The origins of handheld game consoles are found in handheld and tabletop electronic game devices of theErorrdefinitionthe 1970s and early 1980s. These electronic devices are capable of playing only a single game,<ref name="nintendo popular"/> they fit in the palm of the hand or on a tabletop, and they may make use of a variety of video displays such as [[Light-emitting diode|LED]], [[Vacuum fluorescent display|VFD]], or [[Liquid crystal display|LCD]].<ref name="electronic handheld definition">{{cite book| last = Demaria| first = Rusel|author2=Johnny L. Wilson| title = High Score! The Illustrated History of Video games| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HJNvZLvpCEQC&q=High+Score!+The+Illustrated+History+of+Video+games| publisher = [[McGraw-Hill]]| year = 2002| page = 30| isbn = 978-0-07-222428-3}}</ref> In 1978, handheld electronic games were described by ''[[Popular Electronics]]'' magazine as "nonvideo electronic games" and "non-TV games" as distinct from devices that required use of a television screen.<ref name="nonvideogame">{{Cite journal| last = Jensen| first = Kris| title = New 1978 Electronic Games| journal = [[Popular Electronics]]|date=January 1978| pages = 33–43| url = http://www.handheldmuseum.com/BooksMagazines/Mag-PE_0178/PE0178_2.htm| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110628172513/http://www.handheldmuseum.com/BooksMagazines/Mag-PE_0178/PE0178_2.htm| archive-date=June 28, 2011| access-date = July 17, 2016}}</ref> Handheld electronic games, in turn, find their origins in the synthesis{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}} of previous handheld and tabletop [[Electromechanics|electro-mechanical]] devices such as [[Waco (toymaker)|Waco]]'s ''Electronic Tic-Tac-Toe'' (1972)<ref name="electronic handheld definition"/> Cragstan's ''Periscope-Firing Range'' (1951),<ref name="handheldmuseum">{{cite web| last = Morgan| first = Rik| title = Cragstan Periscope-Firing Range| publisher = Handheld Museum| date = August 5, 2008| url = http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Misc/CragstanPeriscope.htm| access-date = December 27, 2008}}</ref> and the emerging [[Optoelectronics|optoelectronic]]-display-driven calculator market of the early 1970s.<ref name="LED Calculators">{{Cite magazine| title = Optoelectronics Arrives| magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]]| volume = 99| issue = 14| date = April 3, 1972| url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903443,00.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101022172145/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903443,00.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = October 22, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Cohen Interview">{{cite web| last = Morgan| first = Rik| title = Interview with Howard Cohen.| publisher = Handheld Museum| date = August 5, 2008| url = http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/Trivia.htm| access-date = October 1, 2009}}</ref> This synthesis happened in 1976, when "Mattel began work on a line of calculator-sized sports games that became the world's first handheld electronic games. The project began when Michael Katz, Mattel's new product category marketing director, told the engineers in the electronics group to design a game the size of a calculator, using LED (light-emitting diode) technology."<ref name="ultimate history">{{cite book| last = Kent| first = Steven| title = The Ultimate History of Video Games| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=C2MH05ogU9oC&q=%22The+Ultimate+History+of+Video+Games%22| publisher = Prima Publishing| year = 2001| page = 200| isbn = 978-0-7615-3643-7}}</ref>
::our big success was something that I conceptualized—the first handheld game. I asked the design group to see if they could come up with a game that was electronic that was the same size as a calculator.
