Mattel Football General Maintenance
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Care, cleaning and dismantling of the Mattel Football handheld LED game (model 2024, 1977), the white-cased original later sold as Football I. Mattel published no service manual for it. What follows comes from Mattel's instruction leaflet, Creative Computing's review of early production, the Handheld Museum's photographs and a restoration filmed in 2023. Faults are covered on Mattel Football Troubleshooting Guide and the board's capacitors on Mattel Football Capacitor Replacement Guide.
What is inside
[edit | edit source]| Part | What it is | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Case | Front and back plastic shells held by screws with triangular heads, 2 mm across; the board and the key caps sit in the front shell and the back closes over them | [1][2] |
| Main board | Marked 2024 REV C with the Rockwell logo; carries the Rockwell B6100 game chip and the LED display | [3][1] |
| Display | Red LED field of three rows of nine segments, and seven 7-segment scoreboard digits, behind the stadium-shaped window | [1][4] |
| Sound | Piezo-ceramic transducer behind the speaker grille: a ceramic disc bonded to a metal disc about an inch across | [1][3] |
| Keys | Separate plastic key caps (ST, SC, K, two arrows and the run key) that come out once the case is open | [2][5] |
| Power | One 9-volt battery on a snap lead in a compartment in the back, under a sliding door; early production also has an AC adapter jack | [5][6] |
Before you start
[edit | edit source]- Take the battery out before opening the case.[5]
- The case screws need a triangular bit. Creative Computing noted in 1978 that Mattel used them so that owners could not open the game; the 2023 restoration describes them as 2 mm.[1][2] Use a bit that fits fully; a loose bit rounds the heads.
- Photograph each stage. The key caps fall out of the front shell once the board is lifted.[2]
- Keep the game away from heat while it is apart. Mattel's leaflet warns against leaving it in a hot car's glove compartment.[5]
Opening the case
[edit | edit source]- Turn the game face down, press the battery door and slide it off, and unclip the battery.[5] Hold the snap itself, not its leads, when pulling it off the battery. Mattel's later Football II leaflet gives the same advice for the same kind of snap.[7]
- Remove the triangular-headed screws from the back shell.[1][2]
- Lift the back shell off. The board and the key caps stay in the front shell.[2]
- Lift the board out of the front shell, taking care of the leads to the battery snap and the sound transducer. The Handheld Museum's photograph of a clear-cased Football shows the battery leads running from the compartment to the board and the transducer behind the grille, beside the battery compartment.[3]
- The key caps can now be lifted out for cleaning.[2]
Reassemble in reverse: key caps into the front shell, then the board, then the back shell and its screws.[2] Check that every key springs back and that the PRO 1 / OFF / PRO 2 switch moves through all three positions before refitting the screws.
Battery compartment and snap
[edit | edit source]- The game takes one 9-volt battery. Mattel's leaflet names no battery type; its Football II leaflet recommends alkaline.[5][7]
- Look for white or green deposits on the snap's two contacts and along its leads. Clean as described on Battery Explosion, Capacitor or Corrosion Damage. If the corrosion has run up inside the lead insulation, replace the snap and its lead.
- Follow the leads to the board and check the solder joints where they end.
- Take the battery out when the game is put away. A 9-volt battery left in a stored game can leak.
Battery door
[edit | edit source]The sliding battery door is easily lost. A printable replacement designed for the 1977 Football is published on Thingiverse (thing 2797556, CC BY 4.0). Its author found that an earlier door, offered as fitting all of Mattel's 1970s handhelds, did not fit Football because the dimensions differ, so check that any replacement door was made for this game.[8]
Case, keys and labels
[edit | edit source]- Clean the shells with a cotton bud and mild detergent, keeping liquid away from the board. In the 2023 restoration the front shell was much dirtier than the back, and the creases around the stadium and the slots of the speaker grille took the most work.[2]
- Leave the labels in place and clean round them. The front carries the Mattel Electronics and Football badges and the scoreboard legends, and the back carries Mattel's instruction label, which ends with a print code (2024-0330 on the restored game).[2]
- Wash the key caps separately once they are out of the case, and dry them before refitting.
- The restored game's front shell was "somewhat scratched".[2] Polish fine scratches on the shell or the display window with a plastic polish and a soft cloth, working from the outside only.
