Grandstand Model 5000 General Maintenance

A Grandstand 5000 Colour with both pods out of their bays: SERVE on the left pod, GAME RESET on the right, ten games on the slider, and the GAME switch that changes between the PADDLE RIFLE and CYCLE games.

The Grandstand Model 5000 (panel name GRANDSTAND 5000 COLOUR) is a ten-game colour TV game sold by Adman Grandstand and dated 1977 by the Centre for Computing History. Four of its games are motorcycle games played with a separate throttle controller; the other six are bat-and-ball and target games, the target games played with a light gun. No Grandstand manual or schematic for the 5000 has been found, and no photograph of its board or base has been published. The sources are photographs of the outside of two examples, a collector's notes, what is known of the Grandstand Model 4600 and Grandstand Model 6000, which use the same style of case, and General Instrument's 1978 data for the game chips its games match.

Fault-finding is on Grandstand Model 5000 Troubleshooting Guide.

The 5000 at a glance

What is known about the Grandstand 5000

Feature	Detail	Source
Panel	GRANDSTAND 5000 COLOUR; LEFT and RIGHT score sliders marked 0 to 10; ten-position game slider
Games	MOTOR CROSS, ENDURO, DRAG RACE, STUNT CYCLE, PRACTICE, SQUASH, SOCCER, TENNIS, S.L. TARGET, MOVING TARGET
Switches	SERVE (MANU/AUTO); BAT SIZE, ANGLE and SPEED/CYCLE (AMATEUR or EASY / PROFESSIONAL or HARD); GAME (PADDLE RIFLE / CYCLE); POWER (OFF/ON)
Control pods	Two pods with rotary knobs, one with a SERVE button and one with a GAME RESET button, stored in bays either side of the panel
Throttle	A white cylindrical controller with a brown knob, on a grey lead ending in a mono mini-jack plug, for the cycle games
Light guns	A black pistol on a lead ending in a mono mini-jack plug; the museum's boxed example has two light guns with detachable stocks and rifle barrels
Case colours	Grey (Wikimedia Commons example); cream and dark grey (museum example)

What is inside: what is known

No photograph of a 5000 board has been published, so its chips have not been confirmed. Its games point to two General Instrument chips:

• The six PADDLE RIFLE games are the six games of the AY-3-8500, the chip in the 4600: tennis, soccer, squash, practice and two rifle games.
• The four CYCLE games, Motocross, Enduro, Drag Race and Stunt Cycle, are the four games of GI's AY-3-8760 "Cycle" chip, which is played with a throttle control and has an easy and a hard (PRO/AM) mode, matching the panel's SPEED/CYCLE switch marked EASY and HARD. Pong-Story lists a PAL version of the cycle chip, the AY-3-8765.
• Wikidata lists both the AY-3-8500 and the AY-3-8760 for the 5000, without a reference.

A panel switch that changes between PADDLE RIFLE and CYCLE fits a console with two game chips. If you open a 5000, photograph the board and record the chip markings: none have been published.

Before you start

• Take out any cells and unplug the adaptor, the throttle controller and the gun.
• Lift both pods out of their bays so their leads are free.
• Tools: a cross-head screwdriver, isopropyl alcohol, brushes, switch and potentiometer cleaner, and a multimeter.

Opening the case

No photograph of a 5000's base or interior has been published. The 4600 and the 6000, which share the 5000's style of case with control pods in side bays, have bases laid out the same way: a sliding battery cover, two screws inside the battery compartment and two more beside the feet at the other end. On the 4600 these four screws hold the base, and the board is screwed to the upper case. Expect the 5000 to be similar, and follow opening the case on the 4600, and find each screw before you prise anything.

With the base off, photograph every wire before lifting the board. Expect wires to the throttle and gun sockets, and to the SERVE and GAME RESET buttons in the pods.

Cleaning

• Use a soft cloth and mild soapy water on the case, pods and throttle. The game plate is brushed metal with printed pictograms, so keep solvents away from it and from the panel lettering.
• Clean the throttle and gun plugs, and the sockets they go into, with isopropyl alcohol on a cotton bud.

