Gaming Ads: Spinnaker Software and Sports Sciences

Spinnaker Software was founded in 1982 and based in Cambridge, MA. Initially it focused on educational software for computers, then adventure games in the mid '80s, and other games in the late '80s. Through a merger in 1994 it helped form SoftKey International which would go on to acquire The Learning Company and take its name. Of the five ads I've got for Spinnaker, it looks like one game was never released and The Lord of the Rings game appears to have been published by Konami instead.

Sports Sciences was based in Ohio and made one video game product as far as I can tell. That product was BatterUp, a baseball bat-shaped motion controller that released in 1994 for the Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and computers. While an interesting idea, the controller was, of course, only compatible with baseball games so it was a bit limited despite there being quite a few baseball games available in the '90s. The $69.99 price was rather high too.

Spinnaker Software albums: Facebook - Google Photos

Sports Sciences albums: Facebook - Google Photos