After the release of the first Telstar (the first "dedicated-chip" pong system) in 1976 which was a big success, Coleco conceived a whole range of pongs for release at Christmas 1977.
This is the first Telstar featuring the two shooting games of the GI AY-3-8500, hence its name "Telstar Ranger". It thus offers a total of 6 games which can be selected through a special knob. Despite the pictures beside, the two small controllers are not built-in the console and can be detached.
There's a 3 positions switch that controls difficulty (beginner : slow ball, big paddles / advanced : fast ball, big paddles / expert : fast ball, small paddles). If this is common to the first Telstars, this is quite different from most of the other pong systems which offer individual settings.
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NAME
Telstar Ranger
MANUFACTURER
Coleco
ORIGIN
U.S.A.
YEAR
1977
BUILT IN SOFTWARE / GAMES
Jai-Alai, Hockey, Handball, Tennis, Skeet, Target
CONTROLLERS
Two detachable paddles with knob and a gun
CPU
AY-3-8500-1 from General Instrument
SPEED
Reset
CO-PROCESSOR
Skill level Beginner/Intermediate/Pro, Power on/off
RAM
On screen
COLORS
Black & white
SOUND
Built-in speaker
I/O PORTS
RF TV video output, Gun connector, Paddle connectors
