Atari Home Pong
 | |
| Atari Pong, model C-100, with its brown top panels and the "ATARI" label in the speaker grille | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Atari, Inc. |
| Type | Dedicated home video game console |
| Released | 1975 (Sears Tele-Games); 1976 (Atari C-100)[1][2] |
| Intro price | US$98.95 (Sears, 1975), plus $7.95 for the AC adaptor[1] |
| Units sold | About 150,000 (Sears, 1975); about 50,000 more under the Atari name[1] |
| CPU | None; a single custom game chip (Atari 3659)[3] |
| Memory | None |
| Storage | — |
| Display | RF output on TV channel 3 or 4[4] |
| Sound | Built-in speaker[4] |
| Power | 6 V DC, 125 mA: four D cells or a battery eliminator[4] |
| OS / Firmware | — |
| Codename | Darlene[5] |
| Model no. | C-100 (Atari); 637.25796 (Sears)[2][4] |
Atari Home Pong is Atari's first home video game console, a one-game version of its 1972 arcade Pong that plugs into a television. Sears sold it first, for Christmas 1975, as the Sears Tele-Games Pong; Atari sold the same console under its own name from 1976 as the Pong, model C-100.[1][2] The whole game is on one custom chip, which gives it colour, on-screen scoring and sound from a speaker in the console.[2][3]
History
[edit | edit source]Harold Lee proposed a home version of Pong in 1974, and he, Allan Alcorn and Bob Brown designed the prototype under the codename Darlene.[1][5] Lee drew the circuit as a consultant, on nine sheets; Alcorn's wife wire-wrapped each section as it was delivered, and Lee then laid out the chip on a rented Applicon design system.[5] The chip was finished in the second half of 1974.[1]
Toy and electronics buyers turned the console down at the New York Toy Fair in January 1975. Tom Quinn of Sears's sporting goods department took it up, and Sears ordered 150,000 units for Christmas 1975. During the demonstration at Sears's Chicago headquarters the prototype at first showed nothing, because the building's broadcast antennas swamped its signal; Alcorn moved it to an unused channel.[1][5] The Sears units went on sale from late October to mid-November 1975 at $98.95 with a one-year warranty, and Sears sold about 150,000 that season. Atari's own version sold about 50,000 more.[1]
Sears and Atari versions
[edit | edit source]| Feature | Sears Tele-Games Pong | Atari Pong |
|---|---|---|
| Model number | 637.25796 | C-100 |
| Top label | "Tele-Games" | "PONG" |
| Badge in the speaker grille | "PONG" | "ATARI" |
| Panels under the knobs | White | Black |
| Other top plastic | Black | Brown |
| Power switch | Plastic cap stamped "ATARI" (often lost); red dot shows when on | No cap; dot not coloured |
The two are otherwise the same in form and function.[3] Atari followed it with Super Pong (C-140) in 1976 and further models up to Ultra Pong in 1977. Sears sold most of them under its own names, and some, such as the four-player Pong IV, only under the Sears name.[2]
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Hardware
[edit | edit source]The game runs on one 24-pin custom chip, the Atari 3659. The only other integrated circuit is a hex inverter used in clock generation.[3] Each player's knob turns a 1 MΩ potentiometer, and the chip measures its resistance. The ball's angle and speed after each hit are chosen by the circuit from twelve possibilities.[3]
The console has an on/off switch, a start game button, the two player knobs, a speaker and a jack on the base for the battery eliminator. A 15 ft game cable runs from the console to a TV/game switch box (part 003643), which connects to the television's VHF antenna terminals by twin-lead and has 300 Ω and 75 Ω antenna inputs.[4] The game cable ends in a standard RCA plug.[3] The console is set to channel 3 at the factory; the channel 3/4 switch is reached through a small hole under the battery compartment, which comes out after undoing four Phillips screws.[4] The circuit board itself is held by security screws, which need a tri-groove bit or a two-pronged security bit.[3]
On power-up the console shows a "light show" of coloured squares until the start button is pressed. Each point scored shows both scores briefly, and a game ends when one player reaches 15 points.[4][3]
Power
[edit | edit source]The console needs 6 V at 125 mA, from four D cells or from the Sears battery eliminator, stock number 6-25792.[4] Sears's manual says that batteries fitted the wrong way round do not damage the game; it will not work until they are turned round.[4]
Do not use an Atari 2600 power adaptor. It has the same 3.5 mm plug with the same polarity (centre positive) but gives 9 V DC, where the Pong expects 6 V DC. The 2600 regulates its supply with a 7805, but inside the Pong the adaptor jack is wired in parallel with the battery contacts, with only a diode, dropping about 1 V, in between. Nerdly Pleasures gives the official adaptor's rating as 5.5 V at 100 mA.[3] Ctrl-Alt-Rees measured 6 V from an original US adaptor, which is also marked 6 V. Replacement 6 V adaptors fitted with 3.5 mm adapters turned out to be wired tip-negative, and he rewired them before connecting them.[6]
Care and maintenance
[edit | edit source]- Do not leave batteries in the console when it is not in use for a long time, and fit good-quality batteries, to avoid leakage that could damage the game.[4] One of Ctrl-Alt-Rees's Pong consoles was, in his words, probably beyond repair because of battery leakage.[6] Before buying an untested console, ask to see inside the battery compartment for corrosion or old batteries.[3] Battery Explosion, Capacitor or Corrosion Damage covers cleaning up after a leak.
