website/content/museum/coleco-telstar-ranger.md

title, categories, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	origins	years	cpus	params
Coleco Telstar Ranger	Pongs	U.S.A.	1977	AY-3-8500-1 from General Instrument	name company company_name specs tabs photos links related oc_id source Telstar Ranger /companies/coleco Coleco label value NAME Telstar Ranger label value MANUFACTURER Coleco label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1977 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE Jai-Alai, Hockey, Handball, Tennis, Skeet, Target label value KEYBOARD Two detachable paddles with knob and a gun label value CPU AY-3-8500-1 from General Instrument label value SPEED Reset label value CO-PROCESSOR Skill level Beginner/Intermediate/Pro, Power on/off label value RAM On screen label value COLORS Black & white label value SOUND Built-in speaker label value I/O PORTS RF TV video output, Gun connector, Paddle connectors label value OS 6 x 1.5v C size batteries label value POWER SUPPLY 9v DC label value PERIPHERALS Yes label value PRICE Unknown photos links title subtitle text image WITH GUN null title subtitle text image INSIDE null title subtitle text image BOX null title url text The story of the Telstar systems http://www.pong-story.com/coleco.htm PONG STORY.COM has nice pages dedicated to the Telstar systems /museum/coleco-telstar /museum/coleco-telstar-classic-model-6045 /museum/coleco-telstar-colormatic-model-6130 /museum/coleco-telstar-colortron 673 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230613001205/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=673 2023-06-13

After the release of the first 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.

This is the first Telstar featuring the two shooting games of the GI AY-3-8500, hence its name "Telstar Ranger". It thus offers a total of 6 games which can be selected through a special knob. Despite the pictures beside, the two small controllers are not built-in the console and can be detached.

There's a 3 positions switch that controls difficulty (beginner : slow ball, big paddles / advanced : fast ball, big paddles / expert : fast ball, small paddles). If this is common to the first Telstars, this is quite different from most of the other pong systems which offer individual settings.