This past week I learned of the passing of “EFL Commissioner” and President of Miggle Toys, Michael Landsman on March 24, 2022. Obituary for Michael Landsman
Michael and his wife Delayne forever left their mark in the history of electric football and Tudor Games when he purchased the assets of Superior Toys known as “Tudor Games” out of federal bankruptcy court in the early 1990’s and resurrected the game and the “Tudor Games” brand as part of Miggle Toys.
You can read the story of this transformation of the game in the book “The Unforgettable Buzz” by Earl Shores and Roddy Garcia.
There are so many of us who owe our thanks to the Landman’s for bringing back the game and keeping electric football alive. My vision for creating the National Electric Football Game Museum and preserving its history probably would never have occurred if it had not been for their vision to bring back the game and their creation of the Electric Football Conventions and Super Bowl Tournaments where I had the opportunity to meet them and have some great conversations about the game and also where I got to know so many of the people who now make up “The Electric Football Community”.
I recently posed the following question on Facebook and The Electric Football Community
“What would you consider to be the legacy of Miggle Toys and their greatest contributions to the history of electric football?”
The responses were varied but most agreed that the “Legacy” of Miggle Toys is their resurrection of the game and hobby from the grave of corporate takeover and bankruptcy at a time when electronic and video games dominated the sports game industry and market.
And most agreed that their “Greatest Contibution” is the creation of the annual Electric Football Conventions and Super Bowl Tournaments. Other contributions mentioned are :
The creation of the Miggle Toys website and online store where we could purchase the games, accessories, teams and other products related to electric football directly from their warehouses.
The creation of the electric football forum where we could get to know other members of “The Electric Football Community” and discuss all things “electric football” with the “coaches” who played the game, the collectors of the game and the casual electric football hobbyist and game enthusiasts.
Miggle Toys ownership of electric football and the “Tudor Games” brand lasted for 20 years (from 1992 to 2011) until the Landsmans sold the game and brand to the current owner of Tudor Games, Doug Strohm.
Some of the other things that arose during the tenure of Miggle Toys as a result of resurrecting the game is the rise of numerous local, regional and national “Electric Football Leagues” and tournaments, the creation of the Miniature Football Coaches Association, increased competition from a “cottage industry” of imitators in building and selling custom electric football game boards, the art of custom sculpted and injection molded figures, custom hand painted and highly detailed and decaled teams and the skill of “tweaking” to produce high performance bases.
Miggle Toys and the “Commissioner” will be sorely missed but their legacy and contributions will forever live on as long as somewhere in the world there is the flick of a switch, the sound of that familiar buzz, setting the players in motion, and the joy and fun of playing an exciting game of “ELECTRIC FOOTBALL”.
The National Electric Football Game Museum 
There’s so much more that we need to discuss –
1. Miggle Toys brought back the ’67 Big Men
2. Miggle Toys secured the first NCAA licenses for over 24 schools, and briefly sold the teams on the website.
3. Miggle Toys introduced the ProLine series of bases for the serious enthusiasts and base tweakers.
4. Miggle Toys developed and sold the first mass-produced 2’x4′ football field.
5. Miggle Toys’ conventions were must-see events, and they were locally promoted on TV and radio stations to help show that this game was more than just any other board game.
6. Miggle Toys let customers decide and vote on teams that they wanted to see, which is why the Union Jacks and Moon Sharks are still for sale today. The plan had been to create a whole new “EFL” of customer-created teams that could be ordered when Miggle lost the NFL license.
7. Miggle Toys brought back the 18″x36″ Model 620 board. There was once a time where all you could get was the 16×32 Super Bowl Board, or the 14×27 Challenge Board.
And now I’ll leave you with my favorite Michael Landsman anecdote – a customer asked him once, “Why are the boards so loud? Can’t you make them quieter?”, to which he replied, “That’s the roar of the crowd!”
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