In the meantime here is another post that is probably going to be pretty boring to most.
I recently did a search of the California Secretary of State's Office for incorporation dates of various companies that made video games in the 1970s.
I also list the address and city listed in the database.
NOTE that a few of these may be different companies with the same name (for most, I checked the city to see if it matched) and some (like Ramtek) started off making products other than video games.
· Nutting Associates, Inc. - February 17, 1967 - 320 Martin Ave Ste E, Santa Clara
· Ramtek Corporation - September 28, 1971 - 2211 Lawson Ln - Santa Clara
· International Consolidated Industries - April 11, 1972 - San Mateo
· Atari, Inc. - June 27, 1972 - no address
· For-Play Manufacturers Corporation - July 20, 1972, 10556 Keswick St., Sun Valley
· Project Support Engineering, Inc. - April 9, 1973 - Sunnyvale
· Exidy, Inc.. - October 30, 1973 - 2688 C Middlefield Rd, Redwood City
· Kee Games International - December 20, 1973 - 75 Rockefeller Plaza - New York, NY
· Meadows Games, Inc. - January 21, 1974 - 181 Commercial St. - Sunnyvale
· J.R.W. Electronics - January 30, 1974 - San Jose
· Digital Games, Inc. - June 21, 1974 - 545 Terrace Way - San Dimas
· Major Manufacturers Inc. - October 22, 1974 - San Francisco
· Video Tennis - November 7, 1974 - La Jolla
· World Wide Video Enterprises, Inc. - January 17, 1975 - Covina
· Cinematronics, Inc. - May 16, 1975 - P.O. Box 92038 - La Jolla
· Westlake Systems Corporation - August 19, 1975 - Westlake Village
· Amalgamated Enterprises, Inc. - October 3, 1975 - La Jolla
· Innovative Coin Corporation - November 5, 1975 - Santa Clara
· Bailey International, Inc. - February 27, 1976 - 1450 Industrial Park St. - Covina
· Amutech, Ltd - June 16, 1976 - Corte Madera
· Electro-Sport, Inc. - June 17, 1976 - Costa Mesa
· Micronetics, Inc. - June 24, 1976 - 6000 San Vicente Blvd - Los Angeles
· Computer Kinetics Corporation - October 19, 1976 - Westlake Village
· Gametech, Inc. - November 8, 1976 - San Jose
· Vectorbeam - May 5, 1978 - 390 Java Dr. - Sunnyvale
· Meyco Games, Inc. - July 10, 1978 - Santa Clara
· Zila Corporation - July 11, 1978 - Santa Ana
· Jatre U.S.A., Inc. - October 2, 1978 - Tustin
· Universal U.S.A., Inc. - December 18 ,1978 - Fremont
The one major company I didn't find was Gremlin. They were actually incorporated in Delaware but I didn't find anything there either.
I also did a quick search for Syzygy.
According to legend when Nolan Busnhell tried to register the name Syzygy he found that it was already taken but by what? Different interviews give different answers. One time it was a roofing company, another time a candle company.
I only found two Syzygy's listed before 1970 and another in 1970: Syzygy Productions (2/23/65) in LA, Syzygy Restaurants, Inc. (9/10/65) in Lomita, and Syzygy Resource Systems, Inc. (9/8/70) in LA
Finally, here are some early video game companies from outside of california (though the earliest ones weren't making video games at the time they were incorporated):
NOTE: It appears that the Illinois Secretary of State's website only allows you to search for corportaions that are still in good standing and not ones that aren't around any more. Too bad.
- PMC Electronics (PA) - 3/18/65
- Technical Design Corp (MN) - 5/14/65
- Allied Leisure (FL) - 11/21/68
- Hal Computer Inc (FL) - 4/28/71
- Amutronics (NJ) - 10/72
- Potomac Mortgage Co (TX) - 2/11/74
- Electromotion (PA) - 2/13/74
- United States Marketing (AZ) - 7/26/74
- Williams Electronics (IL) - 12/30/74 (note that Williams was founded in 1943)
- Electromotion (FL) - 1/13/75
- Venture Line (AZ) - 4/15/75
- ACL Manufacturing (DE) - 1/13/76
- Control Sales (IL) - 3/22/76
- Elcon Industries (MI) - 9/2/77
- Telmark Systems (TX) - 6/13/78
"NOTE: It appears that the Illinois Secretary of State's website only allows you to search for corportaions that are still in good standing and not ones that aren't around any more. Too bad."
ReplyDeleteThat's not true. I've looked up several companies in the past, and I just looked up Action Graphics to make sure.
As for Gremlin, that's strange that there's nothing. Gremlin became Sega Electronics. Maybe the name was changed again to something we don't know about.
Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place.
ReplyDeleteI was searching at http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/
I did find an entry fro Action Graphics and a few others (Taito America in '73, Williams Electronics in '74 (though they were founded back '43).
Others, however, I didn't find.
I only found D. Gottlieb under the entry for Mylstar. They listed a "qualification" date of 1976, but Gottlieb has been around since the 20s. It said it was incorprated in Delaware but they may mean Mylstar. All I found on the Delaware site was an entry for David Gottlieb & Sons in 1991.
Stern Electronics appears under Sphere Point Enterprises (incorporated 1999)
Midway Manufacturing appears under Midway Games (1988). I didn't find anything in Delaware.
I found nothing for Fascination Ltd (just Fascination inc which was too late), See Fun, Kitco (other than an aircraft parts company) or a number of others.
Gremlin was actually incorporated in Delaware. There was a funny story about that. When they called the Secretary of State's offie (or whomever they called when they incorporated ca 1970) they told the person that their company name was "Grindleman Industries" (from partners Carl GRINDLE and Frank FogelMAN) but the person misheard it as Gremlin Industries and they decided to keep it.
Hi...From my point of view i did not see any games like what you mentioning here in past days.....
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