website/content/museum/bally-astrocade.md

title, categories, params

title	categories	params
Bally Astrocade	Consoles	name image company company_name tabs forum_thread photos screenshots emulators links oc_id source Astrocade /media/museum/photos/bally_astrocade_1.jpg /companies/bally Bally photos software emulators links 695 title subtitle text image ASTROCADE BOX /media/museum/photos/bally_astrocade_box.jpg title subtitle text image 280 ZZZAP /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_zap_ss.jpg title subtitle text image DODGEM /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_dodgem_ss.jpg title subtitle text image SEAWOLF /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_sea-wolf_ss.jpg title subtitle text image MISSILE /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_missile_ss.jpg title subtitle text image RED BARON /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_red-baron_ss.jpg title subtitle text image PANZER ATTACK /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_panzer-attack_ss.jpg title subtitle text image BRICKYARD /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_brickyard_ss.jpg title subtitle text image CLOWNS /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_clowns_ss.jpg title subtitle text image STAR BATTLE /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_star-battle_ss.jpg title subtitle text image ASTRO BATTLE /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_astro-battle_ss.jpg title subtitle text image DOGPATCH /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_dogpatch_ss.jpg title subtitle text image GALACTIC INVASION /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_galactic-wars_ss.jpg title subtitle text image GALACTIC INVASION Box /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_box_2011.jpg title subtitle text image SPACE FORTRESS /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_space-fortress_ss.jpg title subtitle text image GRAND PRIX /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_grand-prix-1_ss.jpg title subtitle text image DESTRUCTION DERBY /media/museum/software/bally_desctruction-derby_ss.jpg title subtitle text image INCREDIBLE WIZARD Wizard of Wor adaptation /media/museum/software/bally_incredible-wizard_ss.jpg title subtitle text image COSMIC RAIDER /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_cosmic-raider_ss.jpg title subtitle text image TORNADO BASEBALL /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_baseball_ss.jpg title subtitle text image TENNIS /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_tennis_ss.jpg title subtitle text image HOCKEY /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_hockey_ss.jpg title subtitle text image HANDBALL /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_handball_ss.jpg title subtitle text image FOOTBALL /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_football_ss.jpg title subtitle text image BALLY PINBALL (LATER ASTROCADE PINBALL) - GAME 2 /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_pinball_2_ss.jpg title subtitle text image BALLY PINBALL (LATER ASTROCADE PINBALL) - GAME 1 /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_pinball_1_ss.jpg title subtitle text image BINGO MATH /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_bingo-math_ss.jpg title subtitle text image SPEED MATH /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_speed-math_ss.jpg title subtitle text image LETTER MATCH /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_letter-match_ss.jpg title subtitle text image TIC TAC TOE /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_tictactoe_ss.jpg title subtitle text image AMAZING MAZE /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_amazing-maze_ss.jpg title subtitle text image POKER /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_poker_ss.jpg title subtitle text image ARTILLERY DUEL /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_artillery-duel_2_ss.jpg title subtitle text image ARTILLERY DUEL /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_artillery-duel_1_ss.jpg title subtitle text image CASSETTE & OVERLAY /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_basic-cart_1.jpg title subtitle text image BLAST DROIDS /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_blast-droids_ss.jpg title subtitle text image CHECKMATE /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_checkmate_ss.jpg title subtitle text image GUNFIGHT /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_gunfight_ss.jpg title subtitle text image MUNCHER Originally Bally's version of Pacman. Not released by Bally due to Atari/Odyssey^2 Law suite. /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_muncher_ss.jpg title subtitle text image SNEAKY SNAKE /media/museum/software/bally_astrocade_sneaky-snake_ss.jpg title url platform text MESS emulator http://www.mess.org/ Other platform MESS emulates the Astrocade title url text Astrocade Discussion Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ballyalley/ Go there if you want to meet other Astrocade fans title url text Bally Alley http://www.ballyalley.com Newsletter, program downloads, pictures, documentation and much more title url text Digital Press - Astrocade page http://www.digitpress.com/emu/astrocade.htm Nice description & ROMs to download title url text Franck's Astrocade site http://www.dsplib.com/astrocade/index.html 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 url text The Bally / Astrocade FAQ http://www.glankonian.com/~lance/Ballyfaq.html Excellent HTML Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 712 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20221205113622/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=712 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.