Coleco Telstar Galaxy
.jpg) | |
| A Telstar Galaxy, with a paddle knob at each corner and the control panel in the centre (photograph by Adrian Scheel, from Pong-Story) | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Coleco Industries, Amsterdam, New York[1] |
| Type | Dedicated home video game console (Pong-type TV game) |
| Released | 1977[2] |
| CPU | None; General Instrument AY-3-8600 game chip with AY-3-8615 colour encoder[2] |
| Memory | None |
| Storage | None |
| Display | Colour on a television set[2] |
| Sound | — |
| Input | Two paddle knobs on the console; two hand controllers with joystick and button, stored in the base[3][4] |
| OS / Firmware | — |
| Model no. | 6150 |
The Coleco Telstar Galaxy (model 6150) is a colour Pong-type TV game made by Coleco in the late 1970s and sold in very small numbers.[2][1] It is the only Telstar built on General Instrument's AY-3-8600 game chip, with GI's AY-3-8615 for colour, and Pong-Story credits it with ten games.[2] Two features set it apart from the other ball-and-paddle Telstars: up to four people can play, using the two paddle knobs on the console and two hand controllers stored in its base, and a Robot mode lets a single player play against the machine.[2][3][4]
History
[edit | edit source]Pong-Story dates the Galaxy to 1977 and Arcade-History to 1978.[2][5] Pong-Story reports that it was released in very limited numbers and that very few survive; two of the known examples came from former Coleco employees.[2] No Coleco guide or advertisement for the Galaxy has been found.
Hardware
[edit | edit source]| Part | Detail |
|---|---|
| Game chip | General Instrument AY-3-8600[2] |
| Colour | General Instrument AY-3-8615 colour encoder[2] |
| Controls | Two paddle knobs; two hand controllers with joystick and button; PADDLE ACTION, MODE and NO. OF PLAYERS switches; eight-position GAME SELECTOR; RESET[3][6][4] |
| Base | Compartment with a removable cover holding the two hand controllers; moulded legend with the model number and "Do not open"[4][1] |
GI's 1978 data book covers the "8600" game series through its ten-game AY-3-8610, which has separate video outputs for each player, the boundaries and the background, a 3.579 MHz clock input and a supply of +6 to +7 V.[7] The AY-3-8615 turns those outputs into one colour signal, changes the colours with the game selected, and runs from a 3.579545 MHz crystal, from which it also supplies the game chip's clock.[8] No data sheet for the AY-3-8600 itself, and no schematic of the Galaxy, has been found.
Four players and Robot mode
[edit | edit source]The AY-3-8600 handles only two players. Pong-Story describes how Coleco added the other two: a flip-flop connects one pair of controls to the chip's player inputs on odd frames and the other pair on even frames, and the frame rate is high enough that all four paddles appear without flicker.[2]
For Robot mode, extra circuitry takes the vertical sync from the video signal, starts a ramp voltage at each sync pulse, stops it when the first line of the ball appears, and feeds the ramp's voltage to one player's input, so that the machine's paddle follows the ball. Pong-Story notes that this depends on the chip having separate video outputs for the field, the paddles and the ball, which GI provided for colour.[2] The Galaxy can also switch off the paddles' horizontal movement.[2]
Controls
[edit | edit source]| Control | Positions |
|---|---|
| GAME SELECTOR | Knob, 1 to 8[6] |
| MODE | ROBOT, MANUAL, OFF[6] |
| NO. OF PLAYERS | A, B, C[6] |
| PADDLE ACTION | VERTICAL, FULL[6] |
| RESET | Push button[6] |
| Paddle knobs | One at each top corner of the console[3] |
| Hand controllers | Short joystick and push button each[4] |
What the A, B and C player settings select, and how the eight selector positions map to Pong-Story's ten games, is not documented.
Power
[edit | edit source]The Galaxy's power arrangement is not documented. The published photographs show the controller compartment in the base but no battery door or adapter jack.[4]
Repair
[edit | edit source]The base carries Coleco's usual warning that the device contains no serviceable parts.[1] No service information or repair report for the Galaxy has been found. Its repair guides are:
- Coleco Telstar Galaxy General Maintenance: the switches, the knobs, the hand controllers and their compartment.
