website/content/museum/bally-astrocade.md

---
title: Bally Astrocade
categories:
- Consoles
params:
  name: Astrocade
  company: /companies/bally
  company_name: Bally
  tabs:
  - photos
  - software
  - emulators
  - links
  photos:
  - title: ASTROCADE BOX
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  screenshots:
  - title: 280 ZZZAP
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: DODGEM
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: SEAWOLF
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: MISSILE
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: RED BARON
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: PANZER ATTACK
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: BRICKYARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: CLOWNS
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: STAR BATTLE
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: ASTRO BATTLE
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: DOGPATCH
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: GALACTIC INVASION
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: GALACTIC INVASION
    subtitle: Box
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: SPACE FORTRESS
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: GRAND PRIX
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: DESTRUCTION DERBY
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: INCREDIBLE WIZARD
    subtitle: Wizard of Wor adaptation
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: COSMIC RAIDER
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: TORNADO BASEBALL
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: TENNIS
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: HOCKEY
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: HANDBALL
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: FOOTBALL
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: BALLY PINBALL (LATER ASTROCADE PINBALL) - GAME 2
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: BALLY PINBALL (LATER ASTROCADE PINBALL) - GAME 1
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: BINGO MATH
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: SPEED MATH
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: LETTER MATCH
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: TIC TAC TOE
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: AMAZING MAZE
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: POKER
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: ARTILLERY DUEL
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: ARTILLERY DUEL
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: CASSETTE & OVERLAY
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: BLAST DROIDS
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: CHECKMATE
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: GUNFIGHT
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: MUNCHER
    subtitle: ''
    text: Originally Bally's version of Pacman. Not released by Bally due to Atari/Odyssey^2 Law suite.
    image: null
  - title: SNEAKY SNAKE
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  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)
  comments:
  - author: drag0nneus (United States)
    date: Wednesday 2nd May 2012
    text: Need to find bally astrocade controllers or adapter so I can the system I found. Any one know how to obtain one? Ebay currently has nothing.
  - author: Terrywe (USA)
    date: Tuesday 12th September 2006
    text: I got a Bally and had lots of fun with it. once I made it talk by recording my voice thru the joystick port, I took the voice & ran it thru an intergrated filter I made to get the voice envelope, then I used the stored envelope to modulate a 500hz tone
  - author: Jon N. (Los Angeles, CA)
    date: Wednesday 10th May 2006
    text: This was my first arcade video game system, and was my fathers hope that it would be my first computer system as well. When the company told him that they were not going to make the expansion computer module, he immediately returned the unit & demanded a refund on his money. I then was given a TRS-80 Model I for Christmas, '80. Good times.
  - author: Stan Lee (Earth)
    date: Monday 24th January 2005
    text: Bally now make Talking Pedometers under the name "Bally total Fitness". The logo is the B taken from the beginning of the old Bally logo. (You can find their 'wares in any Brantano Footwear!)
  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.