Nintendo Chiritori leaflet from 1979

The 1979 Chiritori remote controlled miniature vacuum cleaner is another idea that sprouted from Gunpei Yokoi's brain, like so many quirky Nintendo products from the pre-Famicom era.

The box art is a well designed two-tone affair. However, in my opinion it does not really exuberate fun. While this little vacuum is anything but serious. It is just a toy, a novelty item.

The accompanying trade leaflet does a much better job in showing what the Chiritori is to be used for: to play. This leaflet, dated April 16 1979, was used to advertise the product to shops and wholesale buyers.

Chiritori leaflet front and back

The scene on the front shows the Chiritori in action, with a colourful drawing.

In case that wasn't clear enough, the text underneath status "Enjoy cleaning while playing" (遊びながらお掃除がたのしめます).

The back of the leaflet shows some factual information, like battery usage (it requires 6), size (16 centimeters in diameter and 11 centimeters high) and weight (half a kilo for the Chiritori itself).

Furthermore operation instructions are given. As the Chiritori only has two options (straight ahead and turn counter clock wise), there is not really much to explain. Because of the limited steering options, it does take some getting used to to move around.

As a final note, there is a warning to please only use the Chiritori inside (チリトリーは室内でご使用ください。)

If you want to learn more about this nice little gadget, check out this previous blog post.