Jump to content

Grandstand TV Game 2600 Mk II General Maintenance

From RetroTechCollection
Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (3)
The panel of the colour TVG-3600 Mk II. The Centre for Computing History's photograph of a TVG-2600 Mk II shows the same panel and game key, without the COLOUR legend and coloured dots at the lower left; no freely licensed photograph of a 2600 Mk II has been found.

The Grandstand TV Game 2600 Mk II (Adman Grandstand TVG-2600 Mk II) is a black-and-white Pong console with a light gun, sold in the UK from 1977.[1] Only one example has been described in public, at the Centre for Computing History, and no manual, schematic or photograph of the inside has been found. The museum's photographs show that it shares its panel, game key, hand controllers and light gun with the colour Grandstand TV Game 3600 Mk II, which has been opened and photographed.[2][3] What is known of the 2600 Mk II itself is given here; where the two share a part, the 3600 Mk II guide is linked and the differences are marked.

Fault-finding is on Grandstand TV Game 2600 Mk II Troubleshooting Guide. No capacitor data has been published for the 2600 Mk II.

The 2600 Mk II at a glance

[edit | edit source]
What is known about a TVG-2600 Mk II
Part Detail Source
Picture Black and white [4]
Games Tennis, football, squash and practice with the hand controllers; Target 1 and Target 2 with the light gun [2][1]
Panel POWER, BALL SERVE, BALL SPEED, BALL ANGLE, PLAYER SIZE, GAME SELECT A/C and B/D, RESET, SERVE; LEFT PLAYER and RIGHT PLAYER sockets [2]
Controllers Two grey hand controllers on leads that plug into the panel [2]
Light gun Thundercolt Super Marksman 304 [1]
Made in Hong Kong, according to Wikipedia [4]
Game chip, supply, polarity, RF channel Not known: no inside photograph, label or manual has been published

Before you start

[edit | edit source]
  • Read the label on the base before connecting anything. No published source gives the 2600 Mk II's supply. The colour 3600 Mk II, in the same style of case, takes six C cells or a 9 V 100 mA adaptor,[3] but treat that only as a guide until your own label confirms it.
  • Remove any cells, and unplug the controllers and the gun.
  • An original mains adaptor is the only part that carries mains voltage. Check its case and lead for cracks before use.

Opening the case

[edit | edit source]

No account of opening a 2600 Mk II has been published. The 3600 Mk II, whose panel and controls match it, opens from below: four screws release the base, two of them in recesses beside the rubber feet, and the board stays on the upper case, held by two screws, with the slide switches and controller sockets soldered to it.[5][3] The full procedure is on the 3600 Mk II maintenance guide.

Expect the 2600 Mk II's board to differ: it has no colour circuit. When you open one, photograph both sides of the board and note the game chip's markings and any capacitor values. No such record has been published.

Hand controllers

[edit | edit source]

The two grey cylindrical controllers plug into the LEFT PLAYER and RIGHT PLAYER sockets on the panel, so they can be swapped or replaced without opening the console.[2]

  • A bat that jumps usually has a dirty potentiometer track in its controller. Clean it with potentiometer cleaner and turn the knob end to end.
  • Swapping the two controllers tells a controller fault from a socket or console fault.
  • Clean the jack plugs and the panel sockets, and check each lead where it enters the controller.
  • The 3600 Mk II's controllers look the same and plug in the same way,[3] so a 3600 Mk II controller is a likely spare, though nobody has published a test of the swap.

Panel switches and buttons

[edit | edit source]

The panel has POWER, BALL SERVE (MANUAL or AUTO), three AMATEUR/PROFESSIONAL switches for BALL SPEED, BALL ANGLE and PLAYER SIZE, and two GAME SELECT switches marked A/C and B/D. The game key reads TENNIS A-B, FOOTBALL A-D, SQUASH B-C, PRACTICE C-D, TARGET 1-B and TARGET 2-D. RESET is orange and SERVE is blue.[2]

That game list and those settings match General Instrument's AY-3-8500, whose settings and games are each selected by connecting a pin to ground through a switch; GI allows no more than 1 kΩ through a closed contact.[6][7] Whether the 2600 Mk II uses that chip has not been confirmed. Either way, clean each slide switch with switch cleaner and work it a dozen times, and clean the two buttons.

Light gun

[edit | edit source]
Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (2)
The Thundercolt Super Marksman 304 gun as supplied with the colour 3600 Mk II, the same model the museum records with the 2600 Mk II. Its lead ends in a twin plug.

The 2600 Mk II came with a Thundercolt Super Marksman 304 pistol.[1] The museum's photograph of its gun shows the body held together by screws on one side, with a threaded tip and a black cap on the barrel.[2]

  • Keep the lens at the end of the barrel clean.
  • To open the gun, remove the screws in the side of the body. Note the position of the trigger spring and the lead before separating the halves.
  • On the 3600 Mk II the same gun model has a twin plug that fits a jack and a mini-jack in the right side of the case, and the target games only appear when it is plugged in.[5][3] Check whether your 2600 Mk II has the same pair of sockets.
  • Light guns of this period respond to a cathode-ray tube television. Test on a CRT set.
  • Prinztronic sold a Thundercolt TV Game Pistol for its own consoles.[8] No source says whether it fits the Grandstand.

Power

[edit | edit source]
  • Read the supply and current from the base label.
  • Measure the polarity of the adaptor socket against the battery terminals before connecting an adaptor; no source gives it for the 2600 Mk II. The owner of a 3600 Mk II gives that console's socket as centre positive.[5]
  • The Grandstand Universal Mains Adaptor was sold for Grandstand's handheld and tabletop games, with a polarity switch and a 6-9 V output.[9] Check its setting with a meter before using it on a TV game.
  • Remove the cells for storage. See Battery Explosion, Capacitor or Corrosion Damage if they have leaked.

