29 replies to this topic

[Sean39]

Hi Everyone

I have been up here before and on other Forums. I need to know one question .. When Atari First Started to make the Pong
systems for Sears in 1975 under the name Tele Games What serial Number did they start out at???

I have seen many of the White Color Tele Game Pong Systems. I have one with the Serial # A 90371
Now on the Chip in side is the Date code 7540..

Now is 1975 in the 40th week.... Has anyone come accross an older Serial number and Date code on the inside Chip???

I just thought it the A 90371 actually stands for the 90,371 unit made what happen to all the units made befor this one.



Any help would be great

Thanks Sean

Attached Thumbnails

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[Sean39]

Sean39, on Thu Jun 24, 2010 12:20 AM, said:

HI Everyone I noticed a lot of people read the post but had no comments or anything to say.

I really need some help with this. I know Atari started making Pong systems for Sears before
they even put one out under their name. Does anyone know when Atari started to do this??? Also
does anyone have a an older Serial Number on their Tele Game Unit??? Surely This cannot be the
oldest one around.



Please help thank you very much Sean

Edited by Sean39, Fri Jun 25, 2010 11:27 PM.

[Sean39]

Hi everyone

I guess this thread was really no good to start. I see many people read it but no was able to help me with thos question.

Anyways thanks for reading it at least... I really hope there is someone who can help me with my question.

Thanks
Sean

[slydc]

Sean39, on Sun Jul 4, 2010 12:02 AM, said:

Hi everyone

I guess this thread was really no good to start. I see many people read it but no was able to help me with thos question.

Anyways thanks for reading it at least... I really hope there is someone who can help me with my question.

Thanks
Sean

Hi Sean,

About the serial, that i can't answer since i don't make records of any serials of Dedicated Pongs.
But as for the dedicated chip you took in a picture, that one is the second version (-2).

There is 3 models of the "3659" that i know: "3659-1 or 3659-1B or 3659-1C" (1st version), "3659-2" (second version)
and "3659-3" (3rd version found only in the Sears Tele-Games Pong IV model 99717. Some are made by
Synertek or AMI and can be in plastic or ceramic casings. All version of dedicated chips are the same,
even the 3659-3 which people thinks it's a 4-player version of the 3659-1 and 3659-2 which is not true,
all 3659 version can either be a 2 or 4 players version (this info is not written anywhere, just
found it by myself). The earliest "3659" i know (so far) is dated 7538 (1975 - 38th week).

Hope this helps you out.

--- Sly DC ---

[Mase147]

Where is serial number? on the back of mine it says S.N, which i would presume is serial number, but thats 90882R

[Sean39]

slydc, on Fri Jul 9, 2010 8:46 AM, said:

Sean39, on Sun Jul 4, 2010 12:02 AM, said:

Hi everyone

I guess this thread was really no good to start. I see many people read it but no was able to help me with thos question.

Anyways thanks for reading it at least... I really hope there is someone who can help me with my question.

Thanks
Sean

Hi Sean,

About the serial, that i can't answer since i don't make records of any serials of Dedicated Pongs.
But as for the dedicated chip you took in a picture, that one is the second version (-2).

There is 3 models of the "3659" that i know: "3659-1 or 3659-1B or 3659-1C" (1st version), "3659-2" (second version)
and "3659-3" (3rd version found only in the Sears Tele-Games Pong IV model 99717. Some are made by
Synertek or AMI and can be in plastic or ceramic casings. All version of dedicated chips are the same,
even the 3659-3 which people thinks it's a 4-player version of the 3659-1 and 3659-2 which is not true,
all 3659 version can either be a 2 or 4 players version (this info is not written anywhere, just
found it by myself). The earliest "3659" i know (so far) is dated 7538 (1975 - 38th week).

Hope this helps you out.

--- Sly DC ---

Thanks I have a really old Sears Tele Game System,and it will blow your mind on the chip date.

It still comes no where close I think to the first one made but it is very early. I will post pictures of it up here. It has a chip older than 7538
in it.

Sean

[Sean39]

Hi everyone

Ok please take note of the Serial number and the date on the chip. Date on Chip is 7537 look very close.
What I don't get is that it has a 3659-3 chip inside. I am just wondering how a third version of the Chip can have
such a old date on it and it in a lower Serial Number unit.

It really makes no sense at all since you would think it would have a 3659-1 chip with a Date code of 7537 on it..,but instead a 3659-3 with
date code of 7537 on it. I told you this would blow your mind.
Have any answers to this one because I would like to sure know how a version 3 chip has such an old date on it.

Serial # A 60186 Super low for a serial number lower than the last one I posted up here.

Sean39

Attached Files

•  Sear Tele game 1.bmp   506.3K   57 downloads
•  Sear Tele game 3.bmp   506.3K   32 downloads
•  Sear Tele game 2.bmp   627.24K   31 downloads

[Sean39]

Hi Sly DC

I read what you put up and it makes alot of Sense. How do we explane the Sears Tele Game Pong Unit I have.

