Sears Tele-Games Video Arcade First Look and Restoration!
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- Опубліковано 29 тра 2024
- The VCS (2600) wasn’t the only Atari that came out in 1977. Get ready for more cleaning montages than you can handle!
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00:00 Introduction
01:12 Background and History
02:51 First Look
05:46 Disassembly and Cleaning
08:55 Case Design
10:35 Mainboard Overview
14:12 Service Bulletins
16:00 Testing the Power Supply
19:49 Controllers
20:48 Cartridges
21:58 Initial System Testing
24:15 RF Video Quality
26:04 Repair and Re-Test
30:05 Before and After
31:32 Video Mods
32:45 Final Thoughts
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Small update: a number of you pointed out the colors looked wrong. I went back and adjusted the console and the colors are a lot more vivid now!
retrobits.tv/breakout.jpg
retrobits.tv/defender.jpg
Sears once even sold homes in kit form. How cool is that? And we can't forget their tools, either.
This was my grandparents' first Atari 2600 console. Previously, they had a Sears branded Atari Video Pinball console, but one day my grandfather came home with this. I'd never even heard of it. Of course, I was about ten at the time. It came with Target Fun (AKA Air Sea Battle) and we played that game to death. Next he got Combat (I forget the Sears name for it) and we loved that as well. Later, I got an actual Atari brand 2600 for Christmas.
About the switchbox: A few years ago, i had occasion to hook up an Atari 2600 and the picture was horrible. Lacking one of those RCA to coax adapters (and not wanting to order one off the net), I popped the switchbox open and wrapped some bare wire around the contacts, connecting them as they would be with the switch in the "Game" position, effectively bypassing the switch. This drastically improved the image. Those switchboxes were always a problem. You could tap them, the image would improve for a few minutes, then go back to looking crappy. Or you'd try sliding the switch rapidly back and forth in the hopes that it would clean the contacts a little. Or you'd try to slide it 98% of the way to the "Game" setting, hoping that might make better contact.
My dad bought me one of these. I still have it because my dad gave it to me. I'll never get rid of it.
Those clips of Defender and Asteroids brought back some memories, must've played both what felt like about a million times 😂
One funny thing I remember. At one friend's house they never never never disconnected the joysticks for paddles because my friend's dad was 100% certain that the connectors would wear out in no time if they ever did that. 45 years later I haven't seen a single VCS 2600 with worn out controller sockets. There might be some with cracked solder joints though.
This was our Atari growing up, I have many great memories of this machine.
The 2600 was designed to have two internal speakers, but they were nixed for cost cutting reasons. You noticed that the TIA chip has two outputs for left and right audio, but they are bridged in the final design. The very first games, such as Combat, are coded to play the sounds on specific channels for left (p1) and right (p2).
Great info, thanks!
My first console was actually a Coleco Tel-star, but my home gaming experience was taken up several notches Christmas 1980 when we got a Sears Tele-Games plus Space Invaders. Basically all I did at Christmas break was eat, sleep and play Space Invaders. Good times...
My first was the Coleco Telstar Ranger, the one with the gun. Great system before I got the 2600.
@@Hounddoggy33 That one would have been cool... we just had the basic one, haha. For the time, though, it was fun. I had no idea at the time that so many different systems were out there.
My first video game console!
Great video! I had this system. My dad used to work for Sears and got me one. This video brought back a lot of memories. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
My first console was a Tele-Games heavy six. IIRC we had to send it in for service because the select game lever came loose from the board. We returned it to Sears and it was sent to a depot for repair. When it returned the shielding around the switch appeared to have been left off by the repair tech.
My system shipped with the game "Target Fun", which appears to be a re-branded Air Sea Battle.
I wore down the pads on one of the joysticks, and replaced it with a Wico Command Control stick.
Ahhh that was the name of the joystick company I've been trying to remember. I have one of the huge Wico joysticks, has a fire button at top of stick. Its white and red.
