In the
previous post, we introduced the
Bassmate Computer; a pocket electronic databank from 1984, targeted at bass fishers. The
Bassmate was manufactured by Nintendo and co-designed by the
Game & Watch team from Gunpei Yokoi's R&D1 department.
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| Bassmate Computer by Telko / Probe 2000 / KMV (1984) |
American engineer Bill Olliges was the inventor of the
Bassmate. He conceived it together with his business partner Ed Miller, who took care of the marketing through his company Telko.
In an earlier stage of his career, Bill was involved in the American arcade business, as was Ed. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, they both worked as executives for the American devision of Taito and later for Florida based Centuri inc.
During its heyday, Centuri was one of the top US suppliers of video arcade games. Many of their machines where licensed from Japanese companies, in particular Konami. The list of games they manufactured and distributed includes hits like
Phoenix,
Vanguard,
Track & Field,
Time Pilot and
Gyruss.
After the demise of the video arcade industry in the mid 1980s, Bill started an engineering firm called Proton Engineering, which he is still involved in today.
[Update: Almost five years after the first publication of this story, Bill Olliges passed away in February of 2018].
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Bill Olliges holding a WalleyeMate II, one of the products
that was created after the success of the Bassmate |
Bill explains where the idea for a fishing computer came from and how Nintendo got involved.