Power

No photograph of a 5000's base label has been published, so its supply has not been confirmed. The 4600 and the 6000, in the same style of case, are labelled for six UM-2 (C) cells or a 9 V DC 100 mA adaptor, and the 4600's owner gives its socket as centre positive. Read the label on your own 5000, and measure its socket against the battery terminals, before connecting any adaptor.

• Grandstand's own A.C. adaptor for its TV games gives 9 V at 150 mA.
• The Grandstand Universal Mains Adaptor was sold for the tabletop and handheld games and has a polarity switch; check its setting and its plug with a meter before trying one.
• Remove the cells for storage. Leaking cells corrode battery contacts and the sockets near them.

Control pods

Each pod has a rotary knob. The left pod carries the SERVE button and the right pod the GAME RESET button, so on the 5000 both buttons travel on the pod leads. The collector who owned one describes them as "2 built-in controllers that detach".

• A bat that jumps points to a dirty potentiometer. Open the pod and clean the track.
• If SERVE or GAME RESET stops working, check the button and then its wires in the pod lead, which flexes every time the pod is lifted out.
• If the paddle chip is an AY-3-8500, its serve and reset inputs work by being connected to ground, and GI asks for 1 kΩ or less through a closed contact.

Throttle controller

The pistol and the white throttle controller photographed with a 5000. Both leads end in mono mini-jack plugs.

The cycle games are played with the separate white controller. On GI's AY-3-8760, the throttle sets the frequency of an oscillator feeding the chip's throttle input; GI's system diagram gives 50 to 250 kHz. A dirty potentiometer in the throttle would therefore show as a bike that surges or stalls.

• Clean the potentiometer track and the mini-jack plug.
• Check the grey lead where it enters the cylinder.

Light guns

The Commons example has a black pistol whose lead ends in a mono mini-jack plug, and the museum's boxed example has two light guns with detachable stocks and rifle barrels. The collector's 5000 came without one.

• Keep the lens clean and check the trigger and the lead.
• Test on a cathode-ray tube television; light guns of this kind do not work on flat panels.

Switches and score sliders

• The GAME switch chooses between the PADDLE RIFLE and CYCLE halves of the game slider, so a game that will not start may only need this switch moved.
• SPEED/CYCLE sets ball speed in the paddle games and EASY or HARD in the cycle games. On the AY-3-8760 the hard mode adds obstacles and makes crashes possible.
• Clean each slide switch and the ten-position game slider with switch cleaner, working them end to end.
• The two sliders above the game plate are the same manual score counters as on the 4600.

RF output

The 5000's RF channel has not been published. The 4600 and 6000 labels give UHF channel 36, so start there on an analogue television.

Wearing parts

What wears on a 5000

Part	Why	Check
Slide switches and the ten-position game slider	Contact resistance rises with age; a GI game chip needs 1 kΩ or less	Clean; measure closed
Pod potentiometers and the SERVE and GAME RESET buttons	In use every game; their wires run through the pod leads	Clean; check the leads
Throttle potentiometer and plug	Sets the bike's speed through an oscillator	Clean; check the plug and lead
Gun leads and plugs	Flexed at every use	Check continuity
Battery contacts	Leaking cells corrode them	Take the cells out between uses

Storage

• Remove the cells.
• Seat the pods in their bays and store the throttle and the gun separately, leads loosely coiled.
• Keep the console dry and out of direct sun.

Preventive maintenance checklist

1. Read the base label and record the supply it asks for.
2. Take out the cells and look at the contacts.
3. Meter the adaptor (voltage and polarity) before it goes anywhere near the 5000.
4. Clean all six panel switches, the game slider, both pods and their buttons.
5. Clean the throttle and check that the bike's speed follows it smoothly.
6. Test the gun on a CRT television.
7. If the case is open, record the chip markings and the capacitor values.

Related pages

• Grandstand Model 5000
• Grandstand Model 5000 Troubleshooting Guide
• Grandstand Model 4600 General Maintenance, the six-game model in the same style of case
• Grandstand Model 6000 General Maintenance, the joystick model in the same style of case
• Atari Stunt Cycle, whose four motorcycle games carry the same names
• Grandstand Universal Mains Adaptor