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Play-O-Tronic CC Image – Wikipedia – David Orban

Developer: Seleco (Zanussi)

Release Date: Ping-O-Tronic late 1974, Play-O-Tronic 1976

Origin: Italy

Initial Price: 28,800 Lira

CPU: AY-3-8500

Built-In Games: 3 initial games - Tennis, Squash & Attract. 6 games for the Play-O-Tronic

Ping-O-Tronic

It may surprise you that an Italian furniture company was responsible for the Ping-O-Tronic.

Zanussi started their venture into producing this game system back in 1974 with the analogue version of Ping-O-Tronic. While the sales were good, the real breakthrough came a few years later when they released the follow-up, the Play-O-Tronic. Both versions are now considered video console classics sought by collectors around the world. The games consisted of:

-Tennis

-Squash

-Solo & Attract/Automatic

The Attract and Automatic versions do not require players. This is somewhat of a curiosity, but this feature did have a practical use as it was used by stores to show the game, without having to have employees play it.

Play-O-Tronic

The Ping-O-Tronic is one of those classic designs based on a more analogue type system than the computer models that came about later. The components consisted of around 50 transistors and three TTL chips. The graphic objects displayed on the screen, the paddles, ball and boundaries along with the sync signals were generated through the one-shots and flip flops of the transistor. The TTL chips essentially combined each signal so that the game could be played. This meant that the motion of the ball, movement of the paddles and the defections that occurred could be regulated.

While there are nine reported models of the Ping-O-Tronic, all of them are grounded on the original design. While very little is known about the original model, it can be said that the follow-ups, particularly the PP-2 are only subtly different in their components.

The paddles themselves could be adjusted for size from very small to very large and the box could easily store all the components. The later models of the Ping-O-Tronic included a variant known as the 'Gun-O-Tronic' which turned the game into a target shooter. The ball is larger when playing in 'gun' mode, but the overall concept is still the same.

The differences between each of the systems can be rather hard to date unless you look at the electronics themselves. Each of the chips inside for example has its own printed codes that can be researched to find out in which units they were used, but even then the chips may have been older ones incorporated into newer models. The addition of the Gun-O-Tronic however does act as a separation point from the earlier models to the later ones that they developed.

The Ping-O-Tronic and the Play-O-Tronic represent a unique time in the gaming market where even an Italian furniture company dared to enter this highly competitive fledgling industry and helped shape what was to come.