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Grandstand TV Game 3600 Mk III General Maintenance

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Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (15)
The base of a TVG-3600 Mk II. Photographs of a 3600 Mk III show a base laid out the same way: battery cover with two tabs at one end, two screws beside the feet at the other, label in the middle and a star of speaker holes. No freely licensed photograph of a Mk III has been found.

The Grandstand TV Game 3600 Mk III (front label ADMAN GRANDSTAND COLOUR TV GAME 3600 MK III) is a six-game colour Pong console with a light gun, made in Hong Kong and dated 1977 by the Centre for Computing History.[1][2] It uses the case of the Grandstand TV Game 3600 Mk II with a new control panel: one sliding game selector in place of the Mk II's two GAME SELECT switches, and the controller and gun sockets all on the panel.[2] No Grandstand manual, schematic or photograph of the Mk III's board has been published. The sources used here are a collector's photographs of a working, boxed Mk III,[2] the museum's photograph,[1] what is known of the Mk II, and General Instrument's 1978 data for the AY-3-8500 game chip that the Mk III very probably uses.

Fault-finding is on Grandstand TV Game 3600 Mk III Troubleshooting Guide. No capacitor list exists for the Mk III, because its board has not been photographed; Grandstand TV Game 3600 Mk III Capacitor Replacement Guide gives the 3600 Mk II's readings for comparison and how to record and replace the Mk III's own parts.

Identifying a 3600 Mk III

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How the 3600 Mk III differs from its neighbours
Feature 3600 Mk III Source
Front label ADMAN GRANDSTAND, COLOUR TV GAME 3600 MK III, on a brushed-metal strip with red, blue and green stripes [2][1]
Case Dark brown top, cream base, the same shape as the 3600 Mk II [2]
Game selection One orange slider under six pictograms: TENNIS, SQUASH, TARGET-1, SOCCER, PRACTICE, TARGET-2 [2][1]
Switches and buttons POWER (ON/OFF), SERVE (MANUAL/AUTO), SPEED, ANGLE and BAT SIZE (AMATEUR/PROFESSIONAL); orange RESET and SERVE buttons [2]
Sockets LEFT PLAYER and RIGHT PLAYER on the panel; a pair marked GUN at the right of the panel; one socket in the side of the case for an external supply [2]
Base label COLOR TV GAME, British patents 1268821 and 1328223, UM-2 x 6 or AC adaptor (9 V / 100 mA), serial number, made in Hong Kong [2]

The 3600 Mk II has the same base label but chooses its games with two switches marked A/C and B/D, and has its gun sockets in the right-hand side of the case.[3][4][5] The earlier Adman Grandstand TVG 3600 is a different design again, with a SOUND switch and a PISTOL socket between the two player sockets.[6]

Before you start

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  • Take out the six cells and unplug the adaptor, both hand controllers and the gun.
  • Tools: a cross-head screwdriver, isopropyl alcohol, cotton buds, a soft brush, switch cleaner and a multimeter.
  • The console itself runs from 9 V. The mains hazard is in an old adaptor: look for cracks in its case and splits in its lead before plugging it in.

Opening the case

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The Mk III's base is held by screws in two places, as photographed on a complete example:[2]

  1. Press the two tabs at the edge of the battery cover and lift it away.
  2. Take out the six cells. Two brass screws sit in the floor of the battery compartment, between the two rows of cells. Remove them.
  3. Turn the console over on a soft cloth. At the opposite end of the base, two more screws sit beside the moulded feet. Remove them.
  4. Lift the base away slowly, in case a wire is attached to it.

No photograph of the inside of a Mk III has been published. On the Mk II, removing the base exposes the back of the board, which is held to the upper case by two screws.[7] See opening the case on the 3600 Mk II. Because the Mk III's switches and game slider are laid out differently, photograph the board and every flying lead before you unscrew anything inside, and do not assume the Mk II's layout.

If you open a Mk III, note the markings on the largest chip and the values on the electrolytic capacitors. None have been published.

Cleaning

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  • Wipe the brown top and cream base with a damp cloth and a little washing-up liquid. The panel legends and the pictograms are printed: do not scrub them or use solvent on them.
  • Dust the brushed-metal label strip with a soft brush. Do not rub it with an abrasive cleaner.
  • Clean the three panel sockets (LEFT PLAYER, RIGHT PLAYER and the GUN pair) and the side power socket with a cotton bud and isopropyl alcohol.
  • Wipe the hand controllers' leads and check them where they enter the controller and the plug.

