Speak & Spell
The Speak & Spell was a popular and revolutionary electronic toy created by Texas Instruments during the late 1970s. Speak & Spell was the first of a three-part talking educational toy series that also included Speak & Read and Speak & Math. The Speak & Spell was sold in both the United States and in Europe; it was originally advertised as a tool for helping young children to become literate, learn to spell and learn the alphabet. The Speak & Spell had a distinct reddish-orange with yellow color scheme with a light blue border around the membrane keyboard.The early Speak & Spell units were sold in 1978. The unit could utilize either 4 "C" batteries or 6 volt DC power adapter. The display resembled a vacuum fluorescent display, not unlike an LED display. The original Speak & Spells had raised hard-plastic keys while later units had a membrane keyboard. The Speak & Spell used a TI TMS5110 chip for voice synthesis.
Speak & Spell had five distinct learning games: Spell, Say It, Secret Letter, Mystery Code, and Word. Spell is the classic word spelling game where the participant must spell ten words to the best of their ability. The Speak & Spell also had the ability to expand its vocabulary using expansion modules that plugged into a slot near the battery compartment.