It has a 3659-3 Chip Dated 7537 and it you look at my attachments you will see this. The Serial Number on the unit is A 60186

Which is lower than the first unit I posted in the first place... This really does not make any sense at all. I know the lower
the Serial number the older the unit should be and the chip does date older. It just strange it a 3 generation chip.

Please help on this


Sean39

[Sean39]

Hi Everyone

Well I was hoping someone could tell me why a 3659-3 chip was in such a old unit.


Sean

[nathanallan]

Hiya Sean,

I read it here, too, but also have no answer why. All I can think to say is sloppy coding of the dates/chips, lack of quality control in that area of things.

Or...

That particular unit was made from older stock of chips that were ready to be used after the case was made, and the chips were brought back out, many years later.

[Sean39]

nathanallan, on Sun Jul 25, 2010 5:22 AM, said:

Hiya Sean,

I read it here, too, but also have no answer why. All I can think to say is sloppy coding of the dates/chips, lack of quality control in that area of things.

Or...

That particular unit was made from older stock of chips that were ready to be used after the case was made, and the chips were brought back out, many years later.

Hi Nathan

Well what does not make sense is the Serial Number is very low on the Unit and I know they went in order with the Serial
numbers when producing theses things.

I posted one with the Serial # A 90371 and it has a Chip 3659-2 7540 date
Now my other unit has a Serial # A 60186 and it has a Chip 3659-3 7537 date code ( This is reall strange)
The only thing I can guess is that the 3659-3 stamp should have been a 3659-1 with the 7537 date code on it.
The only reason I say this is the Date code correspond to the time of the Serial number.

A 90371 7540
A 60186 7537

Really the date code is correct for the Serial number.

Thanks
Sean39

[Sean39]

Hi This is Sean39

Please download this photo of the Chip inside of my Sears Tele Game Pong System and let me know
if this would be the chip found in a Early unit with the Serial number A 60186 . The date code shows 7537
which would be 1975 in the 37 week...

I know my other init has a serial # A 90371 and has a chip that dated in 7540 for 1975 in the 40th week.

The chips both have different appearances.. Anyways Just thought this may help in this really strange mystery
Why they appear so different.

You will have to download the picture of the chip to see it

Thanks Sean39

Attached Files

•  Sear Tele game 3.bmp   506.3K   36 downloads

Edited by Sean39, Sun Jul 25, 2010 5:26 PM.

[njb12287]

Hi sean

Well if you look at the other pongs that Dick has for sale youll see one that has the serial number A93035 with a chip dating the same week as your first one but with a 3659-1b. So it seems that sears wasnt very accurate at putting chips in the pong units when they were built. Thats a newer unit with an older chip correct. It may just remain a mystery. though it could be something simple. It may have been left in the factory and when a new chip came out they may have replaced it. Im not sure myself but i dont think theres anyway to figure it out. The only two people who may know are David winter and Adrian Scheel of http://www.console-p...age.de/catalog/ . He has more pongs than anyone I know of.

Edited by njb12287, Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:01 PM.

[slydc]

Hi Sean,

Sorry for the late reply, been quite busy these past weeks.

I can't explain it myself to why you have a 3659-3 chip that has an earlier production
than the 3659-1. I could only speculate that when Atari were making the order for Sears,
they were afraid to get "short" in their 3659 chips orders from the companies that were
making them for Atari (AMI, MOS Technology, Synertek and surely others companies) to
complete the 150,000 units for the Xmas 1975 season.

Because usually when you have a "-" dash after the part number, it's for a revision. So
there's 4 known revisions (to date): 3659-1B, 3659-1C, 3659-2 and 3659-3.

Here's a list of revisions and dates i have for now:

* 3659-1B / 7540
* 3659-1B / 7542
* 3659-1B / 7543
* 3659-1B / 7545
* 3659-1C / 7551
* 3659-2 / 7538
* 3659-2 / 7540
* 3659-2 / 7547
* 3659-2 / 7552
* 3659-3 / 7537
* 3659-3 / 7550
* 3659-3 / A760 (yup, A760 = 1st week 1976)

But to really have an answer to this mystery, i suggest that you contact
the GURU of Atari History, namely Curt Vendel! He has a humongous database
of everything Atari. He greatly helped me out with the Atari Game Brain C-700
and the Atari Stunt Cycle.

If Curt doesn't have this info, maybe David Winter but David has more infos about
the Magnavox Odyssey (he even has original blueprints of the Odyssey) and for
Adrian Scheel (of Pong-Picture-Page, he has the BIGGEST collection of dedicated
Pongs i know, near 850!!), he could answer some specific infos on any Pongs
he has but he collects Pongs by their design, not the electronic or chip stuffs.

