6 ms·

The Milton Bradley Big Trak

53 points by empressplay 8y ago

jcoffland 8y ago
I had one of these as a kid. It was awesome!! I believe it was my first exposure to programing. I even have a picture of me with it. Plaid shirts and programming. Not much has changed in ~40 years. https://blog.buildbotics.com/content/images/2018/12/1-oeEOUxk9MI5tWfjMaQs9_A.png https://blog.buildbotics.com/content/images/2018/12/1-oeEOUx...
- rollthehard6 8y ago
  I always forget that this was my first programming experience :)
- wazoox 8y ago
  Yes I had this too. Unfortunately it didn't support conditions or loop IIRC :)
  - xnyan 8y ago
    It has very, very basic loop functionally. A repeat function would be more accurate.
    - andygates 8y ago
      Drive round the living room, fire laser (n) times to get dad's attention, wait for dad to load it with peanuts, drive back. That was a very good xmas.
LVB 8y ago
Reminds me of my 255 Computer Command from the same era: https://youtu.be/1D1l1FImAgI https://youtu.be/1D1l1FImAgI
mixmastamyk 8y ago
My dad got me one of these, may have a picture of it somewhere. Great memories of exploring the house with it. <3 <3 One thing not mentioned. If memory serves it took something like 8 D batteries and ate them for breakfast! My little pinball machine ate them even faster, haha.
Nursie 8y ago
I remember the ads! I so wanted one of these things :) It was 1979? Wow. Given I was a '78 baby, I'm guessing they were either late to the UK, or on the market for a number of years. Relaunched you say? Huh...
- magoghm 8y ago
  I was 19 years old and I also wanted one of those. But I had to choose, and I finally ended up getting a Chess Challenger 7: https://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php/Fidelity_Chess_Challenger_7 https://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php/Fidelity_Che...
- LeonB 8y ago
  Same- I remember it as a massive, worldwide source of envy. I’m glad at least one commentor remembers it the same.
lordelph 8y ago
There's a maker group local to me that constructed a drivable version called BigHak! http://hackhitchin.org.uk/bighak/ http://hackhitchin.org.uk/bighak/
mdturnerphys 8y ago
For anyone looking for something similar for a younger age group: https://www.learningresources.com/product/learning+essentials--8482-+stem+robot+mouse+coding+activity+set.do https://www.learningresources.com/product/learning+essential.... My 6yo daughter enjoys it even more than I'd hoped she would. I believe I found it on the Purdue Engineering gift guide shared on HN before Christmas.
asciimo 8y ago
Man, that was a good time. I remember writing out paths on paper that were lines of arrows. Had to adjust turn values based on the surface friction; linoleum needed less turn, and carpet needed more. Talk about learning to debug...
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
01100011 8y ago
I had something similar on my Capsela set. I think Robotix had one too. I think they came out a few years later though.
taneq 8y ago
I always wanted one of these, so when I saw a new-gen one I snapped it up ("for the kids", of course. :) Disappointingly the software seems to be buggy, though - on a fair percentage of turn instructions it just buzzes for a second or so and then turns backs up before turning less than it should have done. I guess I just need to pull it apart and upgrade it...
- beenBoutIT 8y ago
  You can still find the original ones all over eBay.
dkresge 8y ago
There was even an add-on “dump cart” which could be towed and (IIRC) dumped programmatically via the 1/8” mini-plug that served as part of its hitch. Fun times!
fsagx 8y ago
Any D batteries in the house got snatched up fast. Any flashlights with good batteries usually got swapped for dead ones. Anyone else remember their bigtrak being a matte grey, instead of white like in the article? I remember skipping the decal installation too -- didn't care for the stripes.
- lscotte 8y ago
  I remember mine being gray too, but I don't know - that was a long time ago!
- eskatonic 8y ago
  The original was grey. ThinkGeek put out a "remake" a few years ago, which was white.
- joezydeco 8y ago
  This is the original grey: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/O68AAOSwg1JcQlyT/s-l640.jpg https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/O68AAOSwg1JcQlyT/s-l640.jpg
tyingq 8y ago
Better info on what's inside the thing: http://www.robotroom.com/BigTrak.html http://www.robotroom.com/BigTrak.html
growlist 8y ago
Now even more upset for my 7 year old self that I didn't get one reading the comments here about how awesome it was! The marketing was certainly very successful - I can still just about remember the TV adverts 35 ish (eek) years later.

