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Grandstand Scramble

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Grandstand Scramble
Konsola Grandstand Scramble w zasobach muzeum Gry i Komputery Minionej Ery we Wrocławiu
Grandstand Scramble switched on, at the Gry i Komputery Minionej Ery museum, Wrocław (Wojciech Pędzich, CC BY 4.0)
Specifications
ManufacturerEpoch (made in Japan) for Grandstand (Adam Imports, Harrogate)[1]
TypeTabletop electronic game
Released1982[2][3]
CPUNEC μPD553C 4-bit microcontroller (uCOM-43), marked D553C 202[1]
Memory96 × 4-bit RAM inside the microcontroller[4]
Storage—
DisplayNEC FIP9AM20T vacuum fluorescent display, cyan and red, with a colour overlay[1]
Sound1-bit, from the microcontroller[1]
ROM2K × 8-bit mask ROM inside the microcontroller[4]
InputJoystick, SELECT and START buttons, two fire buttons, on/off switch[3][5]
PowerFour C cells[2]
OS / Firmware—
Model no.Epoch Astro Command is model 8230[2]

Grandstand Scramble is a battery-powered tabletop game with a vacuum fluorescent display (VFD), made in Japan by Epoch and sold in the UK by Grandstand from 1982. It is Epoch's Astro Command under another name, which Tandy also sold in the USA as Astro Command.[1][2] Despite the title it is not a version of Konami's arcade Scramble: the player flies from left to right attacking fighters, missiles and ground targets over printed scenery, with none on the display itself.[3][6] It is built on the same Epoch platform as Astro Wars, with an NEC μPD553 microcontroller and the same battery cover.[1][7]

History

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The Handheld Museum, the Centre for Computing History and a dealer's museum list all date the Grandstand game to 1982, and MAME's list of NEC chips dates the D553C 202 to 1982.[2][3][8][1] Wikipedia records it as a second tabletop Scramble released in the UK that year, after Tomy's, and says an LCD Pocket Scramble followed in 1983.[6] No scan of Grandstand's leaflet for Scramble has been found online. A boxed Grandstand Scramble shown in a 2019 video has one; its box reads Adam Leisure Group Limited, Harrogate, copyright 1982.[9]

Two different games were sold in the UK as Scramble-type tabletops. Tomy's own Scramble (board TN-10) was sold in the UK by Hales as Astro Blaster; Grandstand's Scramble is the Epoch game. MAME's notes on the Tomy game make the same point.[5] A collector's review calls the Epoch original Astro Warrior; MAME and the Handheld Museum both identify it as Astro Command.[10][1][2]

The Handheld Museum has found the game with the word "Scramble" on the case unpainted and painted red.[2]

Epoch Astro Command, Made In Japan, Copyright 1982 (VFD Electronic Handheld Game)
Epoch Astro Command, the Japanese original of Grandstand Scramble, with Epoch's BOMB and MISSILE buttons. Grandstand's version carries its own name and lettering (Joe Haupt, CC BY-SA 2.0).

Hardware

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Scramble hardware
Part Detail
Boards Marked 96111 and 96112
Microcontroller NEC μPD553C, marked D553C 202: 4-bit PMOS, 2K × 8 ROM, 96 × 4 RAM, runs from −10 V
Display NEC FIP9AM20T no. 42-42 VFD, nine grids, cyan and red
Overlay Right three columns yellow; six columns of the bottom row pink
Display supply Round transformer; D882 and C2785 transistors (Epoch Astro Command)
Sound 1-bit, from the microcontroller
Controls Joystick; SELECT and START; MISSILE and BOMB buttons, on the Grandstand as on the Epoch; on/off switch
Power Four C cells (6 V)

Boards, microcontroller, display and overlay from MAME's driver notes;[1] microcontroller characteristics from NEC's data sheet;[4] display supply from an owner's repair of an Epoch Astro Command;[11] controls from MAME and a photograph of a Grandstand Scramble (the Centre for Computing History's record calls the fire buttons missile and bullet, but the Grandstand panel is labelled BOMB and MISSILE).[5][12][3]

The game program is held in the μPD553's mask ROM. MAME's copy was dumped from a Tandy Astro Command, which MAME treats as the same program.[13] A failed microcontroller can only be replaced from another Scramble or Astro Command.

