Type & Tell

About

Type & Tell lets you type words or phrases into the Odyssey 2, which then vocalizes them using the system’s voice module. The game includes four play modes: Garble! turns letter-sounds into nonsensical sentences, Sound Waves! builds random phonetic noises resembling real-world audio, Super Star! lets you use generated dialogue for DIY performances, and War of Words! pits two players against each other in a typing duel to complete a grammatically correct sentence before running out of space. Launched in late 1982, this relic of early home computing highlights the Odyssey 2’s voice synthesis novelty. War of Words! remains the most engaging mode for competitive players, blending wordplay with tension as you race to extend sequences without errors. While technically primitive by modern standards, its quirky charm and experimental use of text-to-speech capture the era’s spirit of creative experimentation.

Storyline

Type & Tell! lets the player type in a word or a message and then have the words spoken back to them by utilizing the Odyssey 2's voice module. The instruction manual suggests the following games that can be played: Garble! - Players take turns typing in one letter at a time, The idea is to form sentences by just using the sounds the individual letters make. Sound Waves! - Players type in random letters trying to create sounds that sound like something that could be heard in real life. Super Star! - Players can use the sounds or dialogue the game makes in their own home movie or radio show. War of Words! - This game requires at least two players. Player take turns typing in words until a sentence is created by one of the players adding a period. Players then take turns inserting words into the sentence, while trying to keep it grammatically correct. The first player to extend the sentence exactly to the end of the available typing space is the winner. If a player extends the sentence beyond the end of that available space, they lose.