53 points by empressplay 8y ago

I had one of these as a kid. It was awesome!! I believe it was my first exposure to programing. I even have a picture of me with it. Plaid shirts and programming. Not much has changed in ~40 years. https://blog.buildbotics.com/content/images/2018/12/1-oeEOUxk9MI5tWfjMaQs9_A.png https://blog.buildbotics.com/content/images/2018/12/1-oeEOUx...

rollthehard6 8y ago
I always forget that this was my first programming experience :)
wazoox 8y ago
Yes I had this too. Unfortunately it didn't support conditions or loop IIRC :)
- xnyan 8y ago
  It has very, very basic loop functionally. A repeat function would be more accurate.
  - andygates 8y ago
    Drive round the living room, fire laser (n) times to get dad's attention, wait for dad to load it with peanuts, drive back. That was a very good xmas.

LVB 8y ago

Reminds me of my 255 Computer Command from the same era: https://youtu.be/1D1l1FImAgI https://youtu.be/1D1l1FImAgI

mixmastamyk 8y ago

My dad got me one of these, may have a picture of it somewhere. Great memories of exploring the house with it. <3 <3 One thing not mentioned. If memory serves it took something like 8 D batteries and ate them for breakfast! My little pinball machine ate them even faster, haha.

Nursie 8y ago

I remember the ads! I so wanted one of these things :) It was 1979? Wow. Given I was a '78 baby, I'm guessing they were either late to the UK, or on the market for a number of years. Relaunched you say? Huh...

magoghm 8y ago
I was 19 years old and I also wanted one of those. But I had to choose, and I finally ended up getting a Chess Challenger 7: https://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php/Fidelity_Chess_Challenger_7 https://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php/Fidelity_Che...
LeonB 8y ago
Same- I remember it as a massive, worldwide source of envy. I’m glad at least one commentor remembers it the same.

lordelph 8y ago

There's a maker group local to me that constructed a drivable version called BigHak! http://hackhitchin.org.uk/bighak/ http://hackhitchin.org.uk/bighak/

mdturnerphys 8y ago

For anyone looking for something similar for a younger age group: https://www.learningresources.com/product/learning+essentials--8482-+stem+robot+mouse+coding+activity+set.do https://www.learningresources.com/product/learning+essential.... My 6yo daughter enjoys it even more than I'd hoped she would. I believe I found it on the Purdue Engineering gift guide shared on HN before Christmas.

asciimo 8y ago

Man, that was a good time. I remember writing out paths on paper that were lines of arrows. Had to adjust turn values based on the surface friction; linoleum needed less turn, and carpet needed more. Talk about learning to debug...

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

01100011 8y ago

I had something similar on my Capsela set. I think Robotix had one too. I think they came out a few years later though.

taneq 8y ago

I always wanted one of these, so when I saw a new-gen one I snapped it up ("for the kids", of course. :) Disappointingly the software seems to be buggy, though - on a fair percentage of turn instructions it just buzzes for a second or so and then turns backs up before turning less than it should have done. I guess I just need to pull it apart and upgrade it...

beenBoutIT 8y ago
You can still find the original ones all over eBay.

dkresge 8y ago

There was even an add-on “dump cart” which could be towed and (IIRC) dumped programmatically via the 1/8” mini-plug that served as part of its hitch. Fun times!

fsagx 8y ago

Any D batteries in the house got snatched up fast. Any flashlights with good batteries usually got swapped for dead ones. Anyone else remember their bigtrak being a matte grey, instead of white like in the article? I remember skipping the decal installation too -- didn't care for the stripes.

lscotte 8y ago
I remember mine being gray too, but I don't know - that was a long time ago!
eskatonic 8y ago
The original was grey. ThinkGeek put out a "remake" a few years ago, which was white.
joezydeco 8y ago
This is the original grey: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/O68AAOSwg1JcQlyT/s-l640.jpg https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/O68AAOSwg1JcQlyT/s-l640.jpg

tyingq 8y ago

Better info on what's inside the thing: http://www.robotroom.com/BigTrak.html http://www.robotroom.com/BigTrak.html

growlist 8y ago

Now even more upset for my 7 year old self that I didn't get one reading the comments here about how awesome it was! The marketing was certainly very successful - I can still just about remember the TV adverts 35 ish (eek) years later.