Toys TOYS

Big Trak

  1. Home
    2. >
  2. Toys
    3. >
  3. Big Trak

Big Trak was a programmable electric toy tank first released by Milton Bradley (later more commonly known as the abbreviated MB) in 1979.

Big Trak was a six-wheeler toy tank that could be programmed to drive forward, backward, turn and fire a 'photon canon' in the sequence you entered. To program the tank you needed to type the commands into the brightly coloured keyboard at the top of the vehicle. Big Trak could remember up to sixteen commands at any one time, but you needed to program in the movements in sequence. Big Trak was quite advanced for its time being one of the first programmable robotic toys and it became extremely popular among children and adults alike.

It served no real purpose other than novelty but many people became addicted to improving their Big Trak programming to the point where they could get Big Trak to circumnavigate their homes.

The keypad on Big Trak took quite a bit of getting used to as all of the actions were abbreviated. When you first got Big Trak out of its box the labels needed fixing first of all. The keys consisted of:

Green Directional Arrows: Forward, Back, Left, Right HOLD: To pause the vehicle CLR: To clear all the programming FIRE: To set off the LED “laser” CLS: Clear Last Step (Undo) RPT: Repeat steps TEST: Run a test program CK: Check last instruction (this was a tick symbol on the British version) OUT: Detach the trailer accessory IN: A spare button 0-7 keypad: To allow you to define a time for each action

Two different Big Traks were available, depending on whether you were based in the US or Europe. The American Big Trak was grey with a large Big Trak label whilst the GB version was white with a slightly different keypad. You could also purchase an optional trailer to make BigTrak deliver objects.

Suggest an update

Author of this article:



Contributors to this article:

  • There are no contributors yet

Message boards

Discuss Big Trak on the message boards

Do You Remember Big Trak?

Do You Remember Big Trak?

  • Anonymous user
    on
    I had one in my 20s and my substance abusing buddies had great times programming it. It was fun to set it to roll up to a new girlfriend and shoot her as she started to pick it up. I spooked a few girls with that. I took it to work one time and had it run through the warehouse. too bad it was never upgraded to do more. Today it would fun with 100gig HD and some real lasers.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    My mother has always had the knack of 'letting the cat out of the bag'. And to this day, when she does I still say 'WELL DONE BIG TRAP'! In the style of the kid who was in the advert all those years ago. My Mum always giggles when I say it.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    Just got one today. Cant get it to tip the trailer. Any help please. peterdevlin@hotmail.co.uk
  • Anonymous user
    on
    i just found 1 at a yard sale for 5 bucks with the box in good comdishtion and the big trak is in asome or mint con.. i have been playing with it for days it so cool to see how many people like this toy like i do .......
  • Anonymous user
    on
    My first school bought one as a primitive venture into teaching us kids about robotics (teachers were mad on robotics in the 80s). I saw it and instantly wanted one. After six weeks of torturing my parents I finally got one. Then my cousin sent it down the stairs. It survived the fall but died under the impact of a Tonka truck taking the same downstairs route.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I had two Big Traks, both broke in quick succession; 'Transport' (the trailer) also kept tilting it's bucket. I loved that toy as well, shame about it's short life!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    Me & my brother had one between us, I was really too young to do much with it, especially as we were warned not to try a too long program as it would use up the batteries too fast. The plastic it was made of was fairly brittle & some of the trim snapped off before the side bit did and all the wheels fell off. I can't remember if we got rid of it or gave it to someone who could fix it & never got it back. A few year later I would have got much more out of it. Someone I knew had his for ages but wrecked it by accidently sending down his stairs by turning it left rather than right.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I recently found my Bigtrak in the attic! Memories of the hours of fun of making it go forward, turn and then shoot my old Nan several times. It was the first time I ever programmed anything and certainly gave me plenty of amusement.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    Ooh, that commercial...! How I cannot ever forget the countless hours I spent diligently trying to program my Big Trak to deliver an ice cold beer from the kitchen to my father sitting in the living room...! Needless to say, it never did happen...by the time I got it even close, the damn beer was room temperature! Oh well, gimme an E for Effort! I sure would like to see that commercial that showed the apple delivery! Anyone know where to view it?BTW, my transport only worked correctly for about 10 or 12 runs...how did your's do? I thought I still had my BT, but recently found out it was lost in a move...Damn, can't have nothing nice! Oh well, it had a broken axle and the rubber rings on the drive wheels were gone... Trak On!!!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    This was a great toy. I had the dumper for it and it was just awesome to play with. I still have mine I believe somewhere. I remember the back trak wheels broke and the dumper broke too. But it still worked, well the big trak did not the dumper. There was also another toy I had similar to it. It was a corvette and the pad was under the hood. Same concept. Great toy, great memories.

Do you remember these?