Grandstand Caveman
 | |
| Grandstand-branded Caveman with the display lit; "TOMY" is moulded into the front of the base (Christo, CC BY-SA 4.0) | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Tomy (made in Japan) for Grandstand (Adam Imports Ltd, Harrogate) |
| Type | Tabletop electronic game |
| Released | 1982[1][2] |
| CPU | NEC uCOM-43 4-bit microcontroller, marked D553C 209[1] |
| Memory | — |
| Storage | — |
| Display | NEC FIP8AM20T vacuum fluorescent display, cyan, red and green[1] |
| Sound | 1-bit, from the microcontroller[1] |
| ROM | Inside the microcontroller (MAME's dump is 2 KB)[1] |
| Input | MOVE lever (left and right), START/SHOOT button, AMA/PRO selector, ON/OFF switch[3][4] |
| Power | Four C cells, or a 7.5 V DC centre-negative adaptor[3] |
| OS / Firmware | — |
| Model no. | Tomy model 7613 (Tomy's own release)[5] |
Grandstand Caveman is a battery-powered tabletop game with a vacuum fluorescent display (VFD), made in Japan by Tomy and sold in the UK by Grandstand from 1982. MAME records the UK title as Cave Man - Jr. Caveman vs Dinosaur; Tomy sold the game as Caveman and Tandy sold it in the USA.[1] The player moves a caveman left and right to steal a dinosaur's eggs while dodging volcanic bombs, the dinosaur and a prehistoric bird.[3] An NEC uCOM-43 4-bit microcontroller runs the game.[1]
History
[edit | edit source]Grandstand was the name that Adam Imports of Harrogate put on the electronic games it imported into the UK.[6] The Handheld Museum describes Caveman as made by Tomy and licensed to Grandstand for UK distribution, and dates the Grandstand version to 1982; MAME's chip list also dates the D553C 209 to 1982.[2][1] The Grandstand box in the museum's photographs reads "Grandstand Cave Man".[2]
The Grandstand game keeps Tomy's design. The bezel of the unit photographed here reads "Jr. CAVEMAN VS DINOSAUR", "CAVEMAN" and "TOMY MICRO COMPUTER GAME", with "GRANDSTAND" in the corner, and "TOMY" is moulded into the front of the base.[4] Cases were made in more than one colour: the Handheld Museum shows Grandstand games in gold and in white and orange, and a dealer's museum page lists gold, red and orange/white.[2][7]
Hardware
[edit | edit source]| Part | Detail |
|---|---|
| Main board | Marked TN-12 2E114E03; made in Japan |
| Microcontroller | NEC uCOM-43, marked D553C 209 |
| Program | Mask ROM inside the microcontroller; MAME's dump is 2 KB |
| Display | NEC FIP8AM20T no. 2-42 VFD, cyan, red and green |
| Sound | 1-bit output from the microcontroller |
| Controls | MOVE lever (left and right); START/SHOOT button; AMA/PRO game selector; ON/OFF switch |
| Power | Four C cells; Tomy's adaptor rating 7.5 V DC, 200 mA, 2.1 mm plug, centre negative |
Board, microcontroller, display and sound from MAME's driver notes;[1] controls and power from Tomy's UK leaflet and the photograph.[3][4]
The FIP8AM20T is an NEC tube with eight grids; MAME's notes explain that NEC's FIP names give the number of grids after the letters.[1] The bezel itself advertises an "LSI-CPU" and an "FIP index panel".[4]
The game program is mask-programmed into the D553C 209, the chip MAME's dump was read from.[1] A replacement microcontroller can only come from another Caveman: Tomy's, Tandy's or Grandstand's.[1] Grandstand Munchman uses the same NEC uCOM-43 family (D553C 160) on a Tomy board of the same TN- series, with a different program.[1]
The game
[edit | edit source]Set the game selector to AMA (for beginners) or PRO (for intermediate and advanced players), then switch on: the display shows the dinosaur, its children, the dragon, the eggs and the volcanic bombs. Pressing START/SHOOT plays a fanfare and shows the number of cavemen, four to begin with. The AMA/PRO choice cannot be changed once the game has started; turn the power off and reset the selector.[3]
The caveman moves left and right with the MOVE lever and throws a stone axe with the SHOOT button. On AMA the axe is in his hand; on PRO he must first fetch it from the egg counter. Hitting the dinosaur with the axe while it is standing makes it fall, for 30 points, and frees the caveman to steal an egg and carry it back to the egg counter; when he brings the next egg, the first goes into the cave for points. An egg not taken within eight seconds hatches, and the dinosaur's children laugh at the caveman. The dragon (the "prehistoric bird" on the bezel) swoops to steal eggs from the counter and scores 10 when brought down; the AMA game has one dragon and the PRO game two. The volcano throws bombs that kill the caveman if they hit his head. An egg put into the cave scores 50, and eight eggs a bonus of 200.[3][4]
An extra caveman is given at 2,000 points. The score display reads up to 1,990 and then returns to 0, with the eggs in the cave standing for each 2,000 points. The game ends when all the cavemen are dead.[3]
Batteries and power
[edit | edit source]Tomy's UK leaflet asks for four 1.5 V "baby" (C) cells and allows a special AC adaptor, not included, of 7.5 V DC, 200 mA, with a 2.1 mm coaxial plug, tip (centre) negative. It warns against using any other adaptor and asks for the adaptor to be disconnected when not in use.[3] Four C cells make 6 V nominal, so Tomy's adaptor rating is higher than the battery voltage. See Grandstand Universal Mains Adaptor for the adaptor Grandstand sold; no Grandstand leaflet for Caveman has been found to say which setting it used.
