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Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Markdown

---
title: 'Coleco Telstar Alpha - Model #6030'
categories:
- Pongs
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1977'
cpus:
- GI AY-3-8500
params:
name: 'Telstar Alpha - Model #6030'
company: /companies/coleco
company_name: Coleco
specs:
- label: NAME
value: 'Telstar Alpha - Model #6030'
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Coleco
- label: ORIGIN
value: U.S.A.
- label: YEAR
value: '1977'
- label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
value: |-
1 - Tennis (2 players)\
2 - Hockey (2 players)\
3 - Handball (1 players)\
4 - Jai-Alai (2 player)
- label: KEYBOARD
value: 2 paddles built-in the console
- label: CPU
value: GI AY-3-8500
- label: SPEED
value: Reset
- label: CO-PROCESSOR
value: ON/OFF, Difficulty Beginner/Intermediate/Pro
- label: RAM
value: On screen
- label: COLORS
value: Black & white
- label: SOUND
value: Built-in beeper, 3 different sounds
- label: I/O PORTS
value: TV RF video output
- label: OS
value: '6'
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: 9v DC
- label: PERIPHERALS
value: 'No'
tabs:
- photos
- emulators
- links
photos:
- title: COLECO TELSTAR ALPHA
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: REAR
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: UPSIDE DOWN
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: BOX
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: 'BOX #2'
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: BACK OF THE BOX
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
emulators:
- title: www.pong-story.com
url: http://www.pong-story.com/pcpong.htm
platform: Multiplatform
text: Several pong emulators (simulators) presented here
links:
- title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA
url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com
text: ''
comments:
- author: Edward Jackson (Missouri, USA)
date: Thursday 17th April 2014
text: Heh! I got one of these for a Christmas present. It worked fine, but got real boring, real quick.
- author: hiroshi (memphis, tn)
date: Friday 16th July 2004
text: |-
I think you are confused about the 3 difficulty switches... you stated "beginner : slow ball, big paddles / advanced : fast ball, big paddles / expert : fast ball, small paddles"
however it's really:\
(beginner : slow ball, big paddles / INTERMEDIATE : SLOW BALL, SMALL PADDLES / PRO : fast ball, BIG PADDLES)
this is what I get from my Telstar Alpha unit.
the unit I have I've hacked so that it's directly connected via RF (as opposed to using a metal sliding switch box). I soldered a slightly modified NES RF box. I recommend doing this on your unit, as it gets much better video results (crystal clear!).
I wonder if RCA jacks can be made from it.. it would be more convenient\
http://www.pong-story.com/pics/gi/ay38500.gif
related:
- /museum/a10-telespiel-9010
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- /museum/apf-match
- /museum/apf-tv-fun-model-401
- /museum/audiosonic-pp-800
- /museum/bentley-compu-vision
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- /museum/conic-tv-sports-tg-621
- /museum/conic-tvg-209
- /museum/dms-telesports-mini
- /museum/grandstand-t-v-game-model-3000
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- /museum/intel-germany-super-tele-sport-d-688-36
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- /museum/mbo-tele-ball
- /museum/mbo-tele-ball-ii
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- /museum/mentor-sport-tg-20
- /museum/novoton-tj-141
- /museum/novoton-video-sports
- /museum/playtech-telesport
- /museum/polistil-v-g-2
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- /museum/radofin-electronics-limited-tele-sports
- /museum/riva-t-800c
- /museum/roberts-paddle-iv
- /museum/roberts-rally-iv
- /museum/sands-3000
- /museum/societe-occitane-d-electronique-oc-4
- /museum/sonolor-telematch
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- /museum/superlectron-tv-challenger-series-3000-tvc-3000
- /museum/tele-flip-paris-video-sport-fy-707
- /museum/thomson-jv1t
- /museum/ultrasound-tele-sports
- /museum/ultrasound-tv-9010
- /museum/universum-tv-multi-spiel-handheld
- /museum/universum-tv-spiel-1004
oc_id: 666
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230613001109/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=666
date: '2023-06-13'
---
After the release of the Telstar (the first "dedicated-chip" pong system) in 1976 which was a big success, Coleco conceived a whole range of pongs for release at Christmas 1977. The Telstar Alpha is one of the simplest system of the range. It offers only four games and has built-in controllers. That's cool if you want to play 2 players games alone ! The only difference between the original Telstar and the alpha is that there is one more game on the Alpha (Jai-Alai).
There's a 3 positions switch that controls difficulty (BEGINNER : slow ball, big paddles / INTERMEDIATE : slow ball, small paddles / PRO : fast ball, big paddles). If this is common to the first Telstars, this is quite different from most of the other pong systems which offer individual settings.