Grandstand TV Game 3600 Troubleshooting Guide
Fault-finding for the Grandstand TV Game 3600, the first, black-cased model of Grandstand's 3600 series, with six games and a pistol.[1] No repair report, manual or schematic for a TVG 3600 has been found, and no photograph of its board or base has been published, so the game chip and the supply are not confirmed. Its game list and switches are the ones General Instrument's AY-3-8500 provides,[1][2] and the reference values below are GI's figures for that chip: confirm the chip on your board before relying on them. Opening the case and routine care are on Grandstand TV Game 3600 General Maintenance.
What should happen at power-on
[edit | edit source]With POWER on, SOUND on and an analogue television tuned to the console:
- A playing field appears with a bat at each side and two-digit scores at the top. The AY-3-8500 counts each score to 15.[2]
- The game slider selects TENNIS, FOOT BALL, SQUASH, PRACTICE, SHOOTING 1 or SHOOTING 2.[1]
- With SERVE on AUTO the ball is served by itself; on MANU the game stops after each point until the MANUAL button is pressed.[1][2]
- START, which on an AY-3-8500 console would drive the reset input, clears the scores and starts a new game.[1][2]
- With SOUND on, the speaker behind the panel grille gives a tone on each hit, a lower tone off a wall and a higher tone on a score.[1][2]
- The two shooting games are played with the pistol plugged into the PISTOL sockets.[1]
Wikipedia lists the TVG 3600 as a colour console;[3] no photograph of its picture has been published.
Expected measurements
[edit | edit source]| Point | Expected | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Supply at the cells or adaptor | Read the base label | Not published |
| Chip pin 4 to pin 2 | +6 to +7 V | [2] |
| Chip supply current | 40 mA typical, 60 mA maximum at 7 V | [2] |
| Pin 17 clock | 2.012160 MHz ±1% | [2] |
| Closed switch contact to ground | 1 kΩ or less | [2] |
| Colour subcarrier, if a colour circuit is fitted | 4.433619 MHz ±50 Hz | [4] |
For a console that has been stored for years, power it first from a bench supply set to the label voltage with a low current limit, and watch the current. GI's chip draws no more than 60 mA at 7 V,[2] so a draw several times that points to a short or a failed capacitor.
Symptoms
[edit | edit source]| Symptom | Likely cause | Action | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing at all | Flat or corroded cells; POWER switch; adaptor polarity | Measure the supply at the cells and after the POWER switch, then at the chip's pin 4. Check the polarity of any adaptor against the battery terminals. | [2] |
| Picture and play, but silent | SOUND switch off; speaker or its leads | Check the SOUND switch first. The chip's sound comes out on pin 3. | [1][2] |
| Snow on the television | Wrong channel; television has no analogue tuner; RF lead | No channel is published for the TVG 3600. Tune slowly across the UHF band, starting near channel E36. | [4] |
| Steady blank screen but no game | The game chip is not running | Measure pin 4 (+6 to +7 V) and pin 17 (2 MHz). | [2] |
| 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 a position and clean its contacts. | [5] |
| One bat missing, jumping or stuck | Controller potentiometer, lead or plug; LEFT PLAYER or RIGHT PLAYER socket | Swap the two controllers. If the fault moves with the controller, clean or repair the controller; if it stays, check the socket. | [1] |
| A setting will not change | Dirty slide switch | The chip needs 1 kΩ or less through a closed contact. Clean the switch and measure it. | [2] |
| Game stops after every point | SERVE on MANU | Set SERVE to AUTO, or press MANUAL to serve. | [1][2] |
| Scores will not clear | START button contact | START should pull the chip's reset input to ground; clean the contact. | [2] |
| Shooting games never score | Testing on a flat-panel television; one of the two pistol plugs not seated; lens or trigger | Test on a CRT set. Seat both plugs in the PISTOL sockets. The gun circuit should pulse the chip's shot and hit inputs (pins 26 and 27) when the trigger is pulled. | [1][2] |
| Black and white picture on a colour set | Television's colour setting or fine tuning; subcarrier off frequency, if a colour circuit is fitted | Fine-tune the set first. If the board has a 4.43 MHz crystal and trimmer, measure the subcarrier: it must be within ±50 Hz of 4.433619 MHz. | [4] |
| Fine interference pattern, or colour that shifts along the lines | 2 MHz game clock unstable or off frequency | GI's colour notes ask for a crystal-controlled 2 MHz clock tuned to minimise interference patterns, because a PAL set's delay line compares consecutive lines and small timing errors become colour errors. Measure pin 17. | [6] |
Known faults reported for this device
[edit | edit source]None. No repair report, forum thread or video about a TVG 3600 has been found. The one example on public record, in the South-West Retro Computing Archive, is shown complete with its controllers and pistol, and its record does not say whether it works.[1]
Things that are not faults
[edit | edit source]- No sound with the SOUND switch off.[1]
- A football game with three bats on one side when the slider is between positions.[5]
- The pistol does nothing on a flat-panel television.
