website/content/museum/bally-astrocade.md

---
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.