Good question about the helmet colors - and my only answer is gosh, I dunno. We didn't get a color TV until much later. All I know is I dug the horns. I've seen archived photos of helmets with that red horn (I think on a black background), but can't recall when it was used.
When TV was in its infancy, at least in southern California, the first TV most of us saw was a tiny 10" screen (and that was on the big demo TV in the store - the home models would be round 7" screens) or later, maybe a 14" screen with about sixteen folding chairs around it on special occasions. Wholesome family entertainment was in style and at the center of the sales pitch.
"You can have one of these in your own home," the store owner would say, and the kids would all nag mom and dad to buy one.
And they did. The games were fun to watch on your very own television, those little black-and-white screens maybe sitting on top of the old console radio, right in your own home.
I understand more of the game now than I did then, but while my knowledge has grown in small steps, the game has grown in quantum leaps and left my scant knowledge far, far behind, much as the 52" plasma model that takes up one corner of our living room is a far cry from my parents' first 14" small console TV set.
And the games are still fun to watch.
