About a year ago I had a plan. The plan was to work through each system I own chronologically, play on them for a week and review both the hardware and some of the games available. If all had gone to plan then this blog would now be full of info about three decades of games systems. However this grand plan was interrupted by Byte Back and general laziness, and as it stands just two systems have been reviewed – the Atari 2600 and Commodore 64. Whoops! 
Now, finally, I bring you a review of a week playing on another of my systems, the one that is probably the most unique of all the consoles I own - the Vectrex!
Released by Milton-Bradley in 1982, the Vectrex hardware was notable for a number of firsts, some of which have never been replicated to this day. Most notably it was the first and only system to have a built-in vector monitor, enabling it to show crisp, fast-moving graphics akin to those used in classic arcade games of the time such as Asteroids and Battlezone. It was also one of the first systems to have a controller with multiple fire buttons that performed different actions, and you could argue it was one of the earliest portable, self-contained systems that used cartridges, though you still needed a power supply to use it!
My Vectrex was an Ebay purchase from Holland during the traditional post-Christmas Ebay sales lull in 2007, so cost me around £60 shipped and included one unboxed game (Bedlam, which was subsequently sold). I also managed to pick up a second controller from Germany for a £15, which is a very reasonable price as they are generally quite hard to come by on their own. It does have one slight sticky fire button but as long as you whack it hard it is perfectly functional! 
Games-wise I only have two official cartridges – an unboxed copy of Fortress of Narzod (with overlay) and a boxed, complete copy of Space Wars. The reason for having so few originals is because I have what every self-respecting Vectrex owner should have - multicarts! 
Many years ago the owners of the Vectrex game code released it into the public domain, so while multi-game cartridges for other systems are legally dubious, Vectrex multicarts are totally legal. My main multicart is a rather amateur looking 32-in-1 PCB thing that slots into the side of the console and allows you to choose each game by changing jumpers on the PCB itself. The games include all the official MB releases plus a selection of homebrew games. It may not be the most attractive of cartridges but it was only a tenner so I’m not complaining!
Speaking of homebrew, I also have two multicarts created by John Dondzilla, one of the most prolific homebrew game developers for the Vectrex. Each cartridge features a selection of complete games (usually based on arcade classics) and also some tech demos and unfinished projects. If you want to know more about these I suggest checking out John's site Classic Game Creations where you can buy the carts and read about his latest projects.
Nice Vectrex overview! I've only had a couple of opportunities to play a real live Vectrex, and really enjoyed the experience (except for the 3D goggles - made me feel sick and left a nice black smudge on my head!) I would really love to own one of these machines, as you said: completely unique.
My best mate bought me one for my birthday, but by the time it reached us, it had stopped working. The machine would power up and make all the right noises, but something was wrong with the display - just a single dot in the centre of the screen. We were both gutted. It turns out that it usually is quite easy to fix, but we were scared off by the warnings of thousands of volts of electricity being stored in the tube.