The leaflet says that "the computer may fail to function properly depending on how the game-machine is switched on. If it does not work, turn the Power Switch off." A game that does not start should be switched off and on again before it is treated as faulty. Weak batteries make the display dark and the game act incorrectly; switch the game off when not in use and do not leave used batteries in it.[3] Cells left in the box leak; see Battery Explosion, Capacitor or Corrosion Damage.
Repair
[edit | edit source]Caveman has its own repair guides:
- Grandstand Caveman General Maintenance: opening the case, the battery box, the side socket, the lever and switches, and the display.
- Grandstand Caveman Troubleshooting Guide: what a working game does, a symptom table, and the faults found in four owners' repairs.
- Grandstand Caveman Capacitor Replacement Guide: the five electrolytic capacitors on the TN-12 main board.
Corroded battery contacts are the fault found most often: a Grandstand Caveman that had spent 20 years in an attic ran again once its battery terminals and control contacts were cleaned,[8] and a Tomy Caveman repaired in 2026 had a battery contact fault.[9] On another Tomy Caveman that would not switch on, the W06A diode on the control board and the C945 transistor beside the power transistor were replaced.[10] Tomy's own leaflet warns that the game may not start properly at switch-on; switch off and on again before treating it as faulty.[3]
Documentation
[edit | edit source]- Tomy Caveman instruction book (Tomy, UK edition; four pages). Controls, batteries and adaptor rating, the figures on the screen, play, scoring and care. Grandstand's own leaflet has not been found.
Related pages
[edit | edit source]- Grandstand Caveman General Maintenance
- Grandstand Caveman Troubleshooting Guide
- Grandstand Caveman Capacitor Replacement Guide
- Grandstand Universal Mains Adaptor
- Grandstand Munchman: Tomy game on the same NEC uCOM-43 family, same adaptor rating
- Grandstand Tron: Tomy game on a Hitachi microcontroller, same adaptor rating
- Category:Grandstand
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 MAME source, hh_ucom4.cpp (retrieved 2026-10-18). Driver notes for Tomy Caveman: made in Japan; PCB label TN-12 2E114E03; NEC uCOM-43 microcontroller labelled D553C 209, 1-bit sound; cyan/red/green VFD NEC FIP8AM20T no. 2-42; known releases Caveman (Tomy, world), Caveman (Tandy, USA), "Cave Man - Jr. Caveman vs Dinosaur, published by Grandstand" (UK); inputs left, right, button and AMA/PRO difficulty switch. Chip list dates the D553C 209 to 1982 and lists the Tomy Pac Man D553C 160 (PCB TN-08). ROM dump of 0x800 bytes taken from the D553C 209. File header explains NEC VFD names (FIP = fluorescent indicator panel, first number = number of grids).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Handheld Museum, "Grandstand Caveman" (retrieved 2026-10-18): 1982, VFD, four C batteries; made by Tomy, licensed to Grandstand for UK distribution; also found with a white/orange body; photographs of boxed games in gold and in white and orange, box reading "Grandstand Cave Man".