Nice! interesting to see a piece that was never released on the European market and I'd never heard of it! It's quite interesting how GOOD it still came out again!
They slapped Ted Williams on everything. We had a outboard motor boat for fishing and it had a Ted Williams 9hp outboard motor.
The 2600 is my first and favorite system. I'm glad you opted to keep yours stock. The original heavy 6ers are survivors at this point and modding them to work on a composite signal ruins the charm.
Great video and restoration. The Christmas after everyone got the NES (not us) some neighbors were tossing one of these and I was more than happy to take it.
I miss Sears and K-Mart. Still Great Job! :)
Yep, that's the version of the I'm familiar with. Everyone I knew had the Sears Tele-Games. I don't know if I ever saw an Atari branded 2600 as a kid.
I have that exact game system and I restored mine 3 years ago it was a christmas gift when I was a kid
Yes. We had a 2600. I liked Atlantis and Demon Attack. My favorite joystick was a Suncom TAC-2 which I also used with the C64. A good time was right after the 1983 video game collapse. The drug store had bins full of clearance games for really cheap. Something like $1 or $2.
Cool. I haven't played Atlantis I don't think, but I have played Demon Attack on other systems. TAC-2 is a great joystick.
The RF output cable can be replaced with a better quality shielded one as well, if necessary. Where I lived as a kid there was so much interference it was often hard to see what was going on. We thought it was the console and exchanged it but the problem persisted. If I had a CRT I'd try the RF first, but I use a flat panel with a bunch of other consoles and an upscaler, so I've got the UAV mod. BTW, I've seen mods that don't drill holes but instead send a cable out through the RF cable hole.
getting a better RF cable is actually a really good idea.
Very nice restoration anc clean up. Bummer about the stickers on the bottom, but at least you have video to show the information.
Thanks! I took a 20MP image of the sticker before the cleaning so I have a pretty good reference should I want to try and create a replica.
Excellent job - it now looks practically new! 👍
Interesting thing about the resistor mentioned at around 15:00. You identify R213 as being the resistor being between pins 6 and 9, but the resistor (clear shot of it at 13:00) is 680 ohms (blue grey brown, gold for 5% tolerance) instead of 820 ohms (which would be grey red brown). And the reading you get is quite far away from 820 ohms (but within tolerance for 680 ohms).
Good eye! Perhaps they changed the value from what appeared on this early revision board by the time they issued the service bulletin?
It’s a shame that the labels got damaged while cleaning. I got and cleaned a heavy sixer about 8 years ago. I went ahead and crashed the console, but I did two things - I avoided running the brush over the decals, and other than some VERY LIGHT blotting with a paper towel after washing, I just let the labels air dry.
I’ve seen others apply clear shipping tape over the labels, carefully trimming the edges to leave it on permanently, but that’s a personal choice.
Matt, this is a fantastic repair video, very clear explanations and reasoning. I especially like the atari service bulletin research, and checking to see if they were applied.
Matt is known for putting great detail and research into his videos. It's one of the many things I love about his channel and videos.
Thanks! One thing I missed in the service manual was the color adjustment. I assumed the washed out colors were normal for RF, but as it turns out, not so! After the video launched I went back and adjusted the system and the improvement is quite striking!
retrobits.tv/defender.jpg
retrobits.tv/breakout.jpg
@@retrobitstv Nicely done on the color fine tuning. After 40+ years these little adjustments make a huge difference for sure!
My very first job I ever had was at Sears just when these came out. Even with the employee discount and living at home with my parents I couldnt afford this.
Many days on my break I would stop by the display to play the games. I dont remember if it was in the sports of electronics department. My memory wants to say the sports department.
Sears Tele-Games also had an Intellivision version. I fortunately have both in my collection. Neither of them work. Dont know if its the consoles or power adapters.
Great restoration. I’ve been watching your channel for 3 years and always appreciate the time and effort you put into these videos.
