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, called Tiger Electronics Inc., its main office was in Vernon Hills, Illinois. Since 1998, Tiger Electronics has been part of Hasbro.

History

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

Throughout much of the 1990s, the company's main source of income came from its line of licensed handheld LCD games. In 1993, GamePro magazine said three factors helped these games succeed:

• Tiger's ability to secure licenses quickly. Marketing director Tamara Lebovitz said, "We read all the magazines and talk to all the studios to stay up-to-date with what interests kids." As a smaller company, Tiger acted fast to get licenses for popular movies and characters, releasing games while those properties were still popular.
• The low cost of each game. Tiger's handheld games sold for about $20 each. Other games at the time cost more than $30 and required an extra system (costing $50 or more) to play.
• The simple and easy-to-learn gameplay. While older gamers found the games basic and unexciting, children aged five to twelve enjoyed them because they were easier to play than other video games, which were often too hard or complicated for younger players.

In the fall of 1994, Tiger launched a special line of handheld LCD games called Tiger Barcodzz. These games used barcodes to create player stats. The line was very popular in Japan, where television shows featured competitions to find the best barcodes. Tiger also made a version of the game Lights Out around 1995. In 1997, the company created a fishing game called Fishing Championship, shaped like a small fishing rod. Another product from the 1990s 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 was allowed to make 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 long-lasting 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 two-way radios for kids, and the TVNow, a handheld DVR player. The company released an electronic tabletop version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with voice recordings by host Chris Tarrant. It also made an electronic version of The Weakest Link with voice recordings by Anne Robinson.

Products

Tiger Electronics is best known for creating low-cost handheld electronic games with LCD screens. Each device has a fixed image printed on it, visible through the screen. Static images light up one at a time to show characters and objects, like numbers on a calculator or digital clock. Tiger also sold games from popular companies, such as 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 its handheld games.

In 1995, Tiger launched the Super Data Blasters, a line of sports-themed handhelds. These devices displayed real statistics for athletes in specific sports, allowed users to record new stats, included a built-in game for each sport, and had features like an address book and calculator.

In 1998, Tiger released the 99X Games, a series of handhelds with dot-matrix screens. These screens allowed for varied backgrounds and gameplay in a single game. The systems ran software stored in ROM and were dedicated consoles, like plug-and-play TV games from the 2000s. Two devices 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 used a cartridge and a matching quiz book. The second was the R-Zone, which used red LCD cartridges projected onto a reflective screen, 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 had a touchscreen and limited internet connectivity. However, the R-Zone and Game.com were not 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, making it a holiday hit. The Furby became a popular toy in 1998 and 1999. Hasbro continued to release new versions of the Furby, though the 2012 and 2016 editions did not include the Tiger Electronics logo on their packaging.

From 1994 to 1999, Tiger created the Brain Family, a line of electronic audio games. In 1994, it released the Brain Bash, a device with four purple buttons and four yellow buttons. It had five game modes, including "Touch Command," where players followed voice instructions like "one touch one" by pressing specific buttons.

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 best version’s programming with an improved speaker. The game worked similarly to Bop It, where players responded to voice commands by rotating the correct knob. A Star Wars version called Death Star Escape was released in 1997, featuring different game orders and six Star Wars characters.

In 1998, Tiger launched the Brain Shift, a game with six colored LED lights. It was known for its low-pitched "Orange!" voice during the final color of a pattern. Players used a stick to follow voice commands. The game included a memory challenge and a code buster game where players had to find specific colors within 60 seconds. Some 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, Neopets, Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, 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 from the film, such as a disk shooter, boomerang, jetpack, and voice box. However, it only had four phrases, even though it was advertised as having five.

In 1999, Tiger released the Boogey Ball, an electronic LED light game. The first version had issues, such as automatic failure in some games and loud voices with quiet music. The second version fixed these problems. Gameplay resembled Pac-Man, with players guiding a green LED light through a maze to avoid or catch other lights. The game used voices in the style of Austin Powers and Melle Mel, often saying "baby." A glitch caused the game to play sounds repeatedly and not turn off, though the cause was unknown.

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 eight levels, with increasing difficulty. If players made three mistakes, the Evil Wizard said, "Your powers are now mine!" The game announced how many rounds the player completed.

Test modes/demo modes

Tiger Electronics and Hasbro include a hidden test mode, also called a demo mode, in all their electronic games. These test modes play a sine wave or square wave tone, usually at 1000Hz, to check the speaker. Then, they play all the sounds already programmed into the device either manually (by pressing a button) or automatically (by playing each sound on its own). 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 them.