The VFD can show only fixed shapes, so Epoch packed several shapes into each position: the Centre for Computing History notes a square that shows a bullet one moment and a spaceship the next. The scenery is a printed laminate under the screen, not part of the display.[3] The owner of an Astro Command found a magnifying lens behind the window.[11]

Shared Epoch platform

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Scramble is the closest of the other Grandstand tabletop games to Astro Wars: both have an NEC μPD553 microcontroller, an NEC FIP-series display, a D882 power transistor in the display supply and four C cells.[1][11] Retro Tech Repair found the same two diodes, S06 and S11, wired in series in the transformer circuit of a scrapped Grandstand Scramble, and used them to repair an Astro Wars.[14] Scramble also takes the same 3D-printable battery cover as Astro Wars, Firefox F-7 and Star Force, and Wikipedia's list of games with the same battery compartment agrees.[7][15]

The game

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No scan of a leaflet for Scramble or Astro Command has been published, so the rules here come from secondary descriptions. The player's ship moves with the joystick and attacks fighters and missiles in the air with one button and ground targets with the other, while the laser turrets on the ground scroll past to give the impression of movement.[3][10] A collector's review describes five phases:[10]

  1. Four waves of fighters approach from the right in groups of four.
  2. Four base ships on the right launch fighters that attack in a zigzag.
  3. A single moving base ship fires fighters at the player while bases on the ground fire missiles upwards.
  4. The base ship fires missiles while asteroids fall.
  5. The player avoids meteorites and destroys a moving energy base at the bottom of the display.

The Handheld Museum and a dealer's museum list give the maximum score as 3,000.[2][8]

Batteries and power

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Scramble runs from four C cells. The base label calls for four HP11 cells or the Grandstand Universal Mains Adaptor with negative polarity, and the leaflet names HP11 zinc-carbon or MN1400 alkaline cells but gives no voltage.[9][2] A collector's review says D cells and describes the game as very heavy with them loaded.[10] Repairers power it from 6 V DC with the centre negative, the same as Epoch's rating for Galaxy II, the Astro Wars original.[16][17] Measure any adaptor before connecting it; see Grandstand Scramble General Maintenance#DC socket and adaptor and Grandstand Universal Mains Adaptor.

Repair

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Scramble has its own repair guides:

Published repairs of Scrambles and of Epoch and Radio Shack Astro Commands between 2018 and 2025 mostly found a failed D882 power transistor, and a new one brought each game back.[18][16][19][20] Other faults were a corroded DC socket that stopped the game working on batteries, a burst 330 μF 10 V capacitor, and a joystick that no longer returned to centre.[21][22] One Epoch Astro Command could not be revived even after almost every part except the microcontroller had been swapped with a working one.[11]

