1971 Mattel Instant Replay Slideshow • Football Stars 1

Almost fifty years have come and gone since I had this toy as a nine year-old NFL wannabe. Found one on eBay a few months back and never thought that when I placed that big old D-cell in the battery compartment, it would actually fire up! And then inserting the mini record discs and hearing the play-by-play announcer bring back five decade-old memories was something pretty special. Thought it only fair that I should share some of those memories with some of you too. So, here comes some "high definition audio" from eight discs of what were then called "Football Stars 1", plus the Bart Starr disc that came with the player...in all their early 70's glory. Not sure if the announcer was supposed to be different for each disc, or if the cheap plastic player and plastic disc had something to do with each one sounding a bit different from the others (wink-wink). Anyway, have fun listening to, and reliving the childhood memories, as I did...

[@scottreed244]

Never had the actual instant replay player but I did have the booklet you showed at the end of the video with Bart Starr on the cover. It was on sale separately in the toy department of a department store my mom and I were in and she bought it for me. It was actually a pretty cool magazine size pamphlet with lots of cool drawings and diagrams inside. For a 7 year old who had just discovered professional football, it was like somebody gave me an actual NFL Playbook. 1971 brings back so many fond memories as I desperately wanted an electronic football game for Christmas. My mom told me I could have one but it would have to be one of the cheaper smaller models with the generic blue or yellow players because she just couldn't afford to buy me the more expensive version. You can imagine my surprise and joy when I woke up Christmas morning and looked under the tree to find the official NFL version containing the Rams (die-hard Rams fan here) and 49ers team miniatures. Years later I asked her why she bought the more expensive version and she told me when she went to buy it, the store was out of the cheaper version and she knew I'd be crushed if Christmas morning came along and there wasn't an electronic football game under the tree. It was the best Christmas present I ever received.

[@josephgeorge7385]

Scott Reed That’s what I thought about the Electric Football game my parents bought me in 1972 great memories time flies brother

[@frankkinley6272]

Scott Reed,
I really enjoyed reading your post. My brother & I received electronic football set one Christmas during the 1970's. We played for hours & hours on that beautiful field of football dreams. Mark Van Eeghen up the middle would be our cry.
Those days were the best. After Football on the game we would get dressed in our warmest clothes to go out in the big back field to play the real thing. Fun days.

[@bigwest7004]

This is gold, Randy! I also had one at the same age. My favorite was Maravich "a wrap around pass to Hudson, he scores"......thanks for sharing the football memories.

[@rayoyler7382]

thanks for putting this up on RUclips brings back lots of memories

[@stevebrock5918]

So happy to find this. Thanks for posting.

[@kevinkessler9284]

This makes my heart feel good

[@josephgeorge7385]

Thanks for posting

[@davee164]

I always wanted this! Thank you for sharing!

[@tonygallo81]

I love it. Do you have the Joe Namath record? I would love to hear it again.

[@rkyveit]

Not yet, but when I do, I'll post another video...thanks for the comment!

[@SRBenedict]

My father, Chuck Benedict, was the announcer on many of these disks, in addition to his full-time job with the (OG) LA Rams, back in the day, he did a lot of voiceover work with Mattel.
Thanks so much for posting these. You did a great job on the video. I still have the instant replay in the original box that my dad brought home from Mattel. It still works but it sounds even funnier than it did when it was brand-new. I want to play around with recording it and then adjusting the speed digitally.

[@stephengarrett2846]

Thanks for putting this up. Brings back such great memories!