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Grandstand Match of the Day 2000 Troubleshooting Guide

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AY-3-8500 chip pinout
AY-3-8500 pin configuration. The Match of the Day 2000's four games and its BAT SIZE, SPEED, ANGLE and SERVE options are the ones this chip provides, but no photograph of the console's board has been published, so the chip fitted is not confirmed.

Fault-finding for the Grandstand Match of the Day 2000, Grandstand's compact four-game black-and-white Pong console with a large central speaker.[1] No repair report, manual or schematic for it has been found, and no photograph of its board has been published. Its games and options match General Instrument's AY-3-8500,[2][3] so the measurements below are GI's figures for that chip; check the chip's markings on your own board before relying on them. Opening the case and routine care are on Grandstand Match of the Day 2000 General Maintenance.

What should happen at power-on

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With POWER on and an analogue UHF television tuned near channel 36:[4]

  • A black-and-white picture appears, with a bat at each side and the scores shown on screen.[5]
  • The red slider chooses TENNIS, HOCKEY, SQUASH or PRACTICE.[2]
  • With SERVE on AUT. the ball is served by itself; on MAN. the game waits after each point until the MAN. button is pressed.[2][3]
  • START, which on an AY-3-8500 console would drive the reset input, clears the scores and begins a new game; on the AY-3-8500 the game also stops by itself when one side reaches 15.[2][3]
  • The speaker in the centre of the panel sounds on every hit, wall bounce and score. There is no sound switch, so a silent console has a fault.[2][3]

Expected measurements

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Reference values (AY-3-8500 figures; confirm the chip first)
Point Expected Source
RF channel UHF 36 ±5 (base sticker) [4]
Supply at the cells or rear socket Not published None found
Chip pin 4 to pin 2 +6 to +7 V [3]
Chip supply current 40 mA typical, 60 mA maximum at 7 V [3]
Pin 17 clock 2.012160 MHz ±1% [3]
Closed switch contact to ground 1 kΩ or less [3]

The supply voltage is not printed in any photograph found. Before powering a console that has been stored, find out what the cells add up to from the compartment, then use a bench supply at that voltage with a low current limit and watch the current: the chip itself draws no more than 60 mA.[3]

Symptoms

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Match of the Day 2000 symptoms
Symptom Likely cause Action Source
Nothing at all Flat or corroded cells; dirty spring contacts; POWER switch Clean the coil-spring contacts in the base compartment, fit fresh cells and measure the supply after the POWER switch. [4]
Works on cells, not from the rear socket Wrong adaptor voltage or polarity; dirty socket No rating is published for the socket. Measure its polarity against the battery contacts and check the adaptor's output before trying again. [1]
Snow on the television Wrong channel; television has no analogue tuner; damaged RF lead or Belling-Lee plug The base is labelled channel 36 ±5: tune slowly either side of channel 36. Check the plug and the lead where it leaves the case. [4][1]
Steady blank screen but no game The game chip is not running Measure the chip's pin 4 (+6 to +7 V) and pin 17 (2 MHz). [3]
Football with a third bat on the right, whatever the slider says Slider between positions or a dirty slider contact With no game selected the AY-3-8500 plays a hidden variant, Handicap. Move the slider firmly into place and clean its contacts. [6]
Silent Speaker cone or leads; sound driver There is no sound switch to check. Inspect the speaker behind the grille and its leads; on the AY-3-8500 the sound comes out on pin 3. [2][3]
One bat jumps, sticks or is missing Dirty potentiometer in that pod; broken lead Open the pod by the screw on its underside and clean the potentiometer; check the lead at both ends. [7]
BAT SIZE, SPEED, ANGLE or SERVE has no effect Dirty slide switch Clean the switch; when closed it must measure no more than 1 kΩ to ground for the chip to see it. [3]
Game stops after every point SERVE on MAN. Set SERVE to AUT., or press MAN. to serve. [2][3]
Scores will not clear START button contact Clean the START contact; on the AY-3-8500 it should pull the reset input to ground. [3]

