Uploaded July 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
An early version of Maddeness (also known as Madden Football) was being done, using "X's" and "O's" for the players (much like Atari's Football coin-op) but was later scrapped in favor of a completely different version that saw very little progress before CBS shut down their games division. Although the only boxes shown in ads (bearing the name "Madden Football") indicated it was for the Colecovision version, a CBS Games order form offered a FREE copy of this game for the VCS! A TV commercial also exists that shows the game title as Maddeness and indicates it was for both the Colecovision and VCS. Ok, it wasn't exactly free - you had to send them proof-of-purchases from both Wizard of Wor and Gorf. Still, that was a great offer (especially since the magazine ads and TV commercial state that was the only way you'd be able to get it), which would have been even better if the game was actually MADE. Catalog description: "The video football game for the coach in all of us! Developed by the man who wrote the book on offense and defense: John Madden. Realistic gridiron action with eleven players on a side and advanced play options!"
Wizard of Wor was a mediocre port of the arcade game, programmed by Joe Hellesen and Joe Wagner of Rocklan Corp. It's very possible that CBS's first 2 releases (Gorf and Wizard of Wor) were developed by Gabriel Industries, who subcontracted it out to Roklan Corp. Gabriel was a toy company owned by CBS, as they are the only carts labeled as such . Later titles were done by CBS Video Games, which was a division of Gabriel Industries. The magazine ad showed high scores from Buz Pryzby and Frank Merollo. Buz Pryzby was actually CBS programmer Ed Pryzby, though it's unknown whether either Ed or Frank helped program it. CBS offered a small medal for scoring X number of points.
Gorf was a decent arcade port, having 4 of the 5 screens. Shown at the Winter 1983 CES. According to an interview with Alex Leavens in Video Games Player (Oct/Nov '83 issue), he designed Gorf, and in an interview with The Logical Gamer (July 1983) he had a hand in programming it. However, according to Joe Gaucher that's not true - he programmed Gorf while at Roklan, with Kathy Von (graphics) and Dan Kurchevsky (audio). Work on the game started after Alex left for California (right after working on Crazy Climber). I'll give Alex the benefit of the doubt here. CBS offered a small medal for scoring X number of points. Btw, Gorf is actually an abbreviation for Galactic Orbiting Robot Force.
An early version of Maddeness (also known as Madden Football) was being done, using "X's" and "O's" for the players (much like Atari's Football coin-op) but was later scrapped in favor of a completely different version that saw very little progress before CBS shut down their games division. Although the only boxes shown in ads (bearing the name "Madden Football") indicated it was for the Colecovision version, a CBS Games order form offered a FREE copy of this game for the VCS! A TV commercial also exists that shows the game title as Maddeness and indicates it was for both the Colecovision and VCS. Ok, it wasn't exactly free - you had to send them proof-of-purchases from both Wizard of Wor and Gorf. Still, that was a great offer (especially since the magazine ads and TV commercial state that was the only way you'd be able to get it), which would have been even better if the game was actually MADE. Catalog description: "The video football game for the coach in all of us! Developed by the man who wrote the book on offense and defense: John Madden. Realistic gridiron action with eleven players on a side and advanced play options!"
Wizard of Wor was a mediocre port of the arcade game, programmed by Joe Hellesen and Joe Wagner of Rocklan Corp. It's very possible that CBS's first 2 releases (Gorf and Wizard of Wor) were developed by Gabriel Industries, who subcontracted it out to Roklan Corp. Gabriel was a toy company owned by CBS, as they are the only carts labeled as such . Later titles were done by CBS Video Games, which was a division of Gabriel Industries. The magazine ad showed high scores from Buz Pryzby and Frank Merollo. Buz Pryzby was actually CBS programmer Ed Pryzby, though it's unknown whether either Ed or Frank helped program it. CBS offered a small medal for scoring X number of points.
Gorf was a decent arcade port, having 4 of the 5 screens. Shown at the Winter 1983 CES. According to an interview with Alex Leavens in Video Games Player (Oct/Nov '83 issue), he designed Gorf, and in an interview with The Logical Gamer (July 1983) he had a hand in programming it. However, according to Joe Gaucher that's not true - he programmed Gorf while at Roklan, with Kathy Von (graphics) and Dan Kurchevsky (audio). Work on the game started after Alex left for California (right after working on Crazy Climber). I'll give Alex the benefit of the doubt here. CBS offered a small medal for scoring X number of points. Btw, Gorf is actually an abbreviation for Galactic Orbiting Robot Force.
