar to Austin Powers and Melle Mel, including phrases like "baby" and "Oh drat!" when players failed. A glitch caused the game to play sounds repeatedly and become unresponsive to the power button.

In 2001, Tiger released the Harry Potter Magic Spell Challenge, also called the 'Challenge Wand.' Players competed against an Evil Wizard by memorizing spell patterns. The game had four auditory commands and two vocal commands: "Wingardium" (tilt the wand down) and "Leviosa!" (tilt it up). The game had eight levels, with patterns growing longer as players advanced. If players made three mistakes, the Evil Wizard would say, "Your powers are now mine!" The game tracked the number of rounds completed.

Test modes/demo modes

Tiger Electronics and Hasbro include a secret test mode, also called a demo mode, in all their electronic games. This test mode checks if the speaker works by playing a sound called a sine wave or a square wave, usually at 1000 hertz. After this, the mode plays all the sounds already programmed into the device. These sounds can be played manually by pressing a button or automatically, without needing to press a button. Games such as Brain Warp, Brain Shift, Boogey Ball, and Brain Bash have these test modes. Tabletop games, like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, also include this feature.