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 image company company_name specs tabs photos links related oc_id source Telstar Ranger /media/museum/photos/coleco_telstar-ranger.jpg /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 /media/museum/photos/coleco_telstar-ranger_with_gun.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE /media/museum/photos/coleco_telstar-ranger_inside.jpg title subtitle text image BOX /media/museum/photos/coleco_telstar-ranger_box.jpg 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.