--- title: Bally Astrocade categories: - Consoles params: name: Astrocade image: /media/museum/photos/bally_astrocade_1.jpg company: /companies/bally company_name: Bally tabs: - photos - software - emulators - links forum_thread: 695 photos: - title: ASTROCADE BOX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/bally_astrocade_box.jpg screenshots: - title: 280 ZZZAP subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_zap_ss.jpg - title: DODGEM subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_dodgem_ss.jpg - title: SEAWOLF subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_sea-wolf_ss.jpg - title: MISSILE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_missile_ss.jpg - title: RED BARON subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_red-baron_ss.jpg - title: PANZER ATTACK subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_panzer-attack_ss.jpg - title: BRICKYARD subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_brickyard_ss.jpg - title: CLOWNS subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_clowns_ss.jpg - title: STAR BATTLE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_star-battle_ss.jpg - title: ASTRO BATTLE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_astro-battle_ss.jpg - title: DOGPATCH subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_dogpatch_ss.jpg - title: GALACTIC INVASION subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_galactic-wars_ss.jpg - title: GALACTIC INVASION subtitle: Box text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_box_2011.jpg - title: SPACE FORTRESS subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_space-fortress_ss.jpg - title: GRAND PRIX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_grand-prix-1_ss.jpg - title: DESTRUCTION DERBY subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_desctruction-derby_ss.jpg - title: INCREDIBLE WIZARD subtitle: Wizard of Wor adaptation text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_incredible-wizard_ss.jpg - title: COSMIC RAIDER subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_cosmic-raider_ss.jpg - title: TORNADO BASEBALL subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_baseball_ss.jpg - title: TENNIS subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_tennis_ss.jpg - title: HOCKEY subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_hockey_ss.jpg - title: HANDBALL subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_handball_ss.jpg - title: FOOTBALL subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_football_ss.jpg - title: BALLY PINBALL (LATER ASTROCADE PINBALL) - GAME 2 subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_pinball_2_ss.jpg - title: BALLY PINBALL (LATER ASTROCADE PINBALL) - GAME 1 subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_pinball_1_ss.jpg - title: BINGO MATH subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_bingo-math_ss.jpg - title: SPEED MATH subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_speed-math_ss.jpg - title: LETTER MATCH subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_letter-match_ss.jpg - title: TIC TAC TOE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_tictactoe_ss.jpg - title: AMAZING MAZE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_amazing-maze_ss.jpg - title: POKER subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_poker_ss.jpg - title: ARTILLERY DUEL subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_artillery-duel_2_ss.jpg - title: ARTILLERY DUEL subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_artillery-duel_1_ss.jpg - title: CASSETTE & OVERLAY subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_basic-cart_1.jpg - title: BLAST DROIDS subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_blast-droids_ss.jpg - title: CHECKMATE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_checkmate_ss.jpg - title: GUNFIGHT subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_gunfight_ss.jpg - title: MUNCHER subtitle: '' text: Originally Bally's version of Pacman. Not released by Bally due to Atari/Odyssey^2 Law suite. image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_muncher_ss.jpg - title: SNEAKY SNAKE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_sneaky-snake_ss.jpg emulators: - title: MESS emulator url: http://www.mess.org/ platform: Other platform text: MESS emulates the Astrocade links: - title: Astrocade Discussion Group url: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ballyalley/ text: Go there if you want to meet other Astrocade fans - title: Bally Alley url: http://www.ballyalley.com text: Newsletter, program downloads, pictures, documentation and much more - title: Digital Press - Astrocade page url: http://www.digitpress.com/emu/astrocade.htm text: Nice description & ROMs to download - title: Franck's Astrocade site url: http://www.dsplib.com/astrocade/index.html text: Francks programmed the Atrocade part of the MESS emulator. You can find here technical info like Astrocade schematics, commented BIOS source listing and color table... - title: The Bally / Astrocade FAQ url: http://www.glankonian.com/~lance/Ballyfaq.html text: Excellent HTML Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) oc_id: 712 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20221205113622/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=712 date: '2022-12-05' --- In September 1977, Bally, the famous pinball tables manufacturer, announced shortly after the Atari 2600, the **Bally Professional Arcade**. The first versions were shipped in early 1978 for $299. This video game system featured a Z80 processor, three built-in games (Gunfight, Checkmate, Scribbler), a calculator with numeric keypad and up to four controllers that were a unique combination of joystick and paddle, which resembled the grip of a revolver. Furthermore, a BASIC cartridge gave this system the ability to save programs to a cassette tape. For about 6 months, it was thus the world's cheapest computer. Even though is was slightly superior to the competition (Atari VCS), the unit was too expensive and the sales remainded at a low level. In 1982, Bally withdrew the system and sold the rights to Astrovision Inc., a group of users who had enjoyed the system. The console was then reintroduced as the **Bally Computer System**. The same year, the company changed its name - and the system name - to **Astrocade**. After that, Astrocade tried to keep the system alive and marketed it as a video game console for several years. In 1985, the game consoles market crashed and finally, the Astrocade company closed their doors and the Astrocade system disappeared.