Psycho Fox has the best atmosphere and art. Better than Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, DaVinci, Rembrandt, etc...
Actually, the large number on Tele-Games carts does reflect the number of game variations found on each cartridge. There are 17 variations on Outer Space, 50 Pong Sports variants, etc. Check the game matrices in manuals, you’ll find that number designates the variations per title. Sometimes, the number is the same, it isn’t a unique designation.
Good to know thanks! I just assumed they were unique identifiers since I didn't see any repetition and some were as high as 50. I guess if you count all the variations it makes sense.
This video reminded me that I have an Atari VCS that needs some attention to get working again. One is getting a new PSU as the one I got with it was very old aftermarket one and it too has failed. So I got new one on the way and that an RF cable should get it working again.
That came out amazing! I have two sitting in the garage that need the same treatment.
Good luck with yours!
This is the exact model I conned my parents into buying me for my 12th birthday. Of course, I sold it at some point to get something newer and shinier and I totally regret it. Great job on the restoration....you wouldn't want to sell it would you???
I often protect labels with tape and then run a razor along the edge to remove excess and deliberately leave them laminated. Often you can pull the excess tape from the jagged edge at a certain angle so that the split perfectly rides along the edge of the label as the excess tape tears off, which makes it almost impossible to tell.
There’s definitely more technique to it, like pulling enough tape without halting to avoid lines in the adhesive and laying it down from the center-out by letting it droop down in the middle and then growing a third arm to flatten the tape down progressively from there. Of course, you want enough excess that any fingerprints or disturbed adhesive would be on the excess that gets trimmed off (not on the label).
I first started doing this on new laptops to protect the Windows COA or service tag info where they would otherwise wear off over time. I can see why you wouldn’t want to do it to some collectibles but a protected label is often better than a ruined label.
This was my first experience with a plain paper label that wasn't laminated or plasticized in any way. Live and learn I guess :(
You are lucky those Zener diodes and capacitors were already installed. I was a bit worried when I saw you vacuuming the ports with that brush.
. 😊
Period correct joysticks will have the metal hex discs glued to the top of the joystick with the "sears" logo on them. Most were lost, so these are rare to find.
I had a new Sears Tele-Games console when it came out and there was never any branding on the joysticks. They must not have all been like that.
@@andywest5773 Only for the heavy 6'ers in '77. After that, they removed them.
I remember waiting impatiently for a long time get the Defender cartridge for a whopping 50 bucks!!!
Yeah, it was pretty crazy the original prices on cartridges we bought when i was a kid, early on when they were still fairly high. I recall them in the 30s or 40s $$$.
But i bought quite a few during the period when ya'd go around everywhere and there'd be big tables and bins stacked with cartridge boxes where they were marked way down to around $5.00. Thats how i got most of my Imagic games and the other company that made the double ended cartridges with two games in each.
Bought a few of Activision ones that way too. There were several Activision carts i wish id had bought back then, as i wished i had them now. Lol. Like River Raid.
I have it on a special Playstation anniversary Activision collection and they look good but they really need the old atari joystick action to feel right and have the right motion on screen.
Really enjoying your videos. Can't wait to see what you'll be working on next!
I've always been tempted to get hold of one of these and make a heavy sixer using it's case and decals based on an original Atari VCS.
That whole thing about having the console near you while you play with a long wire is a hold over from their Pong machines. Old habits die hard, I guess!
I guess it was also necessary to toggle the game select and start switches. Who wants to get up to do that? :P
@@retrobitstv Exactly! Heck, a lot of games used the color/B&W switch as a pause button. It was really annoying because I grew up playing on a black and white TV and I could not make those games look better.
I found one of these at a thrift shop in the 90's for like $10...STILL have it. I put an ATARI sticker(removable) on the front, because it needs to STOP FRONT'N already! lol
Loved this video. My Atari heavy sixer arrived in a similar state, looked amazing when cleaned up, as did yours.