Power: cells, adaptor and polarity

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  • The battery compartment takes six 1.5 V UM-2 (C, LR14) cells in two rows of three. The polarity of each cell is moulded into the floor of the compartment.[2]
  • The base label asks for a 9 V adaptor rated 100 mA and gives no polarity.[2]
  • The photographed Mk III works on an Ingersoll XK9 mains adaptor, 9 V 250 mA, fitted with a four-way multi-plug.[2] Check the polarity of the plug in use with a meter before connecting an adaptor of that kind.
  • Grandstand sold its own A.C. adaptor, 240 V in and 9 V 150 mA out, made by Adman Electronics of Harrogate. The one photographed came with a 3600 Mk II; its owner gives its 3.5 mm plug as tip positive, with a polarity-reversing connector in the lead.[8]
  • The Grandstand Universal Mains Adaptor was sold for Grandstand's tabletop and handheld games, with a 6 to 9 V output and a polarity switch.[9] The tabletop leaflets tell owners to set it to negative,[10] which may be the wrong way for this console. Measure the Mk III's socket against the battery terminals with the cells fitted, then set any adaptor to match.
  • If the game chip is an AY-3-8500, it runs from +6 to +7 V and must never see more than +12 V on any pin.[11]

Remove the cells before storing the console. Leaking C cells corrode the springs and contacts and can reach the power socket and the RF connector; on another AY-3-8500 console stored with its cells in, the battery contacts, the power socket and the RF connector were all corroded.[12]

Controllers, buttons and switches

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Hand controllers

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The two hand controllers are dark brown cylinders with a cream knob at one end. Each contains a variable resistor and has no serve button; its lead ends in a mono mini-jack plug that goes into LEFT PLAYER or RIGHT PLAYER on the panel.[2]

  • A bat that jumps or will not reach the top or bottom of the screen points to a dirty or worn track. Open the controller, spray potentiometer cleaner into the track and turn the knob end to end several times.
  • The two controllers are interchangeable. Swapping them between the sockets tells a controller fault from a socket or board fault.
  • Clean the jack plug and check the lead where it enters the cylinder.

Slide switches, buttons and game slider

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The five slide switches, the RESET and SERVE buttons and the six-position game slider all act on the game chip.[2] On the AY-3-8500 every setting and game is chosen by connecting a pin to ground, and GI asks for no more than 1 kΩ through a closed contact.[11] A switch whose closed resistance has risen above that may not register. Work a little switch cleaner into each switch and move it end to end a dozen times. Do the same for the six-position game slider.

Light gun

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The photographed Mk III came with a black pistol marked THUNDERCOLT Super Marksman 304, with a separate barrel extension that comes off so the gun fits in the box. Its lead ends in a twin plug that fits the pair of sockets marked GUN on the panel.[2] The same pistol was supplied with the 3600 Mk II.[13]

  • Keep the lens at the muzzle clean, and check the trigger and the lead.
  • Guns of this kind see the light of a cathode-ray tube television. The owner of the photographed Mk III tested the games on a flat-panel set and noted that a CRT set would be needed to check the gun.[2]

The game chip

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No photograph of a Mk III board has been published, so its chip has not been confirmed. Three things point to General Instrument's AY-3-8500:

  • The six games on the panel are the AY-3-8500's six: tennis, soccer, squash, practice and two rifle games.[11][2]
  • The Mk III has the same base label and case as the 3600 Mk II, whose board carries an AY-3-8500.[2][14]
  • One writer states that the Mk III "used a regular AY-3-8500", basing this on a picture on VTech's history page that he says contains verifiable inaccuracies.[15]

If your board does carry an AY-3-8500, the supply, clock and input values in GI's data apply. They are listed under test points on the 3600 Mk II, which uses the same chip. Wikipedia's list gives the Mk III's target games as "skeet" and "target";[16] the console's own panel calls them TARGET-1 and TARGET-2.[2]

