- Since the beginning of
the video game industry, some parents have worried that their kids spend too much time playing video games. Those concerns really took
off in the late eighties when the Nintendo Entertainment System exploded in popularity. By 1989, 20% of American
households owned an NES. Nintendo controlled
about 80% of the market with $1.7 billion in revenue. Kids couldn't get enough and
that scared some parents. They worried about their
children's social skill development and that the video games
were eating up time that could have been spent on
homework, or playing outside, or socializing with friends face to face. Nintendo didn't offer up many solutions. Instead, they drafted a bland statement that encouraged moderation. But one eclectic inventor
thought he had a better idea and made what is perhaps
the video game industry's first parental control device. It was called Homework First,
and it was a literal lock for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Marketed as a time management tool, Homework First prevented users from inserting cartridges
into the console. It's basically a chastity
belt for your NES. The mastermind behind
the lock was Thomas Lowe. He formed his company, SafeCare Products, in his Chicago basement back in 1987. Inventing consumer goods
ran in the Lowe family. Thomas' father, Edward
Lowe, invented kitty litter. SafeCare products made all sorts of items. Childproof appliance plug
locks, inflatable bath cushions, storage solutions for your video games. Their most popular
product was Whatta Catch, a Velcro football and glove set. Lowe was always on the
lookout for new ideas and inspiration struck one night while Lowe talked with a friend. The friend complained
that his 14-year-old son had been up past midnight
playing Nintendo. The friend wished there was
some way to lock up the NES. Well, that was all Lowe needed to hear. He got to work and came
up with a few ideas, but ultimately settled
on what one reporter later described as a souped-up bike lock. It's an accurate description. Lowe nauseatingly named
his device Homework First. The lock features a master lock mechanism along with a U-bolt. The top of the lock features
what looks like a red button, but it's just a piece of
plastic for aesthetic purposes. On the back of the packaging, SafeCare products made their pitch. "As evidenced by the many
nationally published articles, video games are causing much concern for parents and educators. Now you can do something about it!" Before you attach the lock, make sure there are no
cartridges in the system. Otherwise it defeats the purpose. To connect Homework First, you have to set the dials
to your combination. Now you can detach the
U-bolt from the lock. The bolt hooks into a screw
hole on the bottom of the NES. Then you put the lock back on, spin the combination dials, and done. The NES is now locked. In an attempt to appeal to gamers, Lowe noted that the lock could "keep anyone in a family
from erasing a saved game during a break in the action." Now, when your little brother or sister tries to play "StarTropics," they won't be able to
overwrite your safe file. In fact, they won't be able
to play the game at all. I have had family members erase
my game saves accidentally, but this seems like an extreme
solution to the problem. Actually, this whole idea
seems like a radical solution. When I was a kid, my parents
just took the system away when we got in trouble. My friend's parents would
hide the power supply. I can't even imagine my mom slapping a literal lock on my video game console. Guns? Sure. Liquor? Makes sense. But my NES? Homework First made its public debut at the 1989 Summer
Computer Electronics Show in Chicago, Illinois. News of the lock went international. British video game magazine ACE called it "a party pooping ad-on
that most Nintendo maniacs wouldn't want to see in a
mile of their machines." French magazine Joystick Hebdo proclaimed it "a demonic lock." But parent advocates
were thrilled, claiming, "At last, there's a product that puts the Nintendo control
stick where it belongs: in a parent's hands." Lowe argued that the lock
was a time management tool. "It gives parents a
simple and effective way to manage video game playing without threats or more
severe forms of punishment." But some parents and
psychologists thought the lock wasn't the best way to deal
with video game addiction. Dr. Carl Johnson, a child
development psychologist, suggested parents should
compromise on play time rather than laying down the law. One parent took it to an extreme writing, "What, on the other hand, does the Homework First lock teach? That you can do pretty
much whatever you want as long as there isn't
something, a lock, a wall, a moat, an electronic
surveillance system stopping you." By the end of 1989, Homework
First was available nationally in stores such as Kay Bee
Toys, Walmart, Toys "R" Us, and even mail order
magazines like Sharper Image. It retailed for around $20. But did Homework First
become a massive hit for SafeCare products? Not really. By July of 1990, less than
a year after its release, Lowe claimed he sold about 30,000 units. According to the patent
documents, Lowe had other ideas including a dust cover
for the cartridge slot and a turn key lock, but these devices never came to fruition. Surprisingly, Lowe wasn't the only one to come up with a lock
for video game consoles. In 1991, a small startup
called Niche Technology announced the Time Out lock, which blocked the cartridge slot on both Nintendo and Sega consoles. However, I haven't been
able to find any evidence this product was ever released. By 1995, Thomas Lowe had
dissolved SafeCare Products and moved on to new ventures. Today, he runs Round 2 Corp, a company that reproduces
old die-cast model toy cars. Parental controls are a standard
feature on modern consoles, and developers incorporate
them into the system software. But it's interesting to see what lengths parents went to back in the day to curb their kids' video game playtime. Homework First was a solution to a problem that already had better solutions. Honestly, I think its best use is to lock a game into the console, forever cursing someone to
play one game on their NES for the rest of their lives. That's all for this episode
of The Gaming Historian. Thanks for watching. - [Announcer] Funding for Gaming Historian is provided in part by
supporters on Patreon. Thank you. (smooth music)