Known faults reported for this device

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None. No repair report, forum thread or video about a Match of the Day 2000 has been found. Ian Hill's page shows a complete example but does not say whether it works,[1] and the second example on the atari-uk.com pages is shown boxed with no comment on its condition.[8]

Things that are not faults

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  • Only four games: the console was sold as a four-game model.[5]
  • The panel says HOCKEY where the box says FOOTBALL; it is the same game.[2][5]
  • The picture is black and white on a colour television; the box says it plays in black and white.[5]
  • On MAN. serve, the game waits after every point.[3]
  • The game ends when one side reaches 15.[3]

What is realistically repairable

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Repairability of Match of the Day 2000 parts
Part Repairable? Notes
Slider, switches and buttons Yes Clean first; replace with similar parts if worn out.
Controller pods Yes The potentiometer is reached through one screw; the lead can be repaired.
Speaker Yes Any speaker of the same impedance and size that fits behind the grille.
Electrolytic capacitors, resistors, small transistors Yes Values not published; see Grandstand Match of the Day 2000 Capacitor Replacement Guide.
RF lead and plug Yes A Belling-Lee plug is a standard part.[1]
Game chip Only from a donor If the chip is an AY-3-8500, any of the hundreds of consoles that used it[6] could supply one. Check the supply, the clock and the slider before suspecting it.
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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Ian Hill, "Grandstand Match of the Day 2000", Ian's Retro Museum (retrieved 2026-10-19): a complete example with its box, photographed but with no test result given; "dominated by the large centre speaker"; "The rear of the console with attached RF lead and external power connector"; "Standard Belling Lee connector".
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Ian Hill, Ian's Retro Museum, Match of the Day 2000 page, photographs of the panel read at full size (retrieved 2026-10-19): four-position slider TENNIS, HOCKEY, SQUASH, PRACTICE; switches POWER, BAT SIZE (S/L), SPEED (H/L), ANGLE (20°/40° or 20°), SERVE (MAN./AUT.); START and MAN. buttons; central speaker grille; no sound switch.
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 General Instrument Corporation, GIMINI TV Game Circuits, January 1978, pp. 6-8, PDF hosted by Pong-Story (retrieved 2026-10-19). AY-3-8500: pin 2 VSS, pin 4 VCC, +6 to +7 V; supply current 40 mA typical, 60 mA maximum at +7 V; clock pin 17, 2.012160 MHz ±1%; sound output pin 3 (tones for a hit, a boundary reflection and a score); manual serve pin 8 (when open, the game stops after each score until the pin is momentarily grounded); reset pin 25; control inputs need a contact resistance of no more than 1 kΩ to VSS; the game stops when one side reaches 15.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Ian Hill, Ian's Retro Museum, Match of the Day 2000 page, photographs of the base read at full size (retrieved 2026-10-19): sticker "CHANNEL 36 ±5"; battery compartment with coil-spring contacts at both ends; no supply rating visible.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Ian Hill, Ian's Retro Museum, Match of the Day 2000 page, photographs of the box read at full size (retrieved 2026-10-19): "Compact TV Game with 4 Sport Selector / FOOTBALL \ TENNIS \ SQUASH \ PRACTICE"; "Instant on-screen digital scoring"; "Plays in black & white on all 625 line UHF TV's".
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 David Winter, Pong-Story, "PONG in a Chip" (retrieved 2026-10-19): Handicap, a football/hockey variant with a third paddle for the right-hand player, is played when none of the AY-3-8500's games is selected; the chip was used in "hundreds of different game systems".
  7. ↑ Ian Hill, Ian's Retro Museum, Match of the Day 2000 page, photograph of the controllers (retrieved 2026-10-19): the underside of each pod is a box held by one central screw, with the lead entering at one end.
  8. ↑ atari-uk.com Pong collection, Grandstand page (OoCities mirror, retrieved 2026-10-19): photograph of a boxed Match of the Day 2000.


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