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 Tomy, Caveman instruction book, UK edition (GB). Hosted here as File:Tomy Caveman Instructions.pdf: p. 1 (controls; four 1.5 V baby cells; AC adaptor 7.5 V DC 200 mA, 2.1 mm ID coaxial plug, tip (centre) negative; "Do not use any other adaptor"; the computer may fail to function depending on how the game is switched on), p. 2 (figures on the screen), p. 3 (how to play; AMA and PRO; caveman, egg and dinosaur), p. 4 (dragon, volcano, scoring, score display up to 1,990, care; weak batteries make the display dark and show incorrect action).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Christo, File:Caveman handheld game.jpg (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0): Grandstand-branded Caveman, bezel reading "Jr. CAVEMAN VS DINOSAUR", "CAVEMAN", "TOMY MICRO COMPUTER GAME / DYNAMIC MULTI SCREEN / LSI-CPU / FIP INDEX PANEL", "GRANDSTAND" and "PREHISTORIC BIRD 10, DINOSAUR 30, EGG 50"; MOVE lever, AMA/PRO and ON/OFF switches, START/SHOOT button; "TOMY" moulded into the front of the base.
- ↑ Handheld Museum, "Tomy Caveman" (retrieved 2026-10-18): VFD, four C batteries, model 7613; found in two colours; also sold by Radio Shack under the Tandy name and in the UK under the Grandstand name.
- ↑ Play It Again project, "Grandstand" (retrieved 2026-10-18): Leslie Kenyon "had previously used the Grandstand name to sell electronic games in the U.K. through his Adam Imports business".
- ↑ Retro Games, "Grandstand" museum page (dealer's collection page, retrieved 2026-10-18): Caveman, "Grandstand distributed this Tomy game in the UK. Comes in gold or red or orange/white case."
- ↑ Buy it Fix it, "Repairing A Vintage Tomy / Grandstand Caveman Game", YouTube, 8 September 2022, 17:03 (watched 2026-10-18; no transcript available). A Grandstand-branded Caveman sold on eBay as "Been in attic for last 20 years. Unable to get working"; dead on fresh C cells. Shown: the screws in the base removed and the top shell lifted off (1:30-2:00); the control faceplate and switch carrier removed (2:15); the control board's contact pads and the rubber contacts cleaned with isopropyl alcohol on swabs (3:00-5:00); the slide-switch carrier cleaned (7:30-8:45); the battery terminals measured (9:15) and cleaned with swabs and contact cleaner spray (10:00-12:30); the display then lit on the cells (13:15) and the reassembled game played (16:15-16:30).
- ↑ analo9 (아날로그 탐구생활), "1981년 추억의 게임기 『토미 케이브맨』(TOMY CAVEMAN)", Naver blog, 3 September 2026 (in Korean; retrieved 2026-10-18), with the matching YouTube video OOn3iG6zNIk. A gold Tomy Caveman that would not switch on: diagnosed as a battery contact fault; the game was dismantled, the board removed and checked and parts replaced; the display and the key contacts were cleaned; the battery contacts restored. 47 photographs (1280 px), looked at at full size: the DC socket in the right-hand side of the base; the battery cover under the rear of the base; four C cells in two rows; the top shell (hood and front in one piece) lifted off with the printed window plate and the black control faceplate clipped inside it; the display standing upright in black rubber end blocks inside a smoked plastic housing; the main board TN-12 2E114E03 lying flat in the base with the green control board 2E114E02 beside it under a black switch carrier with yellow sliders; the five electrolytics removed from the main board, marked 3.3 µF 50 V, 10 µF 50 V, 33 µF 25 V and 47 µF 50 V (the fifth's marking faces away); the main board silkscreen "3.3U 50V" beside the C945, "10UF 50V" and "47UF 50V" beside the RD12EB3 zener, a blue resonator marked CSB, SL121J and SL471J 50 V and Z223Z 50 V capacitors, 1SS53 and W06C diodes, D471 and C945 transistors, resistor networks RGSD12X154M and RGSD14X154M.
- ↑ analo9, "1981 추억의 게임기 『토미(영실업) 케이브맨』(TOMY CAVEMAN)", Naver blog, 21 November 2023 (in Korean; retrieved 2026-10-18), with the video -QnFHPQRNxI. A gold Tomy Caveman (imported to Korea by Young Toys in 1984) that would not switch on, repaired and overhauled: circuit checked, parts replaced, power tested, display cleaned. Photographs: the W06A diode on the control board 2E114E02, between the pads marked BAT and AC, replaced (the old glass diode shown beside the board); a C945 transistor and a small ceramic capacitor removed from beside the TO-126 power transistor marked D471; the back of the tube marked NEC FIP8AM20T.