Well as i could knew,he didn’t showed fixeing those controllers,instead he just showed some games (but no pacman,what) at the end despite he already did showed some games early on,but i guess he did this on purpose just to show fixing those controllers in another video,hot damnit😡
Those controllers were for a totally different system (Philips G7000) so never going to work with the Atari.
@@AnnieRat1 that’s true but those other ones from atari will.
The video started getting too long so I had to draw the line somewhere. I've already done a bunch more work including fixing cartridge labels, cleaning all of the carts, adjusting the color balance of the system (it looks a lot better now!), etc. I'll have to repair the joysticks another day. Also, Pac-Man still doesn't work so that's another project also.
@@retrobitstv well fidn’t you try to use alcohol on the pacman cart rather then on the console itself??
I wonder what could be otherwise the problem with it,mmm ,we will see.
Found your channel and enjoying. Have watched a few vids so far. Thanks!
One of the popular system organizers that looks like a record player with the clear plastic cover was available with both Tele-Games and VCS-style woodgrain stickers. I have the Tele-Games one without the cover so I was tempted to buy the VCS-style one when I saw that. It’s kind of strange because you have to lift the console off the top to get carts and controllers out of it. Isn’t an organizer supposed to make things more convenient? ;)
The timing of this one is pretty funny. I just picked up a lot of 4 systems, two of them are Sears light sixers and they were a lot more grimy than this one. I’ve been slowly cleaning them up and I have to say the Sears look is growing on me. I think the alternate wood grain is pretty cool. I found a matching “Tele-Games Center” storage system at VCFMW that completes the look. :-)
I might have even been standing next to you when you bought it! I saw someone buy one from the vendor. He had 5 or 6, right?
@@retrobitstv I got the 4 2600s off FB marketplace from downstate Illinois about a month before VCFMW; the Tele-Games Center was from a guy up against the wall inside the room by the doors next to the hallway. We did run into each other on the way in, though. I'm the Cedar Point guy. :-)
@@granitepenguin Ahh, different names / different places! I just ordered some storage cases from eBay and they came with 32 more games which is great but doesn't solve the issue of storing the ones I already have :P
@@retrobitstv That's a good problem to have, though. 🙂
Great video as always, Matt! I have a later 4 switch model that I might go ahead and mod, but I think that I might do mine with a bit of a twist and minimize the amount of new holes made. 😈
Thanks! I thought about using the existing RF hole and running to a breakout box or cable but in the end decided to leave it as-is. After the video launched I went back and adjusted the machine's color and the image is a lot more vivid now even over plain RF:
retrobits.tv/breakout.jpg
retrobits.tv/defender.jpg
Nice find, and a good price, enjoy.
P.S. There is nothing arbitrary about replacing 46 years old electrolytic caps, on the contrary, you should have replaced them all without even powering the system on. I wouldn't even use a 45 years old "new" capacitor that has never been used but just sat in a drawer. That is just asking for trouble. Seeing no leaks does not mean a cap is still good, they just lose their properties in time, they start behaving like resistors. The term is "electrically leaky", and it is very dangerous since it creates unwanted current flows in the circuit. This is especially true for decoupling and smoothing capacitors. Think of it this way, you have a smoothing cap in the rectifier circuit between positive Vcc and GND and it is leaking current. this current is a burden on the transformer and the diodes, and it will not only drop the voltage, but do a very lousy job in smoothing the DC. I bet that saw tooth you see on the scope will totally disappear if you replace the smoothing cap in the adapter.
I actually bought a completely new modern power brick for the system, just for future use. It was only $10. I didn't show that in the video because it was already getting too long. I did test the caps for ESR, and nothing jumped out at me as being too far out-of-spec.
