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History
Phil Friedman was an American who grew up in Japan. Having soaked in Japanese culture for years, Phil made a living liaising for U.S. firms that wanted to do business in Japan. His big brother, Albert Friedman, worked at Olympic Radio before being hired as the president of Delmonico International, a stereo and television company. In July 1968, the two brothers founded APF Electronics Inc. The name APF comes from the initials of the two brothers. The company started by importing audio and video equipment from Japan, including stereos, radios, amplifiers, record players and television sets. By 1972, APF Electronics was a leading manufacturer of electronic calculators. It was building more than 70% of all the calculators sold in stores such as Sears and Montgomery Ward.
In 1976, General Instrument released the AY-3-8500 chip, a chip that could play six Pong-like games. Before this concept of Pong-on-a-chip, video game manufacturers had to create the integrated circuit from scratch using discrete transistor logic instead of a microprocessor. The process was complex and costly, which explains why only a few video game consoles were created before 1976. With the release of the AY-3-8500 chip, tech companies could now create simple and affordable video game consoles. Like Coleco with the Telstar series, APF decided in 1976 to release its first Pong-like console, named the APF TV Fun. The name TV Fun was the idea of Steve Lipper’s son. He was paid $1 for the use of the name and never cashed the check. In the first year, more than 400,000 units of the APF TV Fun were sold, which led APF to develop other models. Magnavox quickly sued APF, Coleco and others for patent infringement, but instead of settling, Steve Lipper traveled to Germany and bought the original patent from V2 Rocket, a game developed after World War II on a radar screen. By 1977, APF Electronics had released six other models.
After the release of the Fairchild Channel F in 1976, APF saw the potential of cartridge-based video game consoles and in 1977 decided to work on its own. APF appointed Kenneth Boylen to lead the design team, while Ed Smith, one of APF’s engineers, was put in charge of designing the prototype for the console. The design of the MP1000 advanced quickly. In less than six months, with the help of the design team and the engineers of the Hong Kong office, Ed Smith managed to develop the electronic design for the prototype.
Release
Called the MP1000 (for MicroProcessor), the console was released in mid-1978. It came packed with one built-in game called Rocket Patrol. The console did fairly well at first, but it received mixed reviews, especially regarding the games. Almost all of the games were developed by Harry Cox, as APF didn’t have the money to hire a second developer. As was the case with the Fairchild Channel F and the RCA Studio II, APF decided to play it safe and release games based on existing sports or board games, while Atari developed new, creative ideas and IPs for its Atari VCS (Atari 2600). But APF had an ace up its sleeve. Hearing that Atari was coming out with a computer add-on, it immediately started to design its own add-on around the same time it designed the MP1000. By summer 1979, APF released the Imagination Machine and became the first company to release such an add-on. But the hope that the Imagination Machine would reinvigorate the sluggish MP1000 sales quickly dissipated (see the Imagination Machine article).
Demise
APF had spent a lot of money developing the MP1000 and the Imagination Machine and now had more than $7 million in debt. The bank didn’t think the Imagination Machine had a future, especially after the release of the IBM Personal Computer in August 1981. The video game industry was still perceived as a fad, so the bank asked APF to center its activity around the calculator line, which was still successful, or to repay the loan immediately. The APF management refused to change its strategy and handed the company back to the bank, which proceeded with the foreclosure.
Games
The MP1000 came with a built-in game called Rocket Patrol. Twelve other games were released for the console at a suggested retail price of $29.95. The game “Space Destroyers” is by far the most collectible cartridge for the system. It is a very faithful Space Invaders clone, and it is the only game to come in a long cartridge format.
- Backgammon [MG1008]
- Baseball [MG1006]
- Blackjack [MG1007]
- Bowling/Micro Match [MG1004]
- Boxing [MG1012]
- Brickdown/Shooting Gallery [MG1005]
- Casino I: Roulette/Keno/Slots [MG1009]
- Catena [MG1001]
- Hangman/Tic Tac Toe/Doodle [MG1003]
- Pinball/Dungeon Hunt/Blockout [MG1011]
- Space Destroyers [MG1013]
- UFO/Sea Monster/Break It Down/Rebuild/Shoot [MG1010]
Technical Specifications
- CPU: Motorola 6800
- Speed: 3.5 MHz
- RAM: 1 KB
- Resolution: 256 x 192 pixels / 32 x 16 characters, 8 Colors