Interact Home Computer


The Interact Home Computer is a 1978 American home computer made by Interact Electronics, Inc., of Ann Arbor, Michigan. It sold under the name "Interact Model One Home Computer". The original Interact Model One computer was designed by Rick Barnich and Tim Anderson at 204 E. Washington in Ann Arbor, then moving to the Georgetown Mall on Packard St. in Ann Arbor.
Interact Electronics Inc was a privately held company that was funded by Hongiman, Miller, Swartz and Cohn, a law firm out of Detroit. The President/Founder of Interact Electronics Inc was Ken Lochner, who was one of the original developers of the BASIC language based out of Dartmouth College. Ken had started Interact Electronics Inc after founding the successful computer time-sharing company Cyphernetics in Ann Arbor, which was purchased by ADP in 1975.
The Interact Model One Home Computer debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago in June 1978, at a price of. Only a few thousand Interacts were sold before the company went bankrupt in late 1979. Most were sold by the liquidator Protecto Enterprizes of Barrington, Illinois, through mail order sales. It was also sold at Highland Appliance in the Detroit area, Newman Computer Exchange in Ann Arbor, and Montgomery Ward in the Houston, Texas, area.
The computer didn't come with any operating system, but Microsoft BASIC V4.7 or EDU-BASIC could be loaded from tape.
Probably the most successful application available for the Interact was a program called "Message Center". With it, a store could program a scrolling message which appeared on a TV screen.
Although it was mostly a game machine, users could also create their own programs using the BASIC computer language. Customers began hooking up the Interact to control everything from lights in their house, doors, windows, smoke detectors, to a Chevrolet Corvette.
Later on the design was sold to a French company, Lambda Systems, and re-branded as the "Victor Lambda" for the French market.

Technical specifications

There are 20 known games for the Interact Home Computer
NamePublisherYear
Add ’Em UpInteract Electronicsunknown
BackgammonInteract Electronics1978
BlackjackInteract Electronics1978
BreakthroughInteract Electronics1978
Compute-A-ColorInteract Electronicsunknown
Computer MazeInteract Electronicsunknown
ConcentrationInteract Electronics1978
DogfightInteract Electronics1978
Earth Outpost IMicro Video1980
HangmanInteract Electronicsunknown
KnockdownInteract Electronics1978
MicrochessInteract Electronicsunknown
RegattaInteract Electronics1978
ReversiInteract Electronicsunknown
ShowdownInteract Electronics1978
Star TrackInteract Electronicsunknown
TouchdownMicro Videounknown
TrailblazersInteract Electronics1978
Video ChessInteract Electronicsunknown
VolleyballInteract Electronics1979