I recall reading that the design kicked off because of some stock of surplus CRTs but that didn't ultimately end up used. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/

I recall reading that the design kicked off because of some stock of surplus CRTs but that didn't ultimately end up used. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/a-history-of-gaming-platforms-the-vectrex https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/a-history-of-gaming-pla... > The system got its start in late 1980, when one of the hardware designers at Western Technologies (Smith Engineering), John Ross, had a light bulb go off -- or, to be more precise, a surplus one-inch Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). > Western Technologies redesigned the system as a tabletop, and later that year General Consumer Electronics (GCE) licensed it for production -- though now with a nine-inch screen. More of that history here https://www.vectrex.be/vectrex_jay_smith.html https://www.vectrex.be/vectrex_jay_smith.html