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In 1967, Bill Rusch, who was working with Ralph Baer and Bill Harrison on the development of the Magnavox Odyssey, suggested a ping pong type game. This game would go on to become Table Tennis and be packed in with the new Odyssey as Cart 1. In May 1972, Nolan Bushnell visited a Magnavox Odyssey demonstration in Burlingame, California where he played this table tennis game. Bushnell would later have Allan Alcorn design a similar game, and Atari released their first Pong arcade machines later that year, which would influence the design of many arcade clones and eventually the Pong home consoles themselves. Through the Magnavox Odyssey and the Atari Pong, table tennis would launch the home video game market.

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Pong Comes Home

 

Allan Alcorn designed Pong in 1972 as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell based the idea on an electronic ping-pong game included in the Magnavox Odyssey. Surprised by the quality of Alcorn's work, Bushnell and Atari co-founder Ted Dabney decided to manufacture the game, which became the first arcade version of Pong. Within 3 months, other companies were cashing in on the success of Pong with their own versions. There was little Bushnell could do about the "jackals" who stole the game, as he did not patent it. Ironically, Magnavox later sued Atari (and many other manufacturers) for stealing their Table Tennis game.

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With the success of Pong, it was only natural that people would want to take the game home. Along with the many arcade clones, companies started to manufacture home versions of the game. In 1974, Atari engineer Harold Lee proposed a home version of Pong that would connect to a television. The system began development under the codename Darlene. By the end of 1974, several manufacturers in both the US and Europe had already started selling home versions of Pong. In 1975, Atari developed the first Pong on a Chip, and started selling their Pong version through Sears in time for Christmas as Tele-Games Pong. Atari's new microchips were not made available to other game manufacturers, and by 1976 Texas Instruments, General Instruments, National Semiconductors, and others began designing their own Pong chips.

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With easy access to Pong chips, every radio, television, and electronics manufacturer (a leather company, department stores, and many other industries) all hopped on the Pong bandwagon. Magazines started running ads for DIY Pong kits. Food manufacturers licensed Pong systems to promote their products. By 1977, companies all around the world were developing Pong clones: Eastern Europe, USSR, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, Korea, and several countries in South America. Pong flooded the toy, sports, and electronic sectors, and by 1978 the newly established video game industry experienced its first market crash.

 

Categorizing Pong Consoles

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Pong home consoles are essentially Plug and Play video gaming systems (meaning they have built in games played on your television) found within the First Generation of video gaming consoles. Because there is such a large number of them, they're getting a section of their own, separate from other Plug and Plays. This list has over 940 unique consoles listed. I've consolidated several different lists found on the internet, but not all of them (I had to stop somewhere). Compared to other lists this may be one of the largest, but it should not be considered a complete list.

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What is and is not on the list

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The list is broken up into 3 sections:

  1. Discrete Circuitry is a bit of a misnomer, as most Pong systems are discrete logic. Discrete logic circuitry refers to systems that didn't use a processor (CPU) to run software or memory (ROM) to store software. That is to say, it is incapable of running a game program. All consoles from Generation 1 were strictly hardware. Although a Pong chip isn't necessarily software, this Discrete Circuit category is essentially everything before the Pong chips that came out in 1976. The first systems (Magnavox Odyssey 100, Zanussi Ping-O-Tronic, Epoch Electrotennis) were made with a circuit board full of resistors, capacitors, and transistors. Later, these components were shrunk down into early forms of integrated circuits, or microchips, and you began to see improvements with things like character generators (paddle, ball), game logic (serve, ball rebounds, collision detection, etc.), and on-screen scoring.

  2. Pong on a Chip became a reality with advances in integrated circuitry. Atari made the first Pong chip, 3659-1, which played 1 game, Pong (obviously). Later in 1975, General Instruments designed the AY-3-8500, which was the basis for a majority of Pong consoles on the market. Other chip manufacturers were Mostek, Texas Instruments, National Semiconductors, Universal Research Labs, Mitsubishi (for Nintendo), and others.

  3. Advancements in integrated circuits continued, and chip manufactures started to make more complex characters (cars and rocket ships for example), and more complex game logic. Some of the more popular, more complex games of the time included Tank Battle, Car Racing, Stunt Cycle, Breakout, and others. These are listed as a separate category: others/not Pong.

