Mattel Football: 1979's King of TimewastersS  Mattel's Football
(just "Football") was one of the most popular standalone
handheld games of the late '70s, in the same ultra-addicting
category as Pong and Pac-Man. It was the beginning of the end
for the attention span of American youth.  Even though I was -9
years old in 1977, when Football was first released, and can't
specifically remember ever playing it, the handheld itself, as
well as those tiny red dots, is immediately recognizable to me.
It's been featured in films like Bottle Rocket and Wet Hot
American Summer, and chances are a lot of you readers have one
or two of them in the bottom of a box somewhere in your
basement. It was an incredibly, powerfully popular game, the
first major handheld videogame smash, and judging by the Amazon
reviews, people are still playing and loving it today. [Handheld
Museum, Thanks Sean!]