@@retrobitstv The cost of replacing a few caps with new, good quality ones is next to nothing compared to replacing even one IC in that machine. Believe me, I learned my lesson the hard way when I first started repairing/refurbishing retro computers. It's just not worth keeping them in just because they test as "good", they are way over their expected life span indicated in the manufacturer's data sheet, which is never given in years, but in "working hours".
the telegames # is actual 'variations' of games the cartridge has, you can get a pdf of the cartridge manual
Cool, I just assumed since I didn't see any repetition in the numbers and thought there's no way this cartridge can have 50 different games on it. I guess if they count variations it does!
The power supplies were like this. I had a rather expensive/quality one from the period, that belonged to a nice calculator and its pitiful rechargable batteries. It started to melt when you left it running without load.
Also, you can't fully test the caps like this, you'd need something like Mr.Carlsen's magic cap tester to get all failure modes. I'd just replace them all.
There’s an inexpensive kit to convert the output to composite video and for a more experienced electronics tech, it can be converted to stereo sound!
I have the identical unit! One thing I have had to fix several times over the years are the solder joints at the bases of the switches that have the long leads soldered into the main board. Nice video!
Thanks for the tip! I will be careful with those switches.
@@retrobitstv I had to reflow the joints on one of the ones I'm restoring, too; and it's obvious someone else has replaced a few on another one. I'm sure they get abused pretty heavily since there's no physical strain relief in the design. There was old flux all over the place inside all of them, too; just like what your looks like.
To protect delicate stickers like that, use a matching luster clear coat, tape off the console from the spray.
Otherwise the stickers will get ruined with age or handling.
Extra work but matters if need to preserve them
My first encounter with stickers that were just unprotected paper. Live and learn I guess :(
Although it's a color system, I think it feels more at home with a black-and-white TV. Though those aren't super easy to come by these days, at least from what I've seen.
I have a Gemini console. Seems like if you even breathe on the cartridge while it is turned on, it will freeze up. For some reason, I have a bunch of Atari 7800 cartridges which came with it; it was from the neighbor across the street.
I was under the impression that all Odyssey 2 controllers were hardwired to the console. And while mine is hardwired, it turns out they did make some systems with DB9 connectors for the joysticks.
Hmm, I bought an Odyssey 2 back in the day (when the controllers were still Silver like the console), and they were plug-in. Of course, I don’t recall how long it had been out when I bought it, so maybe the very first ones were hardwired?
As far as I know, modern HD televisions can still tune into channel 2 and 3, so it is easy to hook an Atari 2600 up to a modern TV. All of the modern televisions that I own have been able to play from RF. 😊
They can, but most of them can't tune directly; they rely on you doing an autoscan to put the channel in memory. I get around this by turning on the 2600 and leaving it running while doing the autoscan so the TV sees the signal and records the channel in memory.
i want to pimp this so bad 🙂
and also make a 3d-printed case as successor. kind of similar but with improvements like joystick ports on the front and different connectors on the back, or a bigger long hole on the back for different bezels (composite out, vga, hdmi, stereo audio, a typical barrel jack or usb power supply, ......
You could remake the bottom labels from the video footage you have from earlier in the video.
I also took some high resolution still photos of the labels before ruining them so I may try to recreate a replica.
I doubt 87 is August 1977, as that would be a hard sequencing of serial numbers. Maybe the first digit is the year (1978) and didn't worry about what would happen in 1980, if they even believed it would make it that far.
What happened to Pac-Man? Did you try it again after replacing the voltage regulator? Did you clean the edge connector? Did you remove the ROM and try to read it with an EEPROM programmer (I don't remember if you have one of those)?
I cleaned the edge connector but it was pretty heavily worn. The cart still did not work after repairing the console. All the other carts in the lot worked except for that one. I may try and pull the ROM but I'll need to carefully remove the label without damaging it to get to the hidden screw.
Lets have a look at that serial number again 877 = Aug 1977 55T (00A to 99Z) = 10x10x26 = 2600 combinations! a coincidence or not ? Maybe an Easter egg before Easter eggs were a thing?
