Coleco TELSTAR-1976

Telstar systems began in 1976, there console was one of the first systems to use a new chip (AY-3-8500 chip.) It could play three games, hockey, tennis and handball- with three difficulty levels. It was a great success and sold over 1 million units, retailing at $50 each.

In 1978 a variation on the system was also released but with a more up to date chip (AY-3-8510.) This enabled the system to offer four games, this time in colour, aswell as a much sharper sound- many other systems at the time had unpleasant sound.

Selecting the games is used by pressing down on a push-switch, which was much easier to use and more robust. Strangely the system required 2 9v batteries, one for the games and one for the sounds, which was quite unusual.

The g@me systems were sold ‘not fully assembled.’ They were ready to play but needed the knobs and decorative stickers to be attached, more of a Do It Yourself g@mes console.