What you won't find on this list are systems that incorporated a lot of these "other" chips, but did so in cartridge form. I've chosen to list these cartridge-based, first generation consoles separate from the dedicated Plug and Play consoles listed here. Some of the systems you won't see here is the Magnavox Odyssey, the PC-50x family of systems, Coleco Telstar Arcade, and others.

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Discrete Circuitry

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Binatone (UK)

  • TV Gaming Unit 01-4990 (Analog) 1976

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EA (Germany)

  • TV-Ping-Pong DN 76 (Digital) 1976

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Entex (USA)

  • Tele-Pong 3047 (Analog) 1976

  • Gameroom Tele-Pong (Analog) 1976

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Epoch (Japan)

  • TV Tennis ElectroTennis 1975 (first home console in Japan)

  • TV Tennis ElectroTennis 1976 silver case version

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Executive Games (USA)

  • Television Tennis 35 (Analog+Digital) 1975

  • Face Off Rev. C (Analog+Digital) 1976

  • Face Off Rev. E1 (Analog+Digital) 1976

  • Face Off Rev. C-1 (Analog+Digital) 1976

  • Face Off (Analog+Digital) 1976 PAL Prototype

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First Dimension (USA)

  • Video Sports model FD-3000W (Analog (CMOS)) 1975

  • Tele Sports (Digital (CMOS)) 1976

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General Home Products (USA)

  • Gulliver Triple Challenge (7701) Odyssey 300 clone

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Henry's Radio (UK)

  • VideoSport MK2 (gold lettering) (Analog (TTL/Trans)) 1974

  • Videosport MK2 (no gold lettering) (Analog (TTL/trans)) 1975

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Interfab (USA)

  • PONG IV Kit assembled (TTL) 1976

  • PONG IV Kit RF oscillator tuned (TTL) 1976

  • PONG IV Kit unassembled (TTL) 1976

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Lasonic (France)

  • Lasonic 200 (Analog) 1976

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Magnavox (USA)

  • Odyssey 100 7010 (Digital (TI)) 1975

  • Odyssey 200 7020 (Digital (TI)) 1975

  • Odyssey 400 7516 (Digital (TI)) 1976

  • Odyssey 500 7520 (Digital (TI)) 1976

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Mestron (Denmark)

  • Fernseh Spiel TVG 2006 (Analog (TTL/Transistor)) 1976

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Orelec (France)

  • PP-2000 (Analog (TTL)) 1976

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Packel Instrument (Australia)

  • Tennis Game Machine 1975

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Philips (EU)

  • Odyssey 200 (Digital (TI)) 1976 =Magnavox Odyssey

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Pizon Bros (France)

  • Visomatic 101 (Alcatel chipset) 1973

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Superlectron (EU)

  • TV Challenger 2000 (Analog) 1976

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Universal Research (USA)

  • Video Action VA2 (Digital (TTL)) 1975

  • Video Action 3 VA3 (Digital (CMOS)) 1976

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Video Marketing Corp. (USA)

  • Handi Pong IV kit (1976)

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Videomaster (UK)

  • Home TV Game VM 577 (Analog (TTL)) 1974

  • Home TV Game (MK2) VM 577 (Analog (TTL)) 1975 Bronze metal

  • Home TV Game MK3 VM3 (Analog) 1975

  • Home TV Game MK3 VM3 (Analog) 1975 With scoring add-on

  • Olympic VM3 MK2 (Analog) 1975

  • Rally VM4 MK1 (Analog (CMOS)) 1975

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Videotronic (UK)

  • Videotronic II 1976

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Zanussi / Seleco (Italy)

  • Ping-O-Tronic PP-2 (Analog (TTL/Trans)) 1975

  • Ping-O-Tronic PP-3 (Analog (TTL/Trans)) 1975

  • Ping-O-Tronic PP-4 (Analog (TTL/Trans)) 1975

  • Ping-O-Tronic PP-5 (Analog (TTL/Trans)) 1975

  • Ping-O-Tronic PP-6 (Analog (TTL/Trans)) 1975

  • Ping-O-Tronic PP-9 (Analog (TTL/Trans)) 1975

  • Ping-O-Tronic PP-10 (Analog (TTL/Trans)) 1975

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? (unknown brand)

