Electronic Talk 'n Play (1984)

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Welcome back to My Nostalgia Blog. I took last week off because we were having family visiting over the weekend and we were getting the house cleaned up for it. I was also having weird stomach issues all last week, and it kinda prevented me from wanting to work on anything blog related. I'm back today though for a post that I hadn't anticipated on making on this blog this early in its development. Because I hadn't actually thought about it this early on. But, I decided to write about a toy that I had when I was a kid that wasn't really a toy, but a tape recorder/tape player. Let's get into it.

 This is the Playskool Electronic Talk 'n Play. It was originally produced by CBS Toys in 1984, but two years later, Hasbro picked it up under the Playskool name. I'm pretty sure I had the Playskool version, being that that's what was coming out from 1986 until 1992. But, it's always possible that my grandparents found a 1984 version. So what was this device? It basically told stories through the cassette tape deck on the left, and you'd press one of the four colored buttons on the right when prompted and whichever button you pressed, made the story on the tape take a different path. Eventually you'd have to press all four of them to progress the story, but the order in which you pressed them in the prompt is what made it cool.

I only ever had two of the book and tape sets that went with the Talk 'n Play. Both of them were from Sesame Street. The first was Sesame Street: Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?, which was the book and tape set that came packaged with the player. The second was A Silly Sesame Street Story: The Three Little Pigs, which was the Sesame Street version of The Three Little Pigs, obviously. However, those weren't the only things I listened to on the Talk 'n Play.

I listened to other tapes on it too. Like my Teddy Ruxpin tapes, the Sharon, Lois, & Bram tape that I had, and other audiotapes. Including the one Rainbow Brite tape that came with Rainbow Brite and the Brook Meadow Deer, one of three Rainbow Brite books that I owned when I was a kid. 

I don't remember exactly when we finally got rid of my Talk 'n Play, but I think it was probably 1997 or 1998. I remember using it at the house we lived in from 1996 to 1997, but I don't remember using it after we moved in the summer of 1997. So we probably got rid of it in 1997, just before we moved that summer. I was 10 years old when we got rid of it. Again, I don't think my siblings and I used it after we moved in 1997, but it's very possible that we did and I just don't remember. 

That's all I've got for you today. I'll be back next week with some more nostalgia goodness. Until then have a great week and I will talk to you all later. Take care.