Documentation

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 MAME source, hh_ucom4.cpp at commit d404316 (retrieved 2026-10-18). Driver notes, written from real boards, for Epoch Invader From Space (PCB 36010(A/B); NEC uCOM-44 MCU labelled D552C 054; cyan VFD NEC FIP9AM18T; UK release by Grandstand), Epoch Galaxy II (PCB 19096/96062; uCOM-43 labelled D553C 153; cyan and red VFD NEC FIP10xM20T, rev B no. 1-8 and rev D no. 2-21 with different graphics; UK release by Grandstand as Astro Wars), Epoch Astro Command (PCB 96111/96112; D553C 202; NEC FIP9AM20T no. 42-42; UK release by Grandstand as Scramble), Tomy Pac-Man (PCB TN-08 2E108E01; D553C 160; NEC FIP8AM18T no. 2-21; round yellow case; UK release by Grandstand as Munchman) and Tomy Caveman (PCB TN-12 2E114E03; D553C 209; NEC FIP8AM20T no. 2-42; UK release by Grandstand). The file header explains the NEC FIP part numbers (the first figure is the number of grids) and notes that VFD colours fade after decades.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Handheld Museum, "Grandstand Scramble" (retrieved 2026-10-18): 1982, VFD, four C cells; licensed from Epoch (Astro Command); found with the word "Scramble" unpainted and painted red; maximum score 3,000. Also "Epoch Astro Command": 1982, VFD, four C cells, model 8230, also sold by Tandy.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Centre for Computing History, "Grandstand Scramble", CH49305 (retrieved 2026-10-18): 1982; VFD able to show multiple images in one square, "a bullet one moment and a spaceship the next"; an industrial landscape laminate under the screen instead of the arcade game's scenery; joystick, on/off switch, select, start, missile and bullet buttons.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 NEC Electronics USA, 1982 Microcomputer Catalog, data sheet "μPD552/μPD553 4-bit single chip microcomputers with vacuum fluorescent display drive capability", p. 165. Bitsavers copy on the Internet Archive. Both chips are PMOS parts in a 42-pin DIP running from a single −10 V supply; 27 of their I/O and output lines "are capable of being pulled to −35V in order to drive Vacuum Fluorescent Displays directly". The μPD553 has 2000 × 8 ROM and 96 × 4 RAM, the μPD552 1000 × 8 and 64 × 4.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 MAME source, hh_ucom4.cpp at commit d404316, driver notes for Tomy Scramble (PCB TN-10 2E114E01; D553C 192; NEC FIP10CM20T): a different game, sold in the UK by Hales as Astro Blaster, with the note "(Epoch Astro Command was named Scramble)". The Astro Command input map has a four-way joystick, SELECT, START, MISSILE and BOMB.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Wikipedia, "Scramble (video game)" (revision 1375854753, retrieved 2026-10-18), "Handheld versions": a second tabletop Scramble was released in the UK in 1982 by Grandstand under licence from Epoch, which sold the game in Japan as Astro Command; no scenery is rendered and the ship need not refuel; an LCD "Pocket Scramble" followed the next year.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 YoxxxoY Jorge, "Battery cover Epoch electronic games", Thingiverse 3399673 (2019), archived on the Internet Archive (retrieved 2026-10-18). 3D-printable battery cover; the designer lists Astro Thunder, Astro Thunder 7, Firefox F-7, Astro Command, Astro Wars, Space Defender, Galaxy II, Star Force and Scramble. CC BY 4.0.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Retro Games (Chillout Games), "Grandstand" museum page (retrieved 2026-10-18). Dealer's list of Grandstand tabletop games with years: Scramble 1982, "licensed from Epoch", perfect game 3,000 points; Firefox F-7 1983, six phases, three skill levels, twin speakers, perfect game 1,000 points; Star Force 1984, "the last in the arcade series".
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Mike's Retro Tech, "55 - Grandstand Scramble - Electronic Game - Testing after 2 years on a shelf", YouTube, 15 December 2019 (transcript read 2026-10-18). A boxed Grandstand Scramble with its leaflet: the box reads Adam Leisure Group Limited, Harrogate, England, copyright 1982, and had faded on a shelf near the sun (0:43-1:09); the game ends when the ships are lost or at 3,000 points (2:37-2:49); the screen had been scratched by an adaptor packed in the box (4:51-5:04); controls joystick, on/off, SELECT, START, MISSILE and BOMB (6:48); the base label calls for four HP11 C cells or the Grandstand Universal Mains Adaptor with negative polarity (6:59-7:11); the leaflet names HP11 zinc-carbon or MN1400 alkaline cells and the Universal Mains Adaptor but gives no voltage (8:39-9:07). It worked on a universal adaptor set to negative.