  • (Netherlands) Television Gaming Unit (Analog) 1976 =Entex Tele-Pong

Discrete Circuits

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Integrated Circuitry "Pong on a Chip"

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A10 (Germany)

  • Telespiel 9010 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Telespiel 9012 (AY-3-8500) 1977

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ABN Bank (Netherlands)

  • TV Spel 800C

  • TV Spel AU-807 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TV Spel T-338 (AY-3-8500) 1977

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Academy (UK)

  • Video Game D-5614 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Video Game D-5654 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TVG-406-6

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Adman (UK)

  • Model 1000 Sportsvision

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AER (Japan)

  • CT-57100K kit (MM-57100N) 1977

  • MT-8500K kit (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Color TV Game kit AER-8500C (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • CT-7600K kit (MPS 7600-001) 1977

  • AER-7600V kit (MPS 7600-001) 1977 orange case

  • AER-7600V kit complete (MPS 7600-001) 1977 orange case

  • AER-7600 kit (MPS 7600-001) 1977 blue case

  • AER-7600 kit complete (MPS 7600-001) 1977 blue case

  • AER-57100 kit (MM 57100) 1977

  • AER-57100 kit complete (MM 57100) 1977

  • AER-500A Car racing kit (F-4301) 1977

  • AER-500A Car racing kit complete (F-4301) 1977

  • AER-8500 A / CA (complete kit) (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • AER-8500 A / CA (board kit) (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • AER-8550 A / CA (complete kit) (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • AER-8550 A / CA (board kit) (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • AER-8600A / CA (complete kit) (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • AER-8600A / CA (board kit) (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • AER-8600VA (MPS 7600-001) 1977

  • AER-8600Z (MPS 7600-001) 1977

  • AER-8600C (MPS 7600-001) 1977 joystick version

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AGS (US)

  • TVG-101

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Ajax

  • TV Sports Game T-338 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TV Game 406-6 1977

  • Video Games TG-621 1977

  • TV Game T-800 1977

  • TV Game T-800C 1977

  • TV Game AU-807 1977

  • Color Video Game BM-1000 1977

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Akur

  • TVG-SD-01-8 Color

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Alex (Germany)

  • Videospiel TG-621 (AY-3-8500) 1977

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Allied's (USA)

  • Name Of The Game A-100 (MCS-7600-001) 1976

  • Name Of The Game II A-300 (MCS-7600-001) 1976

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Alltronic

  • Electronic TV Game Centre Model 15

  • HK 1350

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Alpha Electronics (Australia)

  • Videotronic 3388

  • Videotronic II 8550C

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Ameprod (Poland)

  • TVG-10 (AY-3-8500) 1981

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APF (USA)

  • Match SD-1 405 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Match SD-1c 405 (AY-3-8500) 1977 white case

  • TV FUN 401 (AY-3-8500) 1976

  • TV FUN 401A (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TV FUN Sportsarama 402 (MPS-7600-001) 1977 pistol

  • TV FUN 405A (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TV FUN 406F (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TV FUN 442 (TMS-1955N) 1977

  • TV FUN 444

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Asaflex (France)

  • "6"  (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Video Sports (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Video Sports 2000 (AY-3-8500) 1978

  • Inno-Hit GT 66-C (AY-3-8500) 1977

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Atari (USA)

  • PONG C-100 (3659-1C) 1976

  • PONG Doubles C-160 1976

  • Super PONG C-140 (C010073-3) 1976

  • Super PONG PRO-AM C-200 (C010073-01) 1977

  • Super PONG PRO-AM TEN C-202 (C010073-03) 1977

  • Super PONG Ten C-180 (C010073-01) 1976

  • Ultra PONG C-402 (S) (C010765+Cxxxxx) 1977

  • Ultra PONG Doubles C-402(D) (C010765+Cxxxxx) 1977

  • Video Pinball C-380 (C011500, C011512) 1977 white color

  • Video Pinball C-380 (C011500, C011512) 1977 woodgrain

  • Stunt Cycle C-450 1977

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Atomic (Germany)

  • TV-Player 1

  • TV-Player 2

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Audiosonic (EU)