AC adapter
[edit | edit source]Early games have a jack for an AC adapter, which Mattel left out of later production.[6][1] The Football leaflet gives no rating for Mattel's adapter and no polarity.[5] Before connecting any adapter to an early game, measure its output with a meter. Without a published rating, the 9-volt battery is the safe supply.
Care and storage
[edit | edit source]Mattel's care list: treat the game like a calculator, do not drop it, do not leave it in a hot car's glove compartment, and keep it dry and clean.[5]
Maintenance checklist
[edit | edit source]- Battery out; inspect the snap, its leads and the compartment for leakage.
- Fit a fresh 9-volt battery and check that the game comes up ready to play on PRO 1 (see Mattel Football Troubleshooting Guide).
- If the case is opened, use a triangular bit that fits, and keep the key caps together.
- Clean the shells and key caps; leave the labels in place.
- Store with the battery out.
Related pages
[edit | edit source]- Mattel Football
- Mattel Football Troubleshooting Guide
- Mattel Football Capacitor Replacement Guide
- Mattel Football Documentation
- Mattel Football II General Maintenance: the 1978 sequel
- Battery Explosion, Capacitor or Corrosion Damage
- Recommended Tools
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Stephen B. Gray, "Profile of Three Smart Electronic Games: Auto Race, Missile Attack, Football", Creative Computing vol. 4 no. 1, January/February 1978, pp. 26-29; Internet Archive item creativecomputing-1978-01 (retrieved 2026-10-19): nine-volt battery and a jack for an AC adapter on each game reviewed; the Rockwell B6100 chip; the field of three rows of nine LED segments; the "piezo-ceramic speaker", a ceramic disc bonded to a metal disc about an inch across; "To prevent owners from opening a game and toying with the insides, special case screws are used: they can be removed only with a triangular-head screwdriver."
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Julian Scheffers, "Restoring A 45 Year Old Video Game", Hackaday, 30 August 2023 (retrieved 2026-10-19), on Vintage Apparatus's video "Restoring and Playing a 45 year old handheld video game" (YouTube, 28 August 2023): the battery and cover come off first; "rather uncommon 2mm triangular screws"; the board and LEDs in excellent condition; the buttons taken out and the back cover cleaned with a cotton bud, "some extra care to avoid removing any stickers"; the front case dirtier and scratched, with work on its creases and speaker grille; the buttons and board refitted in the front cover before the back cover is screwed on. The article's second still shows the shells, the key caps and the screws on the bench, and the back label ending "Made in Hong Kong 2024-0330".
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Handheld Museum, "Mattel Football (Clear prototype)" (retrieved 2026-10-19): photographs of a Football in a clear demonstration case. The back view shows the board marked "2024 REV C" with the Rockwell logo, the battery compartment at the bottom left with its red and black leads running to the board, and the round transducer at the bottom right; the front view shows the transducer behind the speaker grille.
- ↑ MAME source, hh_rw5000.cpp (retrieved 2026-10-19): Mattel Football (model 2024), B6100 MCU, 7-digit 7-segment display, 27 other LEDs, 1-bit sound.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Mattel, Inc., Mattel Electronics Football Game Instructions (1977), File:Mattel Football Instructions (1977).pdf: p. 1, "How to put in the battery" ("Turn Electronic Football over, face down. Remove battery door. Attach one 9-volt battery to connector. Replace battery door.", with a drawing of the door marked "press and slide to remove"); pp. 1-3, the control keys; p. 7, "Taking care of your game" (treat it like a calculator, don't drop it, don't leave it in a hot car's glove compartment, avoid getting it wet or dirty).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Handheld Museum, "Mattel Football I" (retrieved 2026-10-19): model 2024, 9 volt; "early models of Football had an AC Adapter jack which was removed on later models (which would only run on batteries)".
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Mattel, Inc., How to Play Football II (1978, print code 1050-0920(B)), File:Mattel Football II Instructions (1978, revision B).pdf, p. 2: "Attach a 9-volt battery (alkaline type recommended) to connector"; "How to replace the battery. Place the blade of a small screwdriver between the battery posts, then pry up gently. Important: Do not pull the plastic wire connector to loosen it."
- ↑ Matthew Sparby (Cloudscout), "Mattel LED Football Battery Cover" (Thingiverse thing 2797556, 17 February 2018, CC BY 4.0), archived as Internet Archive item thingiverse-2797556 (retrieved 2026-10-19): an earlier cover "said that it would work with any of the 1970s Mattel handheld games but I found that the dimensions were quite different from my 1977 Mattel LED Football game".