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Retro Games Now, "Grandstand Scramble" (retrieved 2026-10-18). Collector's review: the five phases; Grandstand's Scramble is not a copy of the arcade game but a rebadged Epoch game, which the blog calls "Astro Warrior"; the LCD Pocket Scramble; very heavy with D cells. MAME and the Handheld Museum identify the Epoch original as Astro Command, and the Handheld Museum gives C cells.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Handheld Museum forum, "EPOCH Astro Command - dead or dying", January-February 2016 (retrieved 2026-10-18). An Epoch Astro Command (the Epoch version of Grandstand Scramble): rusty battery contacts cleaned and filed; before failing it showed incorrect play and a rapidly flashing display; the Radio Shack version has almost the same parts; MCU D553C 202, transistors D882 and C2785; power from the batteries runs through the control board and a ribbon cable that frayed after the board was turned over repeatedly; unresolved. Rik (site administrator): the game plays and makes sounds without the display or its transformer; displays fade unevenly with heavy use; a broken filament wire leaves an area dim; he has never had a display fail unless the glass was broken.
  12. ↑ Wojciech Pędzich, File:Konsola Grandstand Scramble w zasobach muzeum Gry i Komputery Minionej Ery we Wrocławiu.jpg (CC BY 4.0), photograph of a working Grandstand Scramble at the Gry i Komputery Minionej Ery museum, Wrocław: the two round fire buttons are labelled BOMB and MISSILE, beside the SELECT and START buttons and the joystick; a mains adaptor lead is plugged into the right-hand side.
  13. ↑ MAME source, hh_ucom4.cpp at commit d404316, ROM definitions: the Galaxy II program is a 2 KB (0x800-byte) dump of the D553C 153, used for both display revisions; the Astro Command program is a dump of the D553C 202 taken from a Tandy Astro Command.
  14. ↑ Retro Tech Repair, "Astro Wars Repair (sound but no display or faint display)", YouTube, 29 January 2021 (transcript read 2026-10-18). Faint sound and no display on several games. Measured on a working board: about −1.5 V at the D882 base, −3 V at the base of S03 (a C945), fed from a −9 V line through the zener S09, and the −10 V microcontroller supply (24:00-33:00). A 10 μF capacitor next to the transistor and transformer, rated 16 V, was replaced with a 25 V part, and later the whole board was recapped, without effect (21:00-31:00). Earlier boards, with the Epoch logo, have one diode S06 under the display; later boards have two, S06 and S11, in series (39:00-46:00). The removed diodes broke down at about 140-143 V when tested on a stack of 9 V batteries, which he warns is not safe (48:00-54:00). On a Japanese Astro Wars ruined by the wrong charger, the D882 was burnt; a new D882 still overheated until S06 was replaced with a 1N5275B; the game then drew about 0.2 A with the D882 a little warm, and ran for several hours (57:00-67:00). S06 sits under the bottom edge of the display; bending the tube risks cracking it (61:00). The flat cables to the joystick board and power board broke after repeated handling (39:00).
  15. ↑ Wikipedia, "Astro Wars" (revision of 1 June 2025). Hardware section, without references: the D882 power transistor "is known to fail frequently", the S06 zener less often; the display has "a glass nipple which can easily be fractured"; isopropyl alcohol for contacts; the same battery compartment on Astro Thunder, Astro Thunder 7, Firefox F-7, Astro Command, Space Defender and Scramble. The article also calls the game "made in Great Britain", which the Grandstand leaflet contradicts.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 retro_restos, "Grandstand Scramble Repair. No Power Fix", YouTube, 19 May 2023 (transcript read 2026-10-18). Dead on mains and batteries. Without a cover the cells "make a bid for freedom" (0:33-0:39). Adaptor: 6 V DC, negative (1:14). The DC socket's battery contact checked by continuity, open with a plug in as it should be (3:08-3:45); 5.8 V reached the board (3:58-4:18). The supply input read short to everything; the D882 power transistor had failed and a new one cured it; "the power transistors do tend to go after a while" (6:20-12:00). He covered the display while working (7:00). Battery contacts polished; it then worked on batteries (11:18-11:35). Flicker on camera only (11:50).
  17. ↑ Epoch, Galaxy II instruction leaflet (Epoch Corporation, Englewood, New Jersey; © 1981 Epoch Company Ltd, Tokyo; made in Japan), hosted here as File:Epoch Galaxy II Instructions.pdf: p. 2, four C cells, or an adapter of 6 V DC, 250-300 mA, with a polarity symbol showing the centre pin negative.
