Programmable Tele-Sports III

The world was undergoing "PONG Madness". It seemed only natural that developers would create advancements to the original AY-3-8500 chip to incorporate color and even more games. This explains the amount of PONG systems since each machine contained a different chip. However things were handled different in some areas particularly in Europe.

Europe did not see the release of the Intellivision and Atari 2600 till the early 1980s. This allowed Pong to have a longer success. Rather then creating a new machine for each new chip, developers took the General Instruments popular line of chips and slapped them into cartridges. These carts were not like ROM carts used in later systems. They simply housed a specific General Instruments processor chip with pin outs to interface with a console. These were the PC-50X line of cartridges.

With the PC-50X cartridges available, console manufacturers were able to produce a machine that could play several games and market them at a low cost. The units were made in various countries and were marketed by numerous companies. There are literally over two hundred console variations that utilized this technology.

The initial model SD-050 varied in terms of outward appearance (colors, etc), manufacturers names and slight modifications. However each unit had the same overall design with two detachable controllers with 10 buttons located on the top of the machine. These 10 buttons, which clearly identify a PC-50X based console, were used to select the different games available on each cart. The SD-050 model only produced black and white video.

New models such as the SD-070 and SD-090 appeared and sold well into the 80s since the units were far cheaper than the newer consoles making waves in the US and Japan. These newer models played the same carts, but added additional settings, sound and SECAM color (4 colors).

Catridge list (title can differ depending on the console or country releasing it):
PC-nr - GI Chipset - Title (Game Variations)
PC-501 AY-3-8610 - Supersportic (10)
PC-502 AY-3-8760 - Motor Cycle (04)
PC-503 AY-3-8710 - Tank Battle (02)
PC-504 AY-3-8603 - Racing Cars (02)
PC-505 AY-3-8605 - Submarine (03)
PC-506 AY-3-8606 - Super Wipeout (10)
PC-507 AY-3-8607 - Shooting Gallery (03)
PC-508 AY-3-8500 - Fundamental (06)

PC-508 was released for few PC50x-consoles so it's a very rare cartridge.