Electronic Angling—Casio’s ‘Fishing Game’ Wristwatch
On my mental list of watches I want, watches I feel I need to have for the collection, the ‘fishing game watch’ has always ranked towards the top. But, as with most of the items that have been on that list for a few years, it was always a matter of opportunity meeting the necessary funds and this watch just doesn’t come up for sale that often. Fortunately, I’ve finally reeled one in.
The fishing game watch, or AG-21, is one of Casio’s earliest game watches and is easy to date since the year 1981 is on the bottom of the dial. This puts the watch right in the same time frame as the better known GM-10, GM-20, GM-30 and GM-40. While those watches with their submarine and spaceship themed games were targeted at boys and men the small AG-21 is clearly a more whimsical watch for children.
The dial with its ‘Quick Draw McGraw’ logo and cartoon characters is a bit unusual, but Casio did apparently license a number of images from Hanna-Barbera Productions around 1981 for use on ladies and children’s wristwatches. Quick Draw the horse isn’t anywhere to be seen on this dial though; instead we have two spin-off characters - on the left is Augie Doggie (who has already caught himself a fish and looks pretty pleased about it) and on the right is Super Snooper the cat (who’s going to be catching a fish with your help).
But wait - this isn’t just a game watch, it’s a melody watch as well! In fact, you’ll need to hear that melody if you want to play the game. The tune is ‘Sur le Pont d’Avignon’, which is a medieval song about a bridge in France and has absolutely nothing to do with cartoon characters trying to catch digital fish. It seems a happy little tune though and was probably in the public domain, so Casio didn’t have to shell out licensing rights to use it.
To play the game one just needs to press the right hand button one time, which starts the tune, and then, before the tune has ended, press it one more time and the hook will drop into the water. At the same time, the fish; knowing that he is in some serious mortal danger, (and all mortal danger is fairly serious) speeds up his swimming by at least a factor of two. The hook bobs up and down in the water in two different positions, and when you think the timing is right, you press the right hand button to catch the fish.
Sometimes he fakes you out by coming out of the water with the hook and then, just like in real life, plops down into the waves again - the one that got away! When you finally do catch him, he flips back and forth three or four times and the next round of fishing begins.
I had read the module directions for this watch long before I ever saw one come up for sale and the one thing that struck me was the mention of the ’sweet sound’ the watch would make when the fish was finally hooked. Years of electronic gadgetry ownership has jaded me to the point where I was faintly disappointed with the ’sweet sound’ when I finally heard it but seeing the fish wriggling on the hook was reward enough. The AG-21 is a nifty little digital game watch and well worth fishing for.
Happy collecting!
February 12th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Okay, first things first I had to Google Sur le Pont d’Avignon to see what it sounded like. Here it is for everyone:
http://ingeb.org/songs/surlepo2.mid
Catchy tune, I’ll be humming it all night and I could see how it could translate well in a digital watch.
That was a fun review. I see Casio game watches constantly in my daily searches, but my knowledge of them is very limited. Even when they were out, I just barely remember seeing them for sale in the stores, but it seems as if there was a decent production based on the fact that I do see them pop up regularly.
I have to say, after reading the review, you’ve piqued my interest in the game watches and I have some questions.
1.) Typically, do the Casio game watches have any other functions besides time and the actual game?
2.) Do they all have sound to compliment the game?
3.) Do you have any recommendations for a particular model that is easier to find than the fishing watch? Perhaps a good “benchmark” game Casio game watch?
Thanks for the review casiophile, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
February 13th, 2008 at 7:08 am
It is likely that Casios first game watch was the CA-90 calculator watch but that only has a number game on it and isn’t a dedicated game watch. The game seems rather an afterthought like ‘Snake’ on the old Nokia phones; just something the manufacturer installed because they could.
The earliest dedicated game watches from Casio are the GM-10, GM-20, GM-30/301 and GM40/401 which each have about half the display set aside for the game and the other half for the time and other functions such as the stopwatch, alarm, etc. The games are accompanied by blips and bleeps. The fishing game watch and basketball game watch each have time only besides the game and are contemorary to the GM-XX models. Of these, the GM-10 and GM-30 appear to be the most common.
The next generation of game watches from Casio look like the handheld games from Coleco and Bandai and all feature front mounted buttons in an array of colors and a name prominently displayed on the dial. Among these are ‘Space Warrior’, ‘Moon Fight Robot’, ‘Egg Panic, ‘Jungle Star’ and a host of others - there are around two dozen different models.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Hello Casiophile,
This must be a very much fun watch to have. Only one button to operate a digital watch and a game. The DW-81X0 series G-Shock’s have also a kind of game on-board, although this game is more real. The melody is a well known song here, but we live relative near France (less than 200km).
A nice detail, in a few weeks I will be on holidays in South France…. near Avignon. I hope I can finally see this famous bridge for real.
Kind regards,
Sjors
November 15th, 2008 at 3:11 am
Hi!
I have this watch and couldn’t, until this post, find it anywhere on the WWW!
It was my first watch and it still works just fine.
The glass is cracked now which is a shame, but I was a kid when I first started wearing it!
Good memories!
My cousin also has a Casio Soccer game watch which is pretty nice
-JBlazE