So you have a very early production, the earliest one i know for now (7537).
Contact Curt, he surely have some papers about this in his Atari "Ali Baba
Cavern".

--- Sly DC ---

Edited by slydc, Mon Aug 9, 2010 7:11 PM.

[Atari Joe]

it really effing bothers me that there's no S and the end of Sears in the title of this thread.

[4Ks]

Sears Pong System.

[njb12287]

Agreed nor on the title of any of the OP pictures. Weird

[Sean39]

Hi Everyone

I want to thank everyone for your help. I really started collecting the Sears Tele Game Pong Systems to
see how low of a Serial number I could find. These are the two of the Lowest Serial numbers I have ever came across.
I really was not looking at the Chips till now. The Serial number was what I was searching for.. In the hopes the Lower
The Serial number the older the unit would be. I am not sure how low the Serial numbers go that were produced under Sears,
but I imagine there are lower ones than the two I found.


Thank you guys for all the help.

Sean39 I really find this stuff cool to learn about.

[slydc]

Sean39, on Sun Aug 15, 2010 11:14 PM, said:

Hi Everyone

I want to thank everyone for your help. I really started collecting the Sears Tele Game Pong Systems to
see how low of a Serial number I could find. These are the two of the Lowest Serial numbers I have ever came across.
I really was not looking at the Chips till now. The Serial number was what I was searching for.. In the hopes the Lower
The Serial number the older the unit would be. I am not sure how low the Serial numbers go that were produced under Sears,
but I imagine there are lower ones than the two I found.


Thank you guys for all the help.

Sean39 I really find this stuff cool to learn about.

No problem Sean,

Glad that everyone here could helped you, that's what forums are for!!


--- Sly DC ---

[slydc]

Hi njb12287,

I have a question to ask you: Do you know Ianoid ?

Because your avatar tells me that you're a Magnavox Odyssey 1 collector.
I'm i right ?

--- Sly DC ---

[njb12287]

Sly i do know Ianoid. I talk to him every once in a while.

And ya i am a pretty exclusive Odyssey Collector. Along with Ianoid i beleive im the only other person in the US to have a Complete odyssey collection with all the games and the blue Cartridge. There may be another one or two. Check out my collection page in the collection section.

[slydc]

njb12287, on Wed Aug 18, 2010 3:38 PM, said:

Sly i do know Ianoid. I talk to him every once in a while.

And ya i am a pretty exclusive Odyssey Collector. Along with Ianoid i beleive im the only other person in the US to have a Complete odyssey collection with all the games and the blue Cartridge. There may be another one or two. Check out my collection page in the collection section.

Hi again!

I known Ianoid for more than a decade now and we recently made some great trades!
I just checked your Odyssey collection and i must say it's fantastic! Be very proud
of your collection. (i'm drooling here...)

You can add a 6th blue card since i have one with both manuals of the games but the
one i have doesn't have holes in it. Got it with a Odyssey in the briefcase plus
with the rifle gun found near the capital in the province of Quebec by a friend in 1999.
Still have everything since then and i just tested it last month (was wayyy deep in storage).

I've asked you if you knew Inaoid becase i was wondering if it was you who sent a scan
to Ianoid of the video output schematic done by M.Baer himself for the Odyssey 1. If it
is you, then i thanking you directly since i asked Ianoid to thank the person who sent
the video output scan.

Also, are you going to get a Telematch de Panoramic J-5 ? It's the Brazilian clone of
the Odyssey 1 but it doesn't take "jumper" carts, you select 5 games (hence the J-5 for
Jogos-5) by push buttons and it has a unique game of Soccer with 2 walls with goals (holes).
There's some from time to time that pops-up on Mercado Brazil for less than $100 and costs
about $30 to ship by EMS. Got one from a friend in Uruguay and took only 9 days to get it.

I don't really collect all systems, games and accessories. Just got another Odyssey from
Ianoid so that i can modify it with an video output and i also have about 10 others mods
i have in mind like putting sound(s), built-in overlays (no more sticking the overlays!),
etc...when i've finished with the Odyssey, it will become a Super Mega Odyssey...LOL!!!
I'll post every mods on my web site after they are all finished (and working too) one day.

Again, x2 for your marvelous collection (man...my shirt is all wet of drooling)!

--- Sly DC ---

[slydc]

oUps! Goofed up! The Telematch de Panoramic isn't from Brazil but from Argentina.

Double DOH!!!

[njb12287]

Thanks sly. I would like to find a Telematch but all in good time. Id rather find an overkal ha ha

And yep that was from me. Your more than welcome. I hope it helps with SUPER MEGA odyssey

[macdlsa]

Hi

This is the label of my Sears/Telegames PONG


I don't want to open it since it works it great condition (I think there's some dust inside the left paddle coil, but after 2-3 side-to-side sliding it works good...) so is there ways to know if it has a ceramic or plastic chip inside ?


( viewed on a PAL TV...)