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Mattel Football II General Maintenance

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Mattel Football II instructions battery drawing (1978)
The battery compartment of Football II, from Mattel's 1978 instruction booklet: slide the door off and fit one 9-volt battery to the snap.

Care, cleaning and dismantling of the Mattel Football II handheld LED game (model 1050, 1978), the dark green sequel also sold as Football 2. Mattel published no service manual. The battery, adaptor and care instructions below come from Mattel's two editions of the instruction booklet; the hardware details come from MAME's driver notes. Faults are covered on Mattel Football II Troubleshooting Guide and the board's capacitors on Mattel Football II Capacitor Replacement Guide.

What is inside

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Mattel Football II construction
Part What it is Source
Main board Marked MATTEL 1050-4369D; carries the Rockwell MM77LA game chip (B8000-12), the LED field and the seven scoreboard digits [1]
Clock The game chip's own oscillator, set by a resistor (56 kΩ in MAME's notes) [1]
Keys SCORE, STATUS, KICK and PASS on the left; four RUN keys in a cross on the right [2]
Switch OFF / 1 PRO 2 slide switch below the keys: power and speed [2]
Sound Speaker behind the grille at the lower left, driven by a two-level output from the chip [1][3]
Power One 9-volt battery on a snap in the back under a sliding door; an AC adaptor socket on the left side of the case on games that have one [4][2]

Battery and snap

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  1. Turn the game face down and slide the battery door off.[2]
  2. To take the battery out, put the blade of a small screwdriver between the battery posts and lever the snap off gently. Mattel says not to pull on the snap's wires to free it.[2]
  3. Fit one 9-volt battery; Mattel recommends alkaline.[2]
  4. Inspect the snap and its leads for the white or green deposits of a leaked battery. Clean or replace the snap as described on Battery Explosion, Capacitor or Corrosion Damage.
  5. Take the battery out if the game is to be stored for more than a few weeks, as Mattel's care notes ask.[2]

Battery door

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A printable replacement door for Football 2 is published on Thingiverse (thing 3225390, CC BY 4.0). Its designer prints it with support material and notes that the door's track may need opening up with a knife and its end tab filing down until it is a snug fit.[5] Doors made for the first Mattel Football do not necessarily fit; see the Football I page.

AC adaptor socket

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The controls drawing in Mattel's booklet shows the "AC adaptor plug" on the left side of the case. The earlier booklet allows the Mattel Electronics AC adapter only "if your game is equipped for an adapter", so some games have no socket.[4] Neither booklet gives the adaptor's voltage, current or polarity.[4][2] Measure any adaptor before connecting it, or run the game on the 9-volt battery.

Opening the case

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No description of opening Football II has been published. The case is held by screws in the back; check the screw heads before choosing a driver, since Mattel used triangular-headed case screws on its 1977 handheld games.[6]

  1. Remove the battery.
  2. Remove the screws from the back shell and lift it off. Photograph the board, the keys and the speaker leads before lifting anything else.
  3. Keep the key caps and any other loose parts together as they come out.
  4. Reassemble in reverse and check that every key returns and the switch moves through OFF, PRO 1 and PRO 2.

Case, keys and labels

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  • Clean the dark green case with a cotton bud and mild detergent, keeping liquid away from the board and the socket.
  • Leave the name badge (Football II or Football 2) and the back label in place. The back label carries the print code, 1050-0320 on the example in the Computer History Museum.[7][8]
  • Polish fine scratches on the display window with a plastic polish, from the outside.

Care

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Mattel's care list for Football II: treat it as you would a fine calculator, do not drop it, do not leave it in a hot place such as a car dashboard or glove compartment, keep it dry and clean, and remove the battery for storage.[2][4]

Maintenance checklist

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  1. Battery out; inspect the snap, its leads and the compartment.
  2. Fit a fresh alkaline 9-volt battery and run the switch-on check on Mattel Football II Troubleshooting Guide.
  3. On games with an adaptor socket, use only a measured adaptor, or none.
  4. Clean the case and keys; leave the badges and labels in place.
  5. Store with the battery out.
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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 MAME source, hh_pps41.cpp (retrieved 2026-10-19): Mattel Football 2 (model 1050), PCB label MATTEL, 1050-4369D; MM77LA MCU labelled B8000-12; 7 seven-segment LEDs, 30 other LEDs, 2-bit sound to a speaker output; clock "approximation - VC osc. R=56K".
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Mattel, Inc., How to Play Football II (1978, 1050-0920(B)), File:Mattel Football II Instructions (1978, revision B).pdf. Page 2: "Turn the game face down. Slide battery panel off. Attach a 9-volt battery (alkaline type recommended) to connector, and replace panel. You can use the Mattel Electronics AC Adaptor (sold separately)."; "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."; the controls (SCORE, STATUS, KICK, PASS, RUN keys, OFF 1PRO2 switch). Page 7: "Treat your FOOTBALL II game as you would treat a fine calculator: Don't drop it ... don't leave it in a hot place, like a car dashboard ... don't let it get wet or dirty ... remove the battery if the game will be stored for more than a few weeks."
  3. ↑ Joe Haupt, photograph of a Football 2 (CC BY-SA 2.0), hosted as File:Mattel Electronics Football 2 (1978).jpg: the speaker grille at the lower left of the front, the keys and the switch.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Mattel, Inc., Here's How to Play Football II (1978, 1050-0920), File:Mattel Football II Instructions (1978).pdf. PDF p. 2: "You may use a 9-volt alkaline battery or Mattel Electronics AC Adapter if your game is equipped for an adapter. (both sold separately)". Printed p. 1: controls drawing labelling the "AC adaptor plug" on the left side of the case. Printed p. 13: care ("Don't leave it in a hot place (such as the glove compartment of an automobile or on the dashboard) or near heat").
  5. ↑ Michael (pigeonwing), "Mattel Electronics Football 2 Game Battery Door Replacement" (Thingiverse thing 3225390, 19 November 2018, CC BY 4.0), archived as Internet Archive item thingiverse-3225390 (retrieved 2026-10-19): a replacement for the door of the 1978 Football 2; print with support; "you may need to run a knife in the track to open it up a bit and file the end tab down slightly until it is snug".
  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): Mattel's 1977 games use "special case screws ... they can be removed only with a triangular-head screwdriver".
  7. ↑ Computer History Museum, "Mattel Electronics Football II game", catalogue number 102673253 (retrieved 2026-10-19): other identifying number 1050-0320, "on back of game".
  8. ↑ Handheld Museum, "Mattel Football II" (retrieved 2026-10-19): the name tag reads Football 2 or Football II.


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