Need help IDing UK game system

[Colonel Mustard]

Hello Hive Mind!

This mystery system comes from someone in the United Kingdom. They are seeking any information on these all-in-one game/controller combos with associated TV set. Note three-prong connectors on game units that mate with similar connectors on right hand side of TV.

Thanks for any leads!

-- Dag Spicer

 

[vwestlife]

So it only works with the original TV it came with? It probably uses the typical "Pong on a chip" IC:

AY-3-8500 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[bburley]

12B711 /00X /00Z Television Philips; Eindhoven tubes international!; |Radiomuseum.org

12B711 /00X /00Z Television Philips; Eindhoven tubes international!; Miniwatt, build 1977 ??, 8 pictures, 1 tubes, Netherlands, schematics, semiconductors

www.radiomuseum.org

Philetta TX 711 12B711 /00W /00E Ch= Television Philips - Österreich |Radiomuseum.org

Philetta TX 711 12B711 /00W /00E Ch= TX Television Philips - Österreich, build 1977, 6 pictures, 4 schematics, 1 tubes, 27 semiconductors, Austria

www.radiomuseum.org

 

[bburley]

What seems to be a custom modification on this TV is the jacks on the right side. I suspect that it is a possibility that they simply audio and video inputs mounted in a way that is compatible with the game controller plug and the game is a self-contained game controller in the two external units. If so, you should be able to feed the video and audio into another device. The service manual for the TV is available online, but other than the picture in the one link above, nothing else shows jacks on the right side.
Did you find any numbers on the controllers?

 

[SiriusHardware]

Looking in from the UK here - there are a quite a few retro computer people in the 'vintage computing' subsection of the UK Vintage Wireless forum here:-

UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

UK vintage radio repair and restoration discussion forum

www.vintage-radio.net

I've alerted them to your thread but so far this system is as much a mystery to us as it is to you. Colonel Mustard, you are obviously the messenger rather than the originator of the query, could you get the owner of this system to take a few more photos, especially of the rear of the handheld units and if possible of the insides of the handheld units, especially the one with the keypad?

In the absence of evidence to the contrary I tend to agree with vwestlife in post #2, it is likely to be powered by the once common 'TV game on a chip' (AY-3-8500). I would think the three connections provided by those three moulded jack connections are video, sound and power-out from the TV to the game units.

A forum member over on UKVRR said that he remembered the same base model of Philips TV with a composite input added being used as monitors for BBC model B computers, so it must have been particularly simple / easy to add a composite video input to this model, which may explain its adoption for this system as well.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

What seems to be a custom modification on this TV is the jacks on the right side. I suspect that it is a possibility that they simply audio and video inputs mounted in a way that is compatible with the game controller plug and the game is a self-contained game controller in the two external units. If so, you should be able to feed the video and audio into another device. The service manual for the TV is available online, but other than the picture in the one link above, nothing else shows jacks on the right side.
Did you find any numbers on the controllers?

Hi -- Sorry no other numbers. The three-way plug seems to have electrical tape on it (?) or looks similarly kludge-y? But then the brochure looks proper, so it appears to have been mass produced?

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Looking in from the UK here - there are a quite a few retro computer people in the 'vintage computing' subsection of the UK Vintage Wireless forum here:-

UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

UK vintage radio repair and restoration discussion forum

www.vintage-radio.net

I've alerted them to your thread but so far this system is as much a mystery to us as it is to you. Colonel Mustard, you are obviously the messenger rather than the originator of the query, could you get the owner of this system to take a few more photos, especially of the rear of the handheld units and if possible of the insides of the handheld units, especially the one with the keypad?

In the absence of evidence to the contrary I tend to agree with vwestlife in post #2, it is likely to be powered by the once common 'TV game on a chip' (AY-3-8500). I would think the three connections provided by those three moulded jack connections are video, sound and power-out from the TV to the game units.

A forum member over on UKVRR said that he remembered the same base model of Philips TV with a composite input added being used as monitors for BBC model B computers, so it must have been particularly simple / easy to add a composite video input to this model, which may explain its adoption for this system as well.

Thank you for the relay to the UK group! I was thinking maybe it was a hack/mod, but then there's that brochure... looks legit. I'll see if I can get inside shots of it. Thanks again!