VTech Socrates

Socrates is an educational home console released by VTech in 1988 and discontinued in 1990. The name of the console is the same as the name of the Greek philosopher Socrates. The console has two wireless controllers and a wireless keyboard. The wireless connectivity with the console is achieved with signals that the controllers and the keyboard are sending to the console.

The console didn't go very well. The high price of the console, the high competitiveness of the gaming industry -- Sega Master System and NES were already in the market -- the luck of a big game library and some slow responses that Socrates had as a system led to the discontinuation of the console in 1990.

Socrates came with some built-in games, while there are 9 cartridges that launched for the console. The built-in games belong to 5 different categories. Math Problems, that included math related games; Word Problems, that included games related to spelling, definition and construction of sentences; Word Games, that included anagrams and spelling games and also the Hangman game; Music Games that included composing simple melodies or just listening to music and lastly Super Painter, that included games related to painting. The 9 cartridges that were made can be divided also in 2 categories: Brain Teasers and Awareness. The Brain Teasers cartridges came with blue text on the label and were trying to strengthen the children's memory and problem solving skills while Awareness cartridges came with red text on the label and were trying to strengthen the knowledge of the children about trivia things, Mathematics and Geography.

Lastly, there are two accessories that built for Socrates, working also with signals. The Mouse Tablet used for The CAD Professor game and focused on architectural, textile and fashion design knowledge and Touch Pad, which gave the ability to practice writing letters and numbers and drawing shapes to the users.

From the 9 cartridges that came for Socrates, the game titles Amazing Mazes, Game Wizard, Hodge-Podge and Memory Mania belong to the Brain Teasers category. The game titles Around the World, Facts & Fractions, and State to State belong to the Awareness category. Lastly, The CAD Professor game used the Mouse Tablet accessory while Numbers, Shapes & Letters game used the Touch Pad accessory, as mentioned above.