Editing Tiger Electronics (section)

==History==
Gerald Rissman, Randy Rissman and Arnold Rissman founded the company in June 1978. It started with low-tech items like phonographs, then began developing [[handheld electronic game]]s and educational toys. Prominent among these was the [[2-XL]] Robot in 1978, and K28, Tiger's Talking Learning Computer (1984) which was sold worldwide by [[Kmart (United States)|Kmart]] and other chain stores. Tiger also achieved success with many simple handheld electronics games like ''Electronic Bowling'' and titles based on licenses, such as ''[[RoboCop]]'', ''[[Terminator (series)|Terminator]]'', and ''[[Spider-Man]]''. An early 1990s hit was the variable-speed portable [[Cassette tape|cassette]] [[Cassette deck|player and recorder]], the [[Talkboy]] (first seen in the 1992 movie ''[[Home Alone 2: Lost in New York]]''), followed by the Brain family of games which include games like ''Brain Bash'', ''[[Brain Warp]]'', and ''[[Brain Shift]]''. It also licensed the [[Lazer Tag]] brand from its inventors, Shoot the Moon Products, which was born from the remnants of the [[Worlds of Wonder (toy company)|Worlds of Wonder]] company.

The company's [[cash cow]] through much of the 1990s was their line of licensed handheld LCD games.<ref name="EGM59"/> In a 1993 feature on these games, ''[[GamePro]]'' attributed their success to the following three factors:<ref name="GPro52">{{cite magazine|date=November 1993|title=Tiger Puts the Bite on Hand Held Games|pages=192–194|magazine=[[GamePro]]|publisher=[[International Data Group|IDG]]|issue=52|url=https://retrocdn.net/images/f/f3/GamePro_US_052.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420123648/https://retrocdn.net/images/f/f3/GamePro_US_052.pdf|archive-date=April 20, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
*Tiger's effective licensing. Director of marketing Tamara Lebovitz stated, "We read all the magazines and talk to all the studios to keep on the cutting edge of what's hot with kids."<ref name="GPro52"/> As a fairly small company at the time, Tiger was able to pursue desirable licenses quickly and aggressively. This allowed them to release licensed games while the properties they were licensed from were still at the peak of their popularity.
*The low price per game. Tiger handheld games sold for roughly $20 each. By comparison, most handheld games of the time cost over $30, and required a separately sold system (an additional $50 or more) to play it on.
*The simplistic, addictive gameplay of the games. While older gamers tended to find Tiger handheld games one-dimensional and boring, for kids aged five to twelve years old, their simple and easy-to-learn mechanics were more appealing than other video games of the time, which were often frustratingly difficult and dauntingly complex for younger children.

In the fall of 1994, Tiger introduced a specialized line of their handheld LCD games, called Tiger Barcodzz. These were [[barcode games]] which read any [[barcode]] and used it to generate stats for the player character. The line was a major success in Japan, where there were even [[reality show]]s based around gamers competing to find the best barcodes to defeat other players.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=July 1994|title=Power Peripherals|page=158|magazine=[[GamePro]]|publisher=[[International Data Group|IDG]]|issue=60|url=https://retrocdn.net/images/9/92/GamePro_US_060.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112004115/https://retrocdn.net/images/9/92/GamePro_US_060.pdf|archive-date=January 12, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Tiger produced a version of ''[[Lights Out (game)|Lights Out]]'' around 1995. In 1997 it produced a quaint fishing game called ''Fishing Championship'', in the shape of a reduced fishing rod. Another 1990s creation was [[Skip-It]].

In 1995, Tiger acquired the [[Texas Instruments]] toy division. Tiger agreed to manufacture and market electronic toys for [[Hasbro]] and [[Sega]].<ref>"[https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/11/business/company-news-tiger-electronics-gets-texas-instruments-unit.html?pagewanted=all Company News; Tiger Electronics Gets Texas Instruments Unit]." ''[[The New York Times]]''. February 11, 1995. Retrieved on December 7, 2010.</ref>

===Merging with Hasbro===
Tiger Electronics has been part of the [[Hasbro]] toy company since 1998.<ref>{{cite web|first=Dave|last=Nachison|url=http://www.fool.com/news/1999/kide990824.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991129053541/http://www.fool.com/news/1999/kide990824.htm|title=Sacre Bleu! It's Pokémon!|website=.fool.com|archive-date=November 29, 1999|date=August 24, 1999|access-date=July 1, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Joseph|last=Pereira|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB887032398301659000|title=Hasbro Will Buy Giga Pets Maker, Announce Partnership With Intel|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=February 10, 1998|access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref> Hasbro paid approximately $335 million for the acquisition.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Hasbro to Buy Game.com Maker |magazine=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]]|issue=106 |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |date=May 1998|page=23}}</ref> In 2000, Tiger was licensed to provide a variety of electronics with the [[Yahoo!]] brand name, including [[digital camera]]s, [[webcam]]s, and a "Hits Downloader" that made music from the Internet ([[mp3]]s, etc.) accessible through Tiger's assorted "[[HitClips]]" players.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.altaba.com/static-files/083516d5-9a4f-496d-adcb-eda59401bf83|title=Tiger Electronics And Yahoo! Team To Create Innovative, Technology-Based Lifestyle Products|website=altaba.com|date=February 7, 2000|access-date=July 4, 2019}}</ref> Tiger also produces the long-lasting [[iDog]] Interactive Music Companion, the ZoomBox—a portable 3-in-1 home entertainment projector that will play DVDs, CDs and connects to most gaming systems—, the [[VideoNow]] personal video player, the VCamNow digital [[camcorder]], the [[ChatNow]] line of kid-oriented [[two-way radio]]s and the TVNow, a personal handheld DVR player. They released an electronic tabletop version of ''[[Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?]]'' with voice recordings by host [[Chris Tarrant]]. Tiger also released an electronic version of ''[[The Weakest Link]]'' with voice recordings by [[Anne Robinson]].