I also be interest to replace that 820R with a 1k Pot, allowing you to dial in the color to suit.
Nice! You did good not to mod this console, there are enough modded ones out there. Keeping it real is the name of the game 👍 Thanks for this great video!
ridiculous pricing for AV mod kit. you can hack one yourself, but yeah, its cool to keep a few OG units in original condition (like I have with an atari 400- RF demodulator as good as composite believe it or not).
Composite mod in future?
just go back through your video, if you took pictures, or what have you and reprint them, jet nylon stickers made at kinkos or something, its not the end
use A 5V USB Switching Adapter
So pacman cartridge was defective?
Saved us all the misery of seeing that horrible port. It probably just needs a good cleaning.
It still did not work after repairing the console. All of the other carts in the lot worked though. I cleaned the contacts but they are heavily worn. I might try and open it up and see if the ROM is readable but I'll have to carefully remove the label first.
Does Pac-Man run with the new voltage regulator ? You didn’t show. 😮
Pac-Man still doesn't work. I will have to troubleshoot further but the challenge is to remove the label to get to the hidden screw without damaging it. All of the other games I tried worked fine though.
The output is very clean now but the colors are just wrong on all the games. Kinda weird!!
I did notice the colors were there but were a little muted. Maybe the system could use a recap after all.
@@retrobitstv it seems like a voltage problem to me also. Normally the space invaders play field and shields are green so when they were gray and the defender bottom was purplish that was my thought.
@@retrobitstv it might just need a hue adjustment. That's the big white plastic disc just under the CPU
@@retrobitstv The blue looks totally gone to me... like in Defender the city is supposed to be blue and it looks gray on your TV. That could explain purple not looking purple too.
@@GDLarcade Cool, thanks for the heads up! I just assumed the colors were washed out because of RF. I followed the service manual and adjusted things and here's what it looks like now:
retrobits.tv/defender.jpg
retrobits.tv/breakout.jpg
Too bad you didn't take photos of the stickers; you could've recreated them. Maybe next time ✌️
He did show them in the video, so that might still be an option :-)
I actually did take a 20MP photo of the sticker so maybe I will try and recreate it from that!
@@retrobitstv Excellent 👍
Good call on keeping it vanilla (RF), I think upgrades like UAV are more suitable for an actual Atari 8-bit machine (400/800/XL/XE) when dealing with 40-column text, maybe not as critical for basic TIA games.
Agreed, the graphics are so basic it doesn't really seem necessary and the RF video actually looks half decent with the switchbox taken out of the equation! More and more I find myself leaning towards the "if it ain't broken..." approach, especially with older, less ubiquitous systems.
2600µF on a 2200µF would make me worry as that could mean the cap is leaky...
A lot of capacitors (particularly electrolytics) have a 20% tolerance. 2637uF is _barely_ within tolerance. But with that close, you might be right.
@@not-on-pizza Have you ever seen a brand new capacitor that's noticably over the rated capacity?? And better be safe than sorry, especially with 45 year old Capacitors...
Especially since the replacement Capacitor was already on hand as well.
I like the fact that you kept it original. The VCS is pretty nice in terms of fixes but I wish you had gone a little more in depth on the voltage regulator and I hope you kept the original faulty Atari branded regulator, which in itself is an interesting bit of Atari history.
Looks like there's something wrong with the video output. The colors are not what they should be.
I just assumed the colors were washed out because of RF. I went back to the service manual and followed the adjustment procedure and now I have much more vivid color. Whoops! Thanks for the heads up!
retrobits.tv/defender.jpg
retrobits.tv/breakout.jpg
Peeling off the data stickers isca very rookie mistake , should've done your research 1st and use a different approach
excellent music nick, my neighbor had 1 original Atari... and i played it a few times but i only remember the game frogger
Who's this nick character I keep hearing about? :P
@@retrobitstv hahahahahaha smart a$$