Optigan

A photo essay documenting the creation of Optigan discs.

The first Mattel Optigans rolled off the assembly line in late 1970, and Opsonar ceased production in the summer of 1976.

Mattel designed and originally manufactured the Optigan, but sold the whole works intact to Miner Industries (another toy company, which also owned Magnus and Estey organs) in 1973. Miner created a subsidiary company called “Opsonar” to continue production of the Optigan and Optigan discs. The machine was still called “Optigan” though, and almost no changes [...]