Pocketeers Pitfall game. UK. 1979.
Pocketeers mechanical games were produced by the Palitoy company in the UK from 1975. Based on the original Japanese Tomy Pocket Games, each Pocketeer was a themed puzzle or challenge contained within a sturdy plastic casing. The games functioned by operating a variety of levers, springs, cogs, ball bearings and trapdoors.
These pocket-size fun games were rather like mechanical precursors to electronic handheld games like the Nintendo Game and Watch, and later the Gameboy. At our school, Pocketeers were popular because of the “Three Ts” – portabiliTy, collectabiliTy and swappabiliTy 😁
Pocketeers Big Match. UK. 1979.
Pocketeers Casino and Letterbox. UK. 1979.
Pocketeers Rat-a-Tat. UK. 1979.
Pocketeers France. In France the games were known collectively as Mini-jeux and were distributed by the Meccano company.
French Mini-Jeux Pocketeers. France. 1979.
French Mini-Jeux Pocketeers. France. 1979.
Pocketeers Germany. This 1982 German advert shows the Tomy license. The advert also shows Tomy’s ‘Funny Bowling’ game.
Pocketeers. Germany. 1982.
As always, thanks for looking 😊
The Vintage Toy Advertiser 
I was not aware of these, so thank you for another educational and fun post 😊
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Thanks Wibi. Yes, they were all the rage in the UK for a while, and good, simple fun to play 😊
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Pocketeers! I loved these as a kid, I had the rat a tat tat one and a couple of others. They were loads of fun! 🙂
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Agree. These were fun games back then, simple in design and easy to carry about.
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Hi there! I had the Casino themed Pocketeer game which was fun. Even better when we used Monopoly banknotes as “virtual winnings”. Great post as ever, thanks
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Hi FT. Lol, good idea to use some virtual notes! Cool you had that Casino Pocketeer game!
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I don’t recall having these things. I did have games that were played using water and buttons that pushed air around. Those were fun.
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I wonder if the games you refer to are the Wonderful Waterfuls Games, also made by Tomy? We had a couple of them as kids and they were good fun: https://thevintagetoyadvertiser.org/category/wonderful-waterfuls-water-games/
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Yes. Exactly.
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