RF output

[edit | edit source]

The 2600 Mk II gives a black-and-white picture through an RF lead to the television's aerial socket.[4] No source gives its channel. Tune an analogue UHF set slowly across the band; a television with only a digital tuner will not show it.

Wearing parts

[edit | edit source]
What wears on a 2600 Mk II
Part Check
Hand controllers and their leads Clean the potentiometers; swap to compare
LEFT PLAYER and RIGHT PLAYER sockets Clean; check for loose sockets
Slide switches and buttons Clean and work each one
Light gun Lens, trigger switch, lead and plug
Electrolytic capacitors Not documented; inspect any bulging or leaking can
Battery springs Remove cells for storage

Preventive maintenance checklist

[edit | edit source]
  1. Read the base label, then measure the adaptor and the socket's polarity.
  2. Clean the slide switches, RESET and SERVE.
  3. Clean the potentiometer in each hand controller, then swap the two over and compare.
  4. Clean and check the gun and its plug.
  5. Tune an analogue television and check all four bat-and-ball games, then the two target games with the gun.
  6. If you open the case, photograph the board and record the chip markings.
[edit | edit source]

References

[edit | edit source]
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Centre for Computing History, "Adman Grandstand TVG-2600 Mk II", CH22783 (retrieved 2026-10-18): "a Pong-style game console from 1977. It includes Tennis, Football, Squash and Target Shooting with the supplied Light gun. Two handheld controls are also included"; serial number 93097; the light gun is a "Thundercolt Super Marksman 304".
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 The two photographs on the Centre for Computing History record CH22783 (retrieved 2026-10-18), examined at the largest size offered. The console: a black panel with POWER (OFF/ON), BALL SERVE (MANUAL/AUTO), BALL SPEED, BALL ANGLE and PLAYER SIZE under AMATEUR and PROFESSIONAL, GAME SELECT switches A/C and B/D, the game key (TENNIS A-B, FOOTBALL A-D, SQUASH B-C, PRACTICE C-D, TARGET 1-B, TARGET 2-D), an orange RESET and a blue SERVE button, and LEFT PLAYER and RIGHT PLAYER sockets with two grey cylindrical hand controllers plugged in on grey leads; there is no COLOUR legend on the panel. The light gun: a black pistol whose body is held by screws on its side (three visible), with a threaded tip and a black cap on the barrel.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Photographs by José Antonio Ortigueira Amor of the colour Grandstand TV Game 3600 Mk II, File:Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (2).jpg, File:Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (3).jpg, File:Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (13).jpg, File:Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (14).jpg and File:Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (15).jpg (CC BY 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons): the same panel layout and game key with a COLOUR legend and coloured dots added; the same grey hand controllers and Thundercolt gun with a twin plug; inside, a General Instrument AY-3-8500 on a board held to the upper case by two screws; the base label asks for six UM-2 cells or a 9 V 100 mA adaptor.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Wikipedia, "Grandstand (game manufacturer)", table of integrated Pong consoles (retrieved 2026-10-18): "Adman Grandstand T.V. Game 2600 Mk. II", black and white, six games (Tennis, Football, Squash, Practice, Target 1 and Target 2), made in Hong Kong, 1977 to 1979. The row cites the Centre for Computing History record, and its image link points to a South-West Retro Computing Archive item that is a TVG-3600 Mk II.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 José Antonio Ortigueira Amor, "Adman Grandstand TV Game 3600 MK II Colour (1978)", Retro Ordenadores Orty (collector's blog, in Spanish), 23 November 2023 (retrieved 2026-10-18): on the 3600 Mk II the adaptor socket (9 V DC, centre positive) is on the left side and the light gun plugs into a jack and a mini-jack on the right side; the target games appear only when the gun is plugged in; four screws hold the lower case and two hold the board; the importer's 2600 series had six games.
  6. ↑ General Instrument Corporation, GIMINI TV Game Circuits, January 1978, pp. 4-7, PDF hosted by Pong-Story (retrieved 2026-10-18): AY-3-8500 data sheet; six games selected by grounding pins 18 to 23 (rifle 1, rifle 2, tennis, soccer, squash, practice); settings by grounding pins 5, 7, 8 and 13, with no more than 1 kΩ contact resistance; manual serve stops the game after each score; shot and hit inputs (pins 26 and 27) driven by positive pulses from the gun circuit; VCC +6 to +7 V, clock 2.012160 MHz ±1%, supply current 40 mA typical.
  7. ↑ David Winter, Pong-Story, "PONG in a Chip" (retrieved 2026-10-18): the AY-3-8500 plays four ball-and-paddle games and two target-shooting games with amateur and professional settings, and a seventh undocumented game, Handicap, when none is selected; Texas Instruments' TMS-1955 and TMS-1965 are pin-compatible with the AY-3-8500; the AY-3-8500 was used in "hundreds of different game systems".
  8. ↑ Centre for Computing History, "Prinztronic Thundercolt TV Game Pistol", CH33635 (retrieved 2026-10-18): a Thundercolt TV game pistol sold by Prinztronic for its Videosport 600, Videosport 800 Colour and Tournament Colour Programmable 2000 consoles.
  9. ↑ Handheld Museum, "Grandstand Universal Mains Adapter" (retrieved 2026-10-18). Collector's entry: model UGT, "AC adapter sold by Grandstand in England/U.K. for their handheld/tabletop games", with a switch that toggles the polarity and turns the output off; output 6-9 V DC at 1.5 VA.


Retrieved from "https://wiki.retrotechcollection.com/index.php?title=Grandstand_TV_Game_2600_Mk_II_General_Maintenance&oldid=26209"