Here’s a fad I bet nobody saw coming, although as far as I recall only Tiger Electronics made them so maybe it really wasn’t a fad. The “electronic index” or “E-Dex” (I’m not sure if either is an official term or spelling, but it’s what I call them) was an interesting way to patch in to Hasbro-licensed series. (Hasbro being the owner of Tiger.) The E-Dex’s birth began with the item on the left, the Pokédex, and would continue on to other licenses. Continuing left to right is the “Shepard’s Journal” (Atlantis: The Lost Empire), the Dino-Dex (Jurassic Park 3) and the Jedi Dex (Star Wars). Each contains information about the series or movie it was based on, and all but the Pokédex contains bonus features like a PDA-type method of storing phone numbers, websites, and whatever. These really don’t work very well, because the programmers didn’t bother to allow the date to be updated past 2009, thus making scheduling and alarm functions almost useless. That tells me they didn’t have high hopes for long-term use of their products.
The later three, as well as other E-Dexes, also include a game unique to the property and Dex. I’m not able to get a decent pic of the LCD screens but I can promise you it’s better than the old LCD games they produced all those years ago. The sounds are painful to listen to and these toys didn’t really age well. But let’s open them up and take a look at them in greater detail.
The Clutter Reports 