Wearing parts

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What wears on a 3600 Mk III
Part Why Check
Slide switches and game slider Contacts oxidise; an AY-3-8500 needs under 1 kΩ when closed[11] Clean; measure the closed contact
Hand controller variable resistors Dirty tracks make the bat jump Clean; swap the controllers to compare
Panel sockets and side power socket Plugged and unplugged often; attacked by leaking cells[12] Clean; reflow or replace if loose
Battery springs and contacts Corrode if cells are left in[12] Remove cells for storage
Gun lead and twin plug Flexed every time the gun is used Check continuity; clean the plug
Electrolytic capacitors Late-1970s parts; values not published Inspect when the case is open

Storage

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  • Remove the cells.
  • Unplug the controllers and the gun, take the barrel extension off the gun, and coil the leads loosely.
  • Keep the console dry and out of direct sun.

Preventive maintenance checklist

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  1. Take out the cells and look at the springs and contacts.
  2. Measure any adaptor's voltage and polarity off load before connecting it.
  3. Clean the five slide switches, the game slider and the RESET and SERVE buttons.
  4. Clean both hand controllers and swap them between the sockets to compare.
  5. Clean the GUN sockets and the twin plug, and test the gun on a CRT television.
  6. Tune an analogue television and check the colour, both scores and all six game positions.
  7. If the case is open, record the chip markings and capacitor values.
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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Centre for Computing History, "Adman Grandstand 3600 Mk III TV Game", CH50705 (retrieved 2026-10-18): "A six-game Pong console from Adman Grandstand", manufacturer Adman, dated 1977. The record's photograph (not freely licensed) shows the same front label and panel, with the GUN sockets at the right of the panel.
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 Ian Hill, "Grandstand Colour TV Game 3600 MKIII", Ian's Retro Museum (collector's site; photographs not freely licensed, read and described here) (retrieved 2026-10-18). Text: same form factor and name as the 3600 Mk II but a restyled control panel, with a simple slide switch for the games instead of the Mk II's double switch; the base houses the battery compartment and the speaker; one side has the external power connector; the light gun comes apart to fit in the box; the controllers are a variable resistor in a cylindrical housing with no serve button; it came with an Ingersoll power adaptor with a multi-plug, 9 V 250 mA; shown working, with a CRT needed to check the rifle. Photographs examined at full size: front label "ADMAN GRANDSTAND COLOUR TV GAME 3600 MK III"; panel with POWER, SERVE (MANUAL/AUTO), SPEED, ANGLE and BAT SIZE (AMATEUR/PROFESSIONAL), RESET and SERVE buttons, game slider with TENNIS, SQUASH, TARGET-1, SOCCER, PRACTICE and TARGET-2, LEFT PLAYER and RIGHT PLAYER sockets and a pair of sockets marked GUN; base with battery cover, label, star of speaker holes and two screws beside the feet; battery compartment with two rows of three cells moulded "1.5V UM-2", springs and two brass screws in its floor; base label "COLOR TV GAME / PATENTS BRITISH NO. 1268821 AND 1328223 AND IN OTHER 18 COUNTRIES / BATTERY: UM-2 x 6 OR AC ADAPTOR (9V / 100 MA) / SERIAL NO. 005416 / MADE IN HONG KONG"; one socket in the side of the case; pistol marked THUNDERCOLT Super Marksman 304 with a detachable barrel and a twin plug; two dark brown cylindrical controllers with cream knobs and mono jack plugs; Ingersoll mains adaptor type XK9, input 240 V 50 Hz, output 9 V 250 mA; box "GRANDSTAND 3600 mk III VIDEO SPORTS CENTRE, 6 exciting fun games with electronic console control, Colour"; the console showing a soccer game on a green field.
  3. ↑ Photograph by José Antonio Ortigueira Amor, File:Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (15).jpg (CC BY 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons), examined at full size: the base of a TVG-3600 Mk II, with the label "COLOR TV-GAME ... BATTERY: UM-2 x 6 OR AC ADAPTOR (9V / 100 MA) ... MADE IN HONG KONG", a battery cover with two tabs, a star of speaker holes, a moulded EXTERNAL POWER marking, and two feet at one end with a case screw beside each.
