who introduced you to this hobby?

[Treks1]

I don't recall the year but I can remember the time vaguely. It was Christmas time and I was 3- 4 years old and we were making the yearly visit to the grandparents' house in Detroit (I lived in East Lansing at the time), apparently my Mom bought the game for my older brother Gary, as I was too young for the recommended age. But that did not stop me from busting open that box, I think it was a Superbowl set.....it was awesome. It kinda became my present and the rest is history.

[Coach K-LO]

wow, I can remember like it was yesterday..... It was November 1969... sitting in the kitchen eating a boal of Rasin Bran watching cartoons and on the next commercial there it was..... THE GAME .... it showed the RB running down the sideline, then it showed the Father behind the goal post looking at the kick, which went straight thru the uprights.......... after that I just had to get one..........so that Christmas I had one under the tree...it was the Giants vs. Bears....and it was on from there!

Coach K-LO

have been hooked ever since

[Michigan Joe]

My grandpa bought me and my brother the game from a garage sale when I was 10, an old 500 with yellow and red players. They were whatever team we imagined them to be...usually the yellow team was Michigan and red was Ohio State. When I was 12, we had the most magical Christmas kids could have. We recieved the Bears/Patriots super bowl game with 4 additional NFL division team sets. We played several years up to about high school with a total of ~25 bases. We had one base that was pure magic- a fast TTC that ran straight. We new nothing of rookie bases and we never thought to ask for more bases. We always swapped that great base to whoever was playing offense so that the offense could have a good running back. We ran that running back base on every play for years no matter what team's figures we were using. We enjoyed the competition, but I'd say we enjoyed the simulation aspect of it the most such creating holes, big hits, long runs, pulling guards, screen passes, draws. The unspoken "winner" was actually the person that could come up with the most creative way to simulate a play.

[jimmie]

My next door friend Ricky Kirkland!! He was about 11 I was eight he would let me watch he and another kid play when I was nine he let me play that xmas I got my first set Packers vs the Rams!!

[Reginald Rutledge]

was like Lomax! I saw the commercial and the rest was history. Next thing I knew was some guys in the neighborhood had it. Some brothers from a street over and a guy had sets. Their names were "Boonie" and "PopClean" and Tony Smith.

I remember it being the board where it had all the teams on the side of the board. They would just run all day. No passing back in those days. The Triple Threat Quarterback was a foreign thing to them in their youth and to me. I looked at that QB like it was the plague.

No one touched him to pass or kick. All I know is that the impressions on the commercial of watching that little sucker kick and pass told me that if it could work for that father and son, it better work for me too.

So getting leagues started, that apparatus was BANNED! Fiften years later when I went to University of Tennessee and I spent my time playing EFL instead of going to engineering classes, I rediscovered the game when Air Coryell was in full effect. Watching Jefferson, Joiner, Winslow, and Fouts told me it was time to bring my game into the modern era.

That's when I taught myself how to pass. The great thing about the game is that making that pass when 10-20 people are standing over you is the one reason I still cherish the game so much!

And Steve, yeah I stole one from my brother in which the game was originally intended for me. He had NO INTEREST in electric football!

Reg

[FrustratedFinFan]

My father introduced me into the hobby when I was about 8. He bought me a Super Bowl board for Christmas...Vikings versus Raiders. I went on to buy every AFC East team and some others. I tried in vain to get more of my friends interested in the game, but they tired of the rugby scrum and whacky player maneuvers...sigh....wish we had base tweakers, custom figures and more back then....

Now the hobby is vastly improved and flying under the radar. It is hard to compete with computer games...but I think the game could and should be more popular with America's kids...from 8-80!

[childslovegame]

Guys,

I was introduced to the hobby by the Washington Post in Dec. 1999. They did a story on Electric Football in the Style Section with Vance Warren and Anothy Burgress. I was blown away by the stadium AB had at that time. I went to the Miggle Convention in January in D.C. and that was it! My wife and daughter thought that I was going through mid-life crisis and I would quite. Little did they know, seeing EF again sparked memories from my childhood. The rest is EF History.

Smitty

[NEW CASTLE HiTMEN]

My uncle had the old with the metal players. A few years later I got it for christmas. Dallas vs Denver.

[the mellow canary]

dad brought this for me on Christmas day in the late 70's. I still got the figs.

[Marty]

I think it was 1979 when I seen the board with figures in the window of the local department store in Canton, Ohio. The game probably saved my life. When I was kid growing up in Detroit I kept getting into trouble, a thug in training My mom got worried shipped me to Canton and I wasted no time finding trouble quickly but I always loved football and basketball no matter what mischief I got into. When I seen that board I lost my mind I was fascinated cause I couldn't believe the little guys could run, kick and catch. Well as it turned out they didn't do everything like I hoped lol but they did enough where I didn't go outside or do nothing but play that game, I even got beat a couple of times for sneaking out of bed to play.

I got back to my old stomping grounds in Detroit and was lucky because instead of finding trouble my new neighborhood had about 30 teens who played everyday all day even skipped school a few times when someone got to popping off at the mouth about how good they were. I played this game until I had no one to play with. Once we became adults it seemed there was no one to play or even a place to purchase products but little did I know there were many of you guys still playing and evolving the game. I needed something so I got hooked on "Madden". I played Madden all the time traveled the country, played in leagues and tournaments but there was always something missing I got bored and quit playing Madden and needed something to get into other than hanging at every night club in Detroit

One night I was cruising the net and happened to randomly look up this game, found this site, found out about the Great Lakes League, played last year for the 1st time in 18 years, got the snot beat out of me and loved every minute of it I played Madden for years in several high stakes games, leagues and tourneys but the time I have had playing in the Great Lakes and the college tourney in Canton is PRICELESS

A special thanks goes out to all of you who have kept this great game alive