0The minimal aesthetic properties of E-13B saw extended influence in a number of type designs created in the late sixties and early seventies, and many of these MICR-based faces saw extensive use in relation to videogames. The typesetting and printing industries were undergoing rapid and dramatic changes during this period, adapting to new technologies like photo- and CRT-based compositors, so a number of companies and design studies were going out of business or changing hands. In addition, the decorative typefaces echoing the style of E-13B were often seen as novelty products, so records about several of these typefaces and fonts are cursory may be unreliable.7 Nevertheless, the evidence indicates that the first full alphabet based on E-13B was a font called Moore Computer (Figure 2-18), published by the Visual Graphics Corporation (VGC), possibly as early as 1968.

Figure 2-18. “Computer” originally sold as “Moore Computer” by VGC. Its current design is owned by Monotype Imaging.

0The question of precedence is significant when considering the evolution of forms, since of the typefaces under discussion, Moore Computer exhibits the least subjectivity or elaboration in its adoption of E-13B’s numeral style to letterforms. The earliest extant, published reference to the font by that name appears in the 1970 edition of W. Pincus Jaspert’s The Encyclopedia of Typefaces.8 The encyclopedia does not include an image of the font, but references it significantly in relation to E-13B. Jaspert describes E-13B as “A type face designed to meet the needs of magnetic character recognition in automatic cheque and document reading equipment. MOORE COMPUTER complements the numerals” (213, emphasis in original)⁠. This phrasing strengthens Moore Computers case for priority, and indeed the alphabetic characters of Moore Computer do complement the numeric characters of E-13B since Moore Computer’s numbers are identical to E-13B’s. Other early reference sources mentioning Moore Computer include a Visual Graphics Alphabet Library⁠ from 1976 and an undated VGC catalog from the mid-70s. These two sources provide the further information that the face was created as a VGC original, but unfortunately do not name its designer. The fact that the Alphabet Library includes two other faces prefixed with “Moore,”9 suggest that he was an in-house designer, and an un-sourced forum posting states that his first name is David (‘graphic6’)⁠. Whether it was indeed the first, Moore Computer was the most rugged of the designs which followed and is the most faithful to its source. It is also the first MICR-based font to appear in advertising for a videogame. Figure 2-19 shows a slightly modified Moore Computer in use as the logotype for the Magnavox Odyssey, the first-generation videogame console first released in 1972. Moore Computer also appeared on arcade games (Figure 2-20) and on some models of Coleco’s Telstar console (Figure 2-21), and it is currently featured as the main title font on VintageComputing.com (Figure 2-22).

Figure 2-19. The logotype for the Magnavox Odyssey (1972) systems uses Moore Computer.

Figure 2-20. “Elepong,” featuring a variant Moore Computer (the O and N use different slabs). Detail from flyer image. (“Video Game: Elepong, Taito”)

Figure 2-21. Coleco Telstar (1976) featuring a logotype in Moore Computer.

Figure 2-22. Logotype for vintagecomputing.com, combining Moore Computer and a typeface with echoes of Theo van Doesburg. (“Vintage Computing and Gaming)

0Other uses of Moore Computer stress the human/machine relationship in more dystopic or paranoid ways. Figure 2-23 shows a variant of Moore Computer (the floating slabs in M, N and W have been removed) in use as the end credits for WarGames, the 1983 Disney film about a world-destroying computer game. In an example of a more ironic use, figure 2-24 shows Moore Computer within a cyborg Scratchy’s heads-up display in an episode of The Simpsons. This is clearly meant to parody similar shots from Terminator, so it is significant that the animators for this Simpsons episode selected a typeface sharing a related material history with OCR-A.

Figure 2-23. End credits for WarGames. (Badham)

Figure 2-24. Mechanical Itchy heads-up display. (Archer)

0In general, the forms of Moore Computer’s characters closely follow E-13B, except that each alphabetic character Moore Computer includes at least one exaggerated slab, whereas the asymmetrical enlargements mainly appear on the 1, 3, 4 and 8 of E-13B. Since Moore Computer is most commonly used in titling, one possible reason for its proliferation of slabs is to ensure that any use of Moore Computer included its distinctive characteristic. In any case, the slab seems to take on an identity of its own and even appears outside the body of the character in a few letters (Figure 2-25). The slab floats within the letters’ open counters, but is not connected to the rest of the shape. Also, the alphabetic characters in Moore Computer move the location of the slab as dictated by the needs of the character. For example, the W contains an open counter similar to M, so it seems logical to place the slab in a similar position relative to the rest of the character. Other changes are dictated by the needs of a full alphanumeric character set. For example, whereas E-13B’s 0 (zero) is a simple rectangular shape, Moore Computer inserts a floating slab to distinguish it from O and D.

Figure 2-25. Moore Computer’s M, N, W and 0 (zero) include floating slabs.

• 7. The best record of typefaces from this period is a “Typeface Namebase,” compiled but never completed, by Tim Ryan, who passed it on to Grant Hutchinson. The work consists of a cross referenced database of type names, years of origin, and foundries. Unfortunately, the information lacks illustrations of the designs and corroborating references on their origins. Still, I am assuming that its information is reliable.
• 8. I am grateful to Grant Hutchinson for locating this reference.
• 9. These are “Moore Combo,” a thick, rounded design exhibiting Bauhaus influence and including several variants for each character, and “Moore Liberty,” a whimsical design imprinting stars and stripes on each character.