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Oh, sort of like a LED wand.[1] Those were a popular toy for ravers a few decades back. Hard to find now.

[1] https://tinkersphere.com/soldering-level-i/3355-magic-messag...

Yes, except with a single LED and mechanical rastering of the scanlines!

I was confused why there were 5 LEDs...it's for five independent screens (center being color)!

Yeah, I thought it was going to work like one of those wands as well and wondered why the LEDs were offset. When I saw how it worked, my jaw dropped. So much simpler and more mechanical than I expected.
The electromechanical television got me in trouble with my 5th grade teacher. When she stated that television dated to the 1940s, I (obnoxiously) had to correct her that in fact it was invented the late 1920s as I had seen one of the original Baird televisions in the British Museum.

I wish there was a photo of the writer's setup, I would love to see a modern version in action.