Nelsonic made a stack of great game watches in the 1980s — some which you see quite often like Pacman, others you rarely ever see like Simon. Then there is Soccer.
This watch had a number of other manufacturer names on it (like Welde) and had a cheaper feel to it than the Pacman/Frogger/Q*Bert watches. There were also a car racing and baseball game watch that used the same case.
The somewhat generic instructions (straight from the Hong Kong factory that made the watch) also talks about several other game watches, but none of those were ever Nelsonic-branded.
The watch makes a lot of noise! There are two melodies for the daily alarm — Fur Elise, and one other that sounds familiar but I can’t quite put my finger on it. It also plays La Cucaracha when you start a game and another tune when it’s game over.
It also makes an annoying amount of noise when playing the game – every time the ball moves there is a noise that goes with it, and it’s not overly pleasant. Fortunately you can choose to play with the sound off.
The aim of the game is to return balls that are kicked at you by other players, eventually directing it into the goal to score points (10 for each goal).
Game 2 is a faster version of Game 1.
It’s quite tricky, and entertaining enough, but not really up to the standard of Nelsonic’s other game watches — but it *is* rare. Finding one is rare, finding a working one even rarer, and one that’s NOS in box rarer still; but that’s the one I have.
I’ve had it for a couple of years at least, non-working since the original cheap battery leaked all over wrecking everything in its path, and made it close to unfixable. Then a working model, with a bad case turned up in Turkey and a good price (but terrible postage) and I was able to transplant the best bits to have a very nice example of this watch.
I like the collectability of it more than the game, but the melodies are quite unique so it’s a keeper – at least for now!