History of video games/Platforms/Etch-A-Sketch Animator 2000

Background
Ohio Art is a company based in Bryan, a small community in northwest Ohio. The company had begun to experiement with an electronic Etch-A-Sketch when they released the original Etch-A-Skech animator, a device capable of 12 frames of animations, in 1986. The system retailed for $139.99 and cartridges cost $29.99. It's important to note that the original Etch-A-Sketch animator was essentially a digital version of the analog Etch-A-Sketch, and as purely an art and animation device it did not play games.

Development
Development of the Etch-A-Sketch Animator 2000 began in 1987. In 1988 Ohio Art received a patent for the original Etch-A-Sketch Animator.

Launch
"Its mother is a computer. Its father is a toy"

The Etch-A-Sketch Animator 2000 launched in 1988.

Legacy
The Etch-A-Sketch Animator 2000 was not a success and production ended by 1990.

A TV plug and play system, the Etch-A-Sketch ETO was launched in 2004 for $35. The Ohio Art Company would later work on a different system, the K-Magic

Compute
The Etch-A-Sketch Animator was advertised as having "196K memory", as well as having "30 functions".

22 images could be stored in the Etch-A-Sketch Animator 2000, and 99 animation frames using those pictures could be saved. A memory cartridge was available to expand storage.

Hardware
The Etch-A-Sketch Animator 2000 has a black and white LCD with a resolution of 60 pixels by 40 pixels.

The Etch-A-Sketch Animator 2000 has a touch pad and stylus.

The Etch-A-Sketch Animator 2000 uses six AA batteries.

The system was protected by a styrofoam shell while in its box.

The system was made in the USA with some parts sourced from Hong Kong and Japan.

Original Etch-A-Sketch Animator Specs
The original Etch-A-Sketch Animator has a 4-bit Sanyo LC6523 microcontroller, two kilobytes of RAM, and an LCD screen with a resolution of 40 by 30 pixels.

Game Library
Three games were released for the Etch-A-Sketch Animator 2000.
 * Putt-Nuts - 18 hole Mini golf game. Has a two player mode.
 * Flyby - Flight simulator. Todd Marshall worked on this game.
 * Overdrive - Racing game.