  18. ↑ Retro Tech Repair, "Grandstand Scramble / Astro Command Repair - Retro Games", YouTube, 7 December 2018 (transcript read 2026-10-18). A dead Grandstand Scramble with surface corrosion in the battery box (1:18-3:40). The joystick knob is held by a small screw under a sticker on its top, and the sticker cannot easily be replaced (2:12-2:42). Tip for the plastic screw posts: turn each screw backwards until it drops into its thread before tightening, so as not to strip the post (5:46-5:53). An electrolytic capacitor had burst, a 330 μF 10 V part mounted lying down, and was replaced with a 330 μF 25 V part (6:30-11:17); the D882 power transistor, also mounted lying down, read short base to collector and open to the emitter, and was replaced (9:33-13:28). With both replaced the game worked from a 6 V bench supply, so the video does not show which part was the cause (13:56-14:43). Battery contacts were taken from a second, damaged Scramble (15:08). VFD flicker on camera is not visible in person (16:56). Fire buttons: missile and bomb (17:20).
  19. ↑ Kip Hakes, "Grandstand Scramble - Boxed, Beautiful, Broken - Fix it Friday", YouTube, 1 March 2024 (transcript read 2026-10-18). A boxed Grandstand Scramble, dead on batteries, with worn button lettering (2:06-3:25). A screw under the top of the joystick; six screws in the base (3:01-3:35). The battery leads run to the DC socket, which cuts the batteries when a plug is in and can fail; about 6 V reached the power switch (5:58-7:31). He judged the display good because its getter was black, and said a white, powdery getter is bad (8:08-8:29). The capacitors were not bulging (8:51). Small surface-mounted parts on the back of the board, which he had not seen on similar boards (9:44-10:01). The NEC D882 tested dead on a component tester; a new one cured the game (10:32-14:38). Flicker on camera only (13:25).
  20. ↑ Rust Belt Vintage Toy Repair, "1987 Radio Shack Astro Command Electronic Game Repair", YouTube, 31 October 2024 (transcript read 2026-10-18). Radio Shack's version, in its 1987 catalogue: four difficulty levels; the missile fires horizontally and the bomb drops vertically; a four-way joystick (0:23-1:57). Dead on four C cells (2:27-2:32). Disassembly: remove the batteries; peel the sticker off the joystick knob and remove the screw beneath; six screws separate the base from the top cover; the bezel unclips; two screws hold the main board's bracket (2:45-3:07). The D882 power transistor drives a switching supply whose transformer output is rectified to the voltages the processor and display need; it had failed, testing as "two resistors in series", and a new D882 cured the game (3:24-4:13, 6:11). He also replaced the three electrolytic capacitors as a precaution, same capacitance and same or higher voltage, observing polarity; no values given (4:22-4:44). Do not strain the thin piezo speaker wires; the battery contacts are wired and were removed for polishing; three screws free the control board and three more the joystick mount; contacts cleaned with denatured alcohol (4:54-5:22). The bezel clips back and the knob screw is hidden by the sticker (5:40-5:50).
  21. ↑ retro_restos, "From Delivery to Repair in 10 Minutes. Grandstand Scramble 'No Power' Fix", YouTube, 8 February 2024 (transcript read 2026-10-18). Worked on and off from a 6 V negative-tip adaptor and not at all on batteries (1:38-2:57). In the DC socket the negative lead runs straight through and the positive lead from the batteries passes through the socket's contact to the board; a plug separates the two pins; old sockets "fall apart" and can switch the game off (3:43-4:24). With no plug in there was no continuity from the battery box to the board; the old socket was corroded and was replaced with a new-old-stock one with three pins, one negative and two positive (7:12-8:57). The cap over the joystick screw is glued; soak it off with acetone or alcohol and glue it back (4:45, 11:33-11:39). Six screws in the base, then lift the top away (5:25-6:06).
  22. ↑ Vintage Gaming Memories, "Joystick Repair & Full Cleaning: 1982 Epoch Astro Command", YouTube, 4 March 2025 (transcript read 2026-10-18). An Epoch Astro Command whose joystick did not return to centre (4:50-5:08). Six screws in the base; the joystick cap comes off after peeling a small sticker and removing the screw beneath (5:13-5:52); three screws release a part joined to the board by a flat cable, to be handled carefully (6:58-7:26); four screws hold the joystick cover over its contacts (7:44-7:58). The joystick was cleaned and given dry lubricant; contact cleaner was sprayed on its spring and on the springs under the MISSILE and BOMB buttons; the slide switch was polished where it rubbed (8:18-10:52). The inside of the display window and the plastic film with the base and space imagery were cleaned (11:28-11:37). Five phases and four skill levels (12:24).


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