  4. ↑ Photograph by José Antonio Ortigueira Amor, File:Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (3).jpg (CC BY 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons): the panel of a TVG-3600 Mk II, with GAME SELECT switches A/C and B/D, a game key built from their combinations, and LEFT PLAYER and RIGHT PLAYER sockets.
  5. ↑ Photograph by José Antonio Ortigueira Amor, File:Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (5).jpg (CC BY 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons): the right side of a TVG-3600 Mk II, with a small and a larger socket side by side for the light gun.
  6. ↑ South-West Retro Computing Archive (University of Plymouth), "Adman Grandstand TVG 3600" (retrieved 2026-10-18). Photographs of the earlier TVG 3600: black case labelled "Adman GRANDSTAND TVG 3600", POWER and SOUND switches, START and MANUAL buttons, a game switch at the right, and LEFT PLAYER, PISTOL and RIGHT PLAYER sockets on a plate at the front.
  7. ↑ José Antonio Ortigueira Amor, "Adman Grandstand TV Game 3600 MK II Colour", Retro Ordenadores Orty (collector's blog, in Spanish), 23 November 2023 (retrieved 2026-10-18): on the Mk II, four screws hold the lower case; removing it exposes the back of the board, held to the upper case by two screws; the 3600 series had three models (TVG 3600, Mk II and Mk III).
  8. ↑ Ian Hill, "Adman Grandstand 3600", Ian's Retro Museum (collector's site; photographs not freely licensed) (retrieved 2026-10-18). The console photographed is a boxed ADMAN GRANDSTAND 3600 MK II. It came with a Grandstand-branded A.C. adaptor, labelled "AC INPUT: 240v - 50Hz, OUTPUT: 9v - 150mA, Double Insulated, Made in England, MADE BY ADMAN ELECTRONICS HARROGATE", which the owner describes as "9V with 3.5mm plug positive tip" with "a polarity reversing connector in the lead".
  9. ↑ Handheld Museum, "Grandstand Universal Mains Adapter" (retrieved 2026-10-18). Collector's entry: model UGT, sold by Grandstand in the UK for its handheld and tabletop games, 240 V input, 6-9 V DC output, with a switch for the polarity and for off.
  10. ↑ Grandstand, Astro Wars instruction leaflet (Adam Leisure Group, 1981), p. 2: the game "can be operated from the mains with a GRANDSTAND Universal Mains Adaptor (not included). Set polarity switch to negative polarity." Hosted here as File:Grandstand Astro Wars Instructions.pdf.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 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 selectable games, tennis, soccer, squash, practice and two rifle shooting games; standard supply +6 to +7 V, with -0.3 to +12 V the maximum rating on any pin; games and options chosen by connecting the relevant input to VSS; control inputs need a contact resistance of 1 kΩ or less to VSS.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Raphaël Assenat, "APF TV Fun console repair", raphnet.net (retrieved 2026-10-18). Repair of an AY-3-8500 console stored with its batteries in: heavy verdigris on the battery contacts, and the external power connector and RF output connector both corroded and replaced.
  13. ↑ Centre for Computing History, "Adman Grandstand 3600 Mk II TV Game", CH39823 (retrieved 2026-10-18): a colour Pong console "supplied with light gun". The gun on the Wikimedia Commons Mk II, File:Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (2).jpg, is marked THUNDERCOLT Super Marksman 304.
  14. ↑ Photograph by José Antonio Ortigueira Amor, File:Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (14).jpg (CC BY 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons), examined at full size: the component side of a TVG-3600 Mk II board, with a chip marked "GI AY-3-8500 7831 TAIWAN".
  15. ↑ Cameron Kaiser, "A Dick Smith VZ200 without the Dick Smith (but with a serial port)", Old Vintage Computing Research (blog), September 2026 (retrieved 2026-10-18): "If the picture on VTech's history page is to be believed, and I point out there are some verifiable inaccuracies on that page, VTech continued to produce other consoles for Grandstand/Adam like the ... Grandstand Adman Colour TV Game 3600 Mk III, which used a regular AY-3-8500 and was produced until 1979." The VTech page could not be checked (it refuses automated access).
  16. ↑ Wikipedia, "Grandstand (game manufacturer)", table of Pong consoles (retrieved 2026-10-18): "Adman Grandstand Colour T.V. Game 3600 Mk. III", colour, six games (Tennis, Football/Hockey, Squash, Practice, Skeet and Target), made in Hong Kong, 1977 to 1979; the row cites only the Centre for Computing History record.


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