- On MANU serve, the game waits after every point.[2]
- The scores stop at 15 and the game ends.[2]
What is realistically repairable
[edit | edit source]| Part | Repairable? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Slide switches, slider, buttons and sockets | Yes | Clean first; replace with similar parts if worn out. |
| Hand controllers | Yes | They plug in, so a spare can be tried; potentiometers can be cleaned or replaced. |
| Electrolytic capacitors, resistors, small transistors | Yes | Values not published; see Grandstand TV Game 3600 Capacitor Replacement Guide. |
| Pistol | Usually | Lens, trigger switch and lead can be cleaned or repaired; no replacement gun of the same model is documented. |
| Game chip | Only by transplant | If it is an AY-3-8500, the chip was used in hundreds of different consoles,[5] so a donor is the realistic source. Rule out supply, clock and switches first. |
Related pages
[edit | edit source]- Grandstand TV Game 3600
- Grandstand TV Game 3600 General Maintenance
- Grandstand TV Game 3600 Capacitor Replacement Guide
- Grandstand TV Game 3600 Mk II Troubleshooting Guide, the next model, whose board has been photographed
- Capacitor Failure Symptoms
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 South-West Retro Computing Archive (University of Plymouth), "Adman Grandstand TVG 3600", item 265 (retrieved 2026-10-19). Record with no description ("TBC"); three photographs, examined at the largest size offered, show the front and top only: slide switches POWER, SOUND (each ON/OFF), SPEED (H/L), ANGLE (20°/40° or 20°), BAT SIZE (L/S) and SERVE (AUTO/MANU); yellow MANUAL and blue START buttons; a speaker grille in the middle of the panel; LEFT PLAYER, PISTOL (two sockets) and RIGHT PLAYER sockets on a strip below it; a six-position slider marked TENNIS, FOOT BALL, SQUASH, PRACTICE, SHOOTING 1, SHOOTING 2; two plug-in hand controllers; a pistol connected by two plugs.
- ↑ 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 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 General Instrument Corporation, GIMINI TV Game Circuits, January 1978, pp. 4-8, PDF hosted by Pong-Story (retrieved 2026-10-19). AY-3-8500 data sheet: pin 2 VSS, pin 4 VCC, +6 to +7 V; supply current 40 mA typical, 60 mA maximum at +7 V; clock input pin 17, 2.012160 MHz ±1%; sound output pin 3 (32 ms tones of 976 Hz on a hit, 488 Hz off a boundary, 1.95 kHz on a score); manual serve pin 8 (when open, the game stops after each score and a serve is made by momentarily grounding the pin); reset pin 25 (momentarily grounded to reset the score counters and start a new game); shot and hit inputs pins 26 and 27 (positive pulses from the rifle circuit); control inputs need a contact resistance of no more than 1 kΩ to VSS; in tennis the game stops when one side reaches 15.
- ↑ Wikipedia, "Grandstand (game manufacturer)", table of integrated Pong consoles (retrieved 2026-10-19): "Adman Grandstand T.V. Game 3600", colour, six games, made in Hong Kong, 1977 to 1979; no source cited.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 General Instrument Corporation, GIMINI TV Game Circuits, January 1978, printed p. 81 (page 77 of the PDF), "An alternate colour encoding system" (Astec International), PDF hosted by Pong-Story (retrieved 2026-10-19): subcarrier "aligned to 4.433619MHz with a maximum tolerance of ±50Hz"; standard RF modulators "VHF tuned to CH E3 (55.25MHz)" and "UHF tuned to CH E36 (591.25MHz)".
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 David Winter, Pong-Story, "PONG in a Chip" (retrieved 2026-10-19): when none of the AY-3-8500's six games is selected it plays Handicap, a football/hockey variant in which the right-hand player has a third paddle; the chip was used in "hundreds of different game systems"; Texas Instruments' TMS-1955 and TMS-1965 are pin compatible with it.
- ↑ General Instrument Corporation, GIMINI TV Game Circuits, January 1978, printed p. 81 (page 77 of the PDF), "An alternate colour encoding system" (Astec International), PDF hosted by Pong-Story (retrieved 2026-10-19): under "Luminance filtering", "minute variations in line period caused by the free running 2.00MHz system" matter because "the delay line in a PAL receiver does a very accurate comparison between consecutive lines"; the conclusion recommends a crystal oscillator for the "2.000MHz system clock ... tuned to minimize interference patterns".