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Grandstand TV Game 2600 Capacitor Replacement Guide

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Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (14)
The only photographed board from Grandstand's 2600 and 3600 Mk II generation: a colour TVG-3600 Mk II, with its blue electrolytics along the top edge and at the left end. No board of a TV Game 2600 has been photographed, and this one is not a guide to its parts.

The Grandstand TV Game 2600 is listed by Wikipedia as a black-and-white, six-game console made in Hong Kong, and nothing more about it has been published: no photograph of its case or board, no parts list and no schematic.[1] No capacitor values for the TV Game 2600 are known. None are guessed here. What follows gives the reasons a console of this type has electrolytic capacitors at all, how to record the ones on your own board, and how to replace them.

General care is on Grandstand TV Game 2600 General Maintenance, symptoms on Grandstand TV Game 2600 Troubleshooting Guide.

What is known

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TV Game 2600 capacitor information
Item Status Source
Photograph of the board None found None found
Parts list or schematic None found None found
Capacitor values None published None found
Picture Black and white, so no colour circuit is expected [1]

If the 2600 uses General Instrument's AY-3-8500, as its game list suggests, the chip needs few capacitors of its own: GI's reference circuit has only 0.1 µF on each bat input, 0.2 µF in the sound driver and 0.01 µF on the reset line, none of them electrolytic.[1][2] The chip runs from +6 to +7 V,[3] while the Hong Kong-made Grandstand consoles whose labels have been photographed run from six C cells or a 9 V adaptor,[4] so expect a supply stage on the board with filter capacitors, and decoupling around the RF modulator. Those are the parts to examine first.

The colour Grandstand TV Game 3600 Mk II, whose board has been photographed, carries five electrolytics.[5] Its colour circuit alone makes it a different board from any black-and-white 2600, so use its capacitor guide only as an example of what such a board looks like.

Recording your own board

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  1. Confirm what you have: the model name on the front and on the base label. A console labelled 2600 Mk II is covered by Grandstand TV Game 2600 Mk II instead.
  2. Remove the cells, unplug the controllers and any gun, and open the case (see the maintenance page).
  3. Photograph both sides of the board before touching anything.
  4. For every electrolytic, note where it sits (by the regulator, the RF can, the chip, the speaker), its capacitance and voltage, its temperature rating, its maker and the side its stripe faces.
  5. Note the chip's full markings and date code, the crystal and any board number.
  6. If you can share the photographs, they would be the first record of a TV Game 2600's insides.

Signs of trouble

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  • Bulging or leaking cans, split sleeves, or brown crust around a capacitor's leads.
  • A supply that collapses under load, or a current draw well beyond the 60 mA maximum GI gives for the chip.[3]
  • Hum bars or a rolling picture once the television and the supply have been ruled out. See Capacitor Failure Symptoms.

Replacing the capacitors

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  1. Replace one at a time so that polarity and position cannot be confused.
  2. Desolder with a pump or braid from the solder side; keep heat short on old copper.
  3. Fit a radial electrolytic of the same capacitance, the same or a higher voltage rating, 105 °C, stripe matching the old part.
  4. Clean away any residue with isopropyl alcohol and check the tracks beneath.
  5. Power the console from a current-limited supply at the label voltage before connecting a television.
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  • A temperature-controlled iron, braid or a desoldering pump, flux and isopropyl alcohol.
  • Multimeter and a capacitance or ESR meter.
  • New 105 °C radial electrolytics from Nichicon, Panasonic, Rubycon or another reputable maker.

Checks after recapping

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After recapping (AY-3-8500 values; confirm the chip first)
Check Expected Source
Pin 4 to pin 2 +6 to +7 V [3]
Pin 17 clock 2.012160 MHz ±1% [3]
Picture and play Black-and-white field, bats and scores; all six games, the target games with a gun on a CRT set [1]
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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Wikipedia, "Grandstand (game manufacturer)", table of integrated Pong consoles (retrieved 2026-10-19): "Adman Grandstand T.V. Game 2600", black and white, six games (Tennis, Football, Squash, Practice, Target 1 and Target 2), made in Hong Kong, 1977 to 1979; no image or source.
  2. ↑ General Instrument Corporation, GIMINI TV Game Circuits, January 1978, p. 5, AY-3-8500 system diagram, PDF hosted by Pong-Story (retrieved 2026-10-19): 0.1 µF on each bat input, 0.2 µF in the 2N2222 speaker driver, 0.01 µF on the reset line; no electrolytic capacitors around the chip.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 General Instrument Corporation, GIMINI TV Game Circuits, January 1978, p. 6, PDF hosted by Pong-Story (retrieved 2026-10-19). AY-3-8500: VCC +6 to +7 V; supply current 40 mA typical, 60 mA maximum at +7 V; clock 2.012160 MHz ±1% on pin 17.
  4. ↑ Photograph by José Antonio Ortigueira Amor, File:Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (15).jpg (CC BY 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons): base label of a TVG-3600 Mk II, "BATTERY: UM-2 x 6 OR AC ADAPTOR (9V / 100 MA) ... MADE IN HONG KONG"; Ian Hill's photograph of a 3600 Mk III base label on Ian's Retro Museum (retrieved 2026-10-19) gives the same supply.
  5. ↑ Photograph by José Antonio Ortigueira Amor, File:Adman Grandstand 3600 MK II Colour (14).jpg (CC BY 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons), examined at full size: the component side of a TVG-3600 Mk II board, with five radial electrolytics, a 4.433618 MHz colour crystal and an AY-3-8500.


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