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Hub AI
APF Imagination Machine AI simulator
(@APF Imagination Machine_simulator)
Hub AI
APF Imagination Machine AI simulator
(@APF Imagination Machine_simulator)
APF Imagination Machine
The APF Imagination Machine is a combination home video game console and home computer system released by APF Electronics Inc. in late 1979. It has two separate components, the APF-M1000 game system, and an add-on docking bay with full sized typewriter keyboard and tape drive. The APF-M1000 was built specifically to compete with the Atari 2600. The full APF Imagination Machine, including the APF-M1000 console and the IM-1 computer component, originally sold for around US$599 (equivalent to $2,660 in 2025).
The bundled APF BASIC interpreter allows any users to develop their own programs. Most retailers of the system offered a full and hefty instruction manual to explain how the specialized code works, and a tech sheet that specifies every function of every chip on the console, so as to allow the users to make the most efficient code possible. To encourage more home users to create their own games and trade them, a monthly mailing list lasted well through the video game crash of 1983 and into the next generation of consoles.
One of the most marketed features of the console is the dual-sided cassette drive that allows the user to write or use a stored program, and also to record or play audio. The feature is generally used for programmers to leave notes about their work, or for instructions to be read aloud before a game is played.
The console has a number of aftermarket add-ons:
It has a hub of sorts, generally called the "building block", which allows for the connection of some standard computer accessories.
In addition to the one BASIC interpreter cartridge bundled with the system, only 15 official game cartridges were ever released by APF Electronics Inc, although several cartridges contain multiple games. Many games were created by an active programming community of owners and distributed through the monthly newsletter, released on cassette tape or printout.
The official game list is as follows:
APF had planned on releasing a follow-up to the original M1000 Imagination Machine game console, but APF went bankrupt in 1983 due to the Video Game Crisis Of '83, before the console could go to market. No official specs have ever been released, although some former employees have mentioned that it was essentially the same M1000 core with typical upgrades.
APF Imagination Machine
The APF Imagination Machine is a combination home video game console and home computer system released by APF Electronics Inc. in late 1979. It has two separate components, the APF-M1000 game system, and an add-on docking bay with full sized typewriter keyboard and tape drive. The APF-M1000 was built specifically to compete with the Atari 2600. The full APF Imagination Machine, including the APF-M1000 console and the IM-1 computer component, originally sold for around US$599 (equivalent to $2,660 in 2025).
The bundled APF BASIC interpreter allows any users to develop their own programs. Most retailers of the system offered a full and hefty instruction manual to explain how the specialized code works, and a tech sheet that specifies every function of every chip on the console, so as to allow the users to make the most efficient code possible. To encourage more home users to create their own games and trade them, a monthly mailing list lasted well through the video game crash of 1983 and into the next generation of consoles.
One of the most marketed features of the console is the dual-sided cassette drive that allows the user to write or use a stored program, and also to record or play audio. The feature is generally used for programmers to leave notes about their work, or for instructions to be read aloud before a game is played.
The console has a number of aftermarket add-ons:
It has a hub of sorts, generally called the "building block", which allows for the connection of some standard computer accessories.
In addition to the one BASIC interpreter cartridge bundled with the system, only 15 official game cartridges were ever released by APF Electronics Inc, although several cartridges contain multiple games. Many games were created by an active programming community of owners and distributed through the monthly newsletter, released on cassette tape or printout.
The official game list is as follows:
APF had planned on releasing a follow-up to the original M1000 Imagination Machine game console, but APF went bankrupt in 1983 due to the Video Game Crisis Of '83, before the console could go to market. No official specs have ever been released, although some former employees have mentioned that it was essentially the same M1000 core with typical upgrades.