   ATARI 2600 ODYSSEY 2 INTELLIVISION COLECOVISION COMPUTERS |
 Imagic Headquarters in Los Gatos, CA   Dennis Koble working on Atlantis |
 Imagic was founded in 1981 by a group of former Atari and Mattel employees. This group, led by Rob Fullop, the designer of such Atari 2600 hits as Night Driver and Missile Command, began creating video games for the various game consoles of this time period including the Atari 2600, Mattel Intellivision, Colecovision, and the Magnavox Odyssey 2 system. They even managed to release a handful of titles for a few of the more popular home computers as well. Other key members of Imagic were fellow former Atari employees Bill Grubb, Bob Smith, Mark Bradley and Dennis Koble, as well as former Mattel employees Jim Goldberger and Brian Dougherty. Collectively, these creative game designers would go on to create some of the most original and unique video game titles this time period would ever see released, and quickly garnered a reputation as being one of the most innovative of the third-party game companies. The most unique aspect of Imagic game releases was the creative mirror-like covers that were used on the fronts of their game boxes. Imagic also used their own proprietary plastic cartridge molding that was quite unique and even featured the company's name embossed into the bottom of the cartridge casing. It was little touches like this that made Imagic stand out from many of the other third-party game publishers. Unfortunately, this popularity and success would be fleeting as the video game market came crashing down in 1984 and it took Imagic down with it. A sad and abrupt end for such a talented company. Luckily for those of us who know and love the company, Imagic still lives on in the hearts of classic gamers, as many of their games are still widely bought and sold on internet auction sites and game trading forums even today, over 27 years later. Not too shabby for a company that was only active for a little over five years. |
Interview with Rick Levine Interview with Steve DeFrisco Bob Smith Bio |
 All mentions of Imagic and the Numb Thumb Club are ®Trademarks of Imagic. Imagic logo, box art, and Numb Thumb Club logo are ®Trademarks of Imagic. |