  • PP-150

  • Color TV Game PP-160 (AY-3-8500) 1982

  • PP-420

  • Home TV Set PP-600 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • PP 800

  • PP 900

  • PP 920 

  • PP-930

  • PP 940

  • TVG-201​

  • TVG-4

  • TVG-6

  • Tele-Sports Mini

 

Bandai (Japan)

  • TV Jack 1000 (TMS 1955) 1977 black case

  • TV Jack 1000 (TMS 1955 clone) 1977 cream case

  • TV Jack 1200 (TMS 1955 clone) 1977

  • TV Jack 1500 1977 (Packel TV Mate Duke)

  • TV Jack 2500

  • TV Jack 3000 (?) 1977 [pong + car race]

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Bang Bang Electonic Co., Ltd. (Australia)

  • TV Master Mark II (AY-3-8500) 1977

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Bentley (UK)

  • Compu-Vision 440 (AY-3-8500) 1983

 

Bianchi (Spain)

  • Telesport

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Binatone (UK)

  • TV Tron 01-4982 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TV Master MK IV 01-4974 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TV Master 4 Plus 2 01-4869 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TV Master MK 6 01-4907 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TV Master MK 8 01-4823 (AY-3-8610) 1978

  • TV Master MK 10 01-4834 (AY-3-8610) 1978

  • Colour TV Game 01-4931 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Colour TV Game 4 Plus 2 01-4850 (AY-3-8500) 1978

  • Colour TV Game MK 6 01-4761 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Colour TV Game MK 10 01-4842 (AY-3-8610) 1978

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Bingo (France)

  • TVG 203 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TVG-205

  • Video Game HI-1012 (AY-3-8500) 1977 

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Blaupunkt (Germany)

  • TV-Action (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TV Action Color 100 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TV Action Color 200 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • (Argentina) Telejuego (AY-3-8500) 1977

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BMC

  • Video Game TVG-5000

  • Video Game TVG-8000

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Boots (UK)

  • Audio TG100 (AY-3-8500) 1977

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C&G Elettronic (Italy)

  • Bream Play Special

  • Breamcolor

  • TVG Teleplay

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Calfax (US)

  • Bag-a-Tel EP-800 (TMS-1955) 1977

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Canadian Tire Corp. (Canada)

  • Video Sports 84-6072 (AY-3-8500 )1976 VS-1 clone

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Car Safety (Germany)

  • Atomic TV Player 1 (AY-3-8500) 1977

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CIT Alcatel (France)

  • Visiomatic 101 (AY-3-8500) 1977 Pistol

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CIC

  • TVG-406-6 1977

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Co-Ocean Industry (Japan)

  • Homer

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Coleco (USA)

  • Telstar 6040 (AY-3-8500) 1976

  • Telstar Alpha 6030 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Telstar Alpha Europa (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Telstar Classic 6045 (AY-3-8500) 1976

  • Telstar Colormatic 6130 (AY-3-8500 SN76499) 1977

  • Telstar Colortron 6135 (AY-3-8510) 1978

  • (Canada) Telstar Deluxe "Video World Of Sports"

  • Telstar Galaxy 6150 (AY-3-8600, 8615) 1977 Joysticks

  • Telstar Marksman 6136 (AY-3-8512) 1978 Pistol

  • Telstar Ranger 6046 (AY-3-8500) 1977 Pistol

  • Telstar Regent 6032 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Telstar Sportsman (AY-3-8500) 1978

  • Telstar Gemini 6155 (MPS-7600-004) 1977

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Comersa (Spain)

  • Videosport 4000

  • Videosport 4000 Color

  • Videosport Junior

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Commodore (EU)

  • TV Game 2000K ​(MPS-7601) 1977

  • TV Game 3000H (MPS-7601) 1977

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Concept 2000 (USA)

  • Spectrum 6 61025 (MM-57100N) 1977

  • TV +4 1004 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Nose T' Nose, model 1006

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Conic (EU)

  • 304 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Color Video Game

  • Colour 8

  • DX-702

  • TVG 101-4 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TVG 102-4 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TVG-201

  • TVG-201-4

  • TVG-202

  • TVG-204-4

  • TVG-209 (AY-3-8500) 1979

  • TV Color Sport TVG-406-6

  • TVG-4010-6 (AY-3-8610)

