Hot Potato Game

[eizner23]

Maybe you played this as youth in the late 80's after playing Atari.  The stuffed potato played a tune after being triggered by a squeeze, you passed it around. When tune randomly stops you pick a card.  I want to pass along my hot potato to a nephew but it needs service.  The coin battery was corroded.  It had no markings on it.  I tested it with a LR44 1.5v alkaline, it worked but the output was about 1/3 of what is should be.  I tried a new 27mm coin piezo with same results.  Hail mary with 3v battery thinking maybe it was a custom battery, but it played really slow.  

Its fascinating this little epoxy glob can store a melody, a timer of sorts and the means to amplify playback.  Did it loose some of its amplification magic over the decades, or battery issue?  Its just not loud enough.  A disk cap, pressure pad-type switch, and the tiny IC that is it.