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Verbal exercises for young minds.

Graphics: 3 Sound: 2 Replay Value: 2 Notes: 1- or 2-player game; does not work on Intellivision II Screen Shots

The Electric Company Word Fun is one of the pair of games originally released in the Children's Learning Network. The various phases each seem OK, and overall I'd judge it better than its counterpart, Math Fun. The graphics are better and more varied. Still, it's supposed to be edutainment, and we all know how well that material fares. Mattel, after all, wanted to make money.

The older Intellivision Master Component boxes have an interesting screen shot for Word Fun. Was this a precursor to what became Word Rockets? Seems similar in concept–supply the missing letter.

Prerelease Word Fun Shot

A total of four The Electric Company Word Fun box variants have been documented.

Image	Vendor	Part Number	Year	Origin	Description
	Mattel Electronics	1122-0910	1980	U.S.A	Plastic tray; part number on top not in white box; © Mattel, Inc. Hawthorne, CA on bottom; refers to Keyboard Component on cover
	Mattel Electronics	1122-0910	1980	Hong Kong	Plastic tray; part number on top not in white box; © Mattel, Inc. Hawthorne, CA on bottom; refers to Keyboard Component on cover
	Mattel Electronics	1122-0910-G1	1980	Hong Kong	Plastic tray; no part number on top; © Mattel, Inc. Hawthorne, CA on bottom
	Mattel Electronics	1122-0410	1980	Hong Kong	International Edition; plastic tray; no part number on top; © Mattel, Inc. Hawthorne, CA on bottom; slots in back for manual; slots inside for overlays

The original release of this game is not compatible with the Intellivision II console. The claim has been made that a later version of the ROM did work on the Inty II console. Haven't seen this personally. decle's site reports the rumored existence of this variant. Can anyone verify this with an actual cartridge?

A total of eight The Electric Company Word Fun manual variants have been documented.

Image	Vendor	Part Number	Year	Origin	Description
	Mattel Electronics	1122-0920	1980	U.S.A.	Note that the logos are in black text, as opposed to the blue text used in the other versions of the manual; submitted by Hankster, who also reports this manual is in his PlayCable set; in November, 2014 JasonLikesINTV provided independent verification of this variation
	Mattel Electronics	1122-0920	1980	Hong Kong
	Mattel Electronics	1122-0920-G1	1980	Hong Kong	Note the change in copyright layout
	Mattel Electronics	1122-0820-G2	1980	Hong Kong	British English edition; submitted by, and image from, Hankster; my copy could stand an upgrade
Image not available.	Mattel Electronics	1122-0121?	1980	Hong Kong	German version; NEED CONFIRMATION
Image not available.	Mattel Electronics	1122-0141?	1980	Mexico (?)	Black and white Mattel manual with localized title: DIVERSION EN PALABRAS; NEED CONFIRMATION of part number and other information
	Mattel Electronics	PC-1122-0920	1980	U.S.A.	PlayCable version; part number on back cover
Image not available.	Intellivision Inc.	1122-0920-G1	None	U.S.A.	Discovered in November, 2014 by JasonLikesINTV, this is an extremely rare variation; flip-book style with stable along top edge

Other than the obvious overlay order form difference, the warranty and repair info page is different, too. This is probably common to many of the various revisions.

Finally, we see an omission on the back of the later revision. The registered copyright symbol is missing.

A total of four The Electric Company Word Fun overlay variants have been documented.

Image	Vendor	Part Number	Year	Origin	Description
	Mattel Electronics	1122-4289	1980	U.S.A.	No shadows behind bottom row of boxes
	Mattel Electronics	1122-4289	1980	U.S.A.	Black shadows behind bottom row of boxes
	Intellivision Productions	N/A	None		Part of the standard 10 overlay set from the 2014 Intellivision Flashback; copyright information has been removed; no shadows behind bottom row of boxes
	Blue Sky Rangers	N/A	2019		Reprint from Blue Sky Rangers in 2019

A total of two The Electric Company Word Fun label variants have been documented.

Image	Vendor	Part Number	Year	Origin	Description
	Mattel Electronics	N/A	None		No origin; ™ upper right; Electric Company logo on left; submitted by Hankster
	Mattel Electronics	N/A	None	Hong Kong	Origin upper right; ™ upper right; Electric Company logo on left

	Title screen for The Electric Company Word Fun.
	Seems more like Scrabble to me...
	Never tried this one all that much.
	Now this is more like it! Kinda Space Invaders and Hooked on Phonics' mutant red-haired stepchild.

The Electric Company Word Fun Easter Egg

Credit: Joe Zbiciak's post to the intvprog group on Yahoo on 23. March, 2001

Press 43210 during word rockets mode
Easter Egg: ?? I can't see anything happen.

If you find new, contradictory, or other information you wish to share, please send a message!