  • TVG-SD-01

  • TV Sport TG 621 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TV Sports TG-721

 

Continental Edison (France)

  • JV2701

  • JV-2703 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • JV2705

  • JV2707

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Creatronic

  • Bi.Bip 4 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Bi.Bip 8 (AY-3-8600) 1977

  • Bi.Bip 100

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CVT Industries (New Zealand)

  • Videosport

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Daedei Industries (Japan)

  • Video game kit (AY-3-8500) 1976

  • Video game kit (AY-3-8500) 1976 finished product

  • Video game wireless kit (AY-3-8500) 1977

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Dayya Corp. (USA)

  • Marume 2000 VM-90C (MPS-7600-001) 1977

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Dazzla (Japan)

  • TV-GAMES 007

  • Video Game Dazzler M-20-5 1977

  • Video game Dazura M-100-4 1977

  • TV game dazzler C-011-6 (MM 57100) 1977

  • TV game dazzler TVG 300

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DDR (Germany)

  • TV-Spiele (AY-3-8500) 1977

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Decca (UK)

  • Sport TV Game monochrome​

  • Sports TV Game TG-0062 (AY-3-8500) 1977

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Derby Master (UK)

  • Multi Color 777-JS (NTL 600) 1977

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Diasonic (USA)

  • HVG-220 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • (Australia) TV Game Y-1170

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Dick Smith Electronics (Australia)

  • Y-1170 TV Game 1977

  • Video Ball Game Kit 1978

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Digitek (USA)

  • TV Game 2001 (AY-3-8500) 1977

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DKS

  • TVG-406-6

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DMS (USA)

  • Tele-Action GMT513 (AY-3-8500) 1983

  • Telesports Mini (AY-3-8500-01) 1983

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Dyn Electronics (US)

  • Rally IV

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E&P Electronic (USA)

  • Mecca TV Game EP 460​

  • Granada TV Game EP500

  • Mecca TV Game EP500

  • Nobility TV Game EP500

  • Windsor TV Game EP500

  • 4 Electronic TV Sport Games EP800 (TMS-1955N) 1977

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Eaca (Netherlands)

  • Hide-Away TV Game

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Echo Electronics Corp (Spain)

  • TV-Games LU-009

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Eiken (Japan)

  • Video fighter G2200 1977

  • Video fighter G6600 1977

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Electronic Do Brasil

  • TV Bol 1978

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Electrophonic

  • Pro-Sports TVG-1001

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Elektronika (Russia)

  • Палестра-02 "Palestra-02" (K145IK17) 1978

  • Eksi-Video 01 (K145IK17) 1978

  • Eksi-Video 02 (K145IK17)

  • Эврика "Eureka" (K145IK17) 1978

  • Турнир "Tournament" (AY-3-8500) 1978

  • телеигра Лидер "TV Game Leader" (K145IK17) 1978

  • ВИДЕОСПОРТ "Videosport" (K145IK17) 1978

  • Videosport-2 (K145IK17)

  • Videosport-M (K145IK17)

  • Видеоспорт-3 "Videosport-3" (K145IK17) 1989

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Electrophonic (USA)

  • Pro-Sports TVG-1001 (AY-3-8500) 1977

 

Electrosport

  • Colour T.V. Games TV-01 (MM-57105N) 1978

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Eletron (Brazil)

  • Tv-Jogo

  • Tv-Jogo Canal 14

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Elwro (Poland)

  • TVG-10 (AY-3-8500) 1978

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Enterprex (USA)

  • Color Home Video Game Apollo 2001 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • Color Home Video Game Apollo 2004 (AY-3-8600) 1977

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Entex (Japan)

  • TV computer game TVG-200 1977

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Epoch (Japan)

  • System 10

  • System 10-M2

  • System 10 MK II

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Evadin (Brazil)

  • TVG 102-4 (AY-3-8500) 1977

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Exclusiv

  • TVG-204​ (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TVG-209 (AY-3-8500) 1977

  • TVG-409 (AY-3-8500) 1977

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Eximec (Germany)

  • TV-Spiel Color 1

  • TV-Spiel Color 2

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