- Coleco Telstar Galaxy Troubleshooting Guide: checks for the colour circuit, the four-player and Robot circuits, and reference values from GI's data.
- Coleco Telstar Galaxy Capacitor Replacement Guide: what is known about the capacitors and how to record your own board's parts.
Gallery
[edit | edit source]-
The control panel (Adrian Scheel, Pong-Story) -
The two hand controllers in their compartment (Adrian Scheel, Pong-Story) -
The legend on the base, with the model number 6150 (Adrian Scheel, Pong-Story)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Related pages
[edit | edit source]- Coleco Telstar Colortron, a colour Telstar of 1978 with four games
- General Instrument GIMINI TV Game Circuits, GI's 1978 data book
- Category:Coleco
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Photograph by Adrian Scheel on Pong-Story, File:Coleco Telstar Galaxy base label (Pong-Story).jpg: moulded legend "Manufactured by Coleco Industries, Amsterdam, New York ... DO NOT OPEN. THIS DEVICE DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY SERVICEABLE PARTS", with a paper label reading 6150 and TV 432.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 David Winter, Pong-Story, "Coleco Telstar Galaxy" (retrieved 2026-10-18): model 6150, released in 1977; the only Telstar to use General Instrument's AY-3-8600; ten games in colour, the colour provided by GI's AY-3-8615 colour encoder; all games playable by up to four players, using a flip-flop that switches the chip's two paddle inputs between two pairs of hand controls on alternate frames; a Robot mode against the machine, made with extra circuitry that extracts the vertical sync, starts a ramp generator, stops it at the first line of the ball's video and feeds the ramp voltage to one player's input, which is possible only because the chip has separate video outputs for field, paddles and ball; the horizontal motion of the paddles can be switched off; released in very limited numbers, very few survive, two from former Coleco employees; photographs courtesy of Adrian Scheel.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Photograph by Adrian Scheel on Pong-Story, File:Coleco Telstar Galaxy (Pong-Story).jpg: woodgrain top with the TELSTAR GALAXY badge, a paddle knob at each corner, speaker grille and centre control panel.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Photograph by Adrian Scheel on Pong-Story, File:Coleco Telstar Galaxy controller compartment (Pong-Story).jpg: two hand controllers, each with a short joystick and a push button, stored in a compartment in the base under a removable cover.
- ↑ Arcade-History, "Telstar Galaxy [Model 6150"] (retrieved 2026-10-19): dated 1978; repeats Pong-Story's account of the AY-3-8600, the AY-3-8615, the four-player and Robot modes, and the limited release.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Photograph by Adrian Scheel on Pong-Story, File:Coleco Telstar Galaxy control panel (Pong-Story).jpg: PADDLE ACTION switch (VERTICAL, FULL), RESET button, GAME SELECTOR knob numbered 1 to 8, MODE switch (ROBOT, MANUAL, OFF), NO. OF PLAYERS switch (A, B, C).
- ↑ General Instrument, GIMINI TV Game Circuits, January 1978, pp. 26-36, File:General Instrument GIMINI TV Game Circuits (January 1978).pdf: AY-3-8610 "Superstar", a 28-lead circuit with ten games, two-axis player motion, scores 0 to 15 coloured by player, full colour with the AY-3-8615; separate outputs for left video, right video, boundaries and background; 3.579 MHz clock input; VCC +6 to +7 V; 12 V maximum on any pin; supply current 40 mA typical, 60 mA maximum.
- ↑ General Instrument, GIMINI TV Game Circuits, January 1978, p. 37, File:General Instrument GIMINI TV Game Circuits (January 1978).pdf: the AY-3-8615 colour converter takes the video signals of any of GI's "8600" game series circuits and produces one colour composite signal, with colour burst; the colours change with the game selected; it runs from a 3.579545 MHz crystal tuned with a 3 to 15 pF variable capacitor, has a hue adjustment, and supplies a buffered 3.579 MHz clock to drive the "8600" series game chip directly.