Читать книгу The Ultimate Guide to Classic Game Consoles - Kevin Baker - Страница 13

Low Resolution Radio Shack Commercial Image – Used solely for review purposes

Developer: Radio Shack

Release Date: 1976

Origin: U.S.A.

Initial Price: $29.95 - $39.95 USD

CPU: General Instruments AY-3-8500

Built-In Games: 4 (6 in the shooter version)

The Radio Shack TV Scoreboard was one of the more popular Pong clone consoles of the 1970s and early 80s. Once you see the above picture of this system I am sure that you will recognise this handheld console if you were around at the time. The Radio Shack TV Scoreboard was released many times over its lifetime. Really with the changes mostly being in the colour of the console itself.

Radio Shack TV Scoreboard - 1976 (4 game version)

While the Radio Shack logo is all over the packaging and the actual console it was actually developed by electronics manufacturer Tandy. The Radio Shack TV Scoreboard looks radically different from the other Pong systems of this era. Many people are probably wondering where the console is. Well that is one of the main interesting things about this system; the console is in the controller. There is also a 2^nd paddle controller that is attached to it, but it can be detached and does have a small cord.

It is not really the most attractive looking thing in the world. It looks like it would be more at home taking radiation readings or mixing some late 70s disco song. As well as the actual paddle controllers there are also various switches that are used to change up the various settings of the games. Like the majority of Pong systems, the Radio Shack TV Scoreboard could be powered by both batteries and an AC adapter.

The Radio Shack TV Scoreboard came with four Pong clone games. The games that were on offer were Tennis, Squash, Football and Practice. It was a pretty standard set of games for the time. This four game version of the Radio Shack TV Scoreboard seems to be harder to find in boxed form for collecting than the shooter version reviewed below.

Radio Shack TV Scoreboard - 1976 (shooter version)

The Radio Shack TV Scoreboard may, on the inside, seem like a basic Pong clone system, but people really bought into it. Part of the reason for its success was because it did not require a console and people could just put the Radio Shack TV Scoreboard in a drawer or wherever once they had finished using it.

There was a more popular version of this console that on the surface looked exactly the same. It had the same look and it also had the same four games that were on the aforementioned version. However, this version of the Radio Shack TV Scoreboard had one big difference, and that was that it came with a really cool looking light gun.

You know what is so great about the light guns of this era? It is just how close to a real gun they look. Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony would never in a million years be allowed to put out a light gun that looks like a real weapon these days.

Anyway, along with the cool looking light gun came two extra games that were not in the other version. Skeet and Target shooting were added to the mix. This is the most popular version of the Radio Shack TV Scoreboard.