- Clean the outside with a soft, slightly damp cloth. Keep liquids away from the speaker opening, do not lift the game by its wires, and protect it from heat.[4]
- If the power switch works erratically, spray contact cleaner into it. The knobs pull off so that they and the panel beneath can be cleaned; if a paddle is still jittery after cleaning, replace the 1 MΩ potentiometer.[3]
- The cable and wires wrap around the base for storage.[4]
Troubleshooting
[edit | edit source]| Symptom | Cause and remedy |
|---|---|
| No playfield on the TV, or a whitish-grey screen | Batteries low, dead or fitted wrongly; switch box set to TV (set it to GAME); game cable not plugged into the switch box; twin-lead not attached to the TV; battery eliminator not plugged in; power switch not on. |
| No regular TV programmes | Switch box set to GAME (set it to TV); antenna wire not attached to the 300 Ω screws on the switch box; twin-lead not attached to the TV. |
| Buzzing from the TV loudspeaker | TV volume too high: turn it down. The game's sound comes from its own speaker. |
| Clear playfield, but bars or lines move across the screen | A local station or the cable system is using the same channel: move the channel switch in the console to the other channel. With cable TV through a matching transformer, connect the cable straight to the switch box's 75 Ω connection. |
| Fuzzy playfield, like a weak station | Poor connections at the TV antenna terminals or the switch box. |
| Playfield unsharp, unsteady or without colour | Fine-tune the TV, and adjust its colour and tint. |
| Picture suddenly unsharp or unstable after working | Batteries need replacing, or the game was dropped and has gone out of tune: re-tune the TV. |
| Top and bottom borders not equally spaced | Adjust the TV's vertical height control. |
Nerdly Pleasures notes that a dirty channel selector switch on any RF console can spoil the picture; on the Odyssey 100 he tested alongside the Pong, contact cleaner and working the switch cured the noise.[7] An AtariAge member testing a C-100 on a CRT television found no clock pulses and suspected the chip; he also reported that a C-100 schematic posted in the thread is hard to read and has at least one error.[8]
Documentation
[edit | edit source]The Sears Tele-Games Pong owner's manual is hosted and described on the Atari Home Pong Documentation page.
Related pages
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Wikipedia, "Pong", section "Home version" and the later section on the home console's sales: development, the Sears deal, release, price and sales. en.wikipedia.org.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 David Winter, Pong-Story, "Atari home PONG systems": Atari and Sears models, model numbers and years. pong-story.com.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 Nerdly Pleasures, "Sears (Atari) Tele-games Pong vs Magnavox Odyssey 100: Battle of the First Pong Consoles", August 2022: Sears and Atari versions, powering and opening the console, the 2600 adaptor warning, the paddle potentiometers, the game chip and buying advice. nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com. Owner's hands-on report.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 Sears, Roebuck and Co., Pong Tele-Games Electronic Games Owner's Manual, model 637.25796, © 1975 Atari, Inc.: unpacking and parts of the game, owner's responsibility and installing batteries (p. 2); channel switch, battery compartment, power requirements, battery eliminator and switch box (p. 3); hooking up and starting (pp. 4 and 5); play and the light show (p. 6); maintenance and troubleshooting checklist (p. 7); replacement parts (back cover). Hosted as File:Sears Tele-Games Pong Owner's Manual 637.25796.pdf.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Curt Vendel, Atari Museum, "Atari Home Pong" (part 1): codename Darlene, model C-100, Harold Lee's circuit and chip design, the Toy Fair and the Sears demonstration. atarimuseum.ctrl-alt-rees.com.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ctrl-Alt-Rees, "A Curious Atari Video Game Machine Restoration", 28 December 2023: the Atari C-100 Pong power supply, connector and polarity, and the condition of his Pong consoles. ctrl-alt-rees.com. Restoration report.
- ↑ Nerdly Pleasures, same article, Odyssey 100 section, on cleaning the channel selector switch of an RF console. nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com.
- ↑ AtariAge forums, "Atari Pong C-100 Schematic", thread 291326. forums.atariage.com. Community repair report.