Sears Super Video Arcade
 | |
| The Sears Tele-Games Super Video Arcade, with its two detachable hand controllers in the centre recess | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Mattel Electronics for Sears (made in Hong Kong)[1] |
| Type | Home video game console |
| Released | 1981[2] |
| CPU | General Instrument CP-1610, as the Intellivision[2][3] |
| Memory | As the Intellivision[2][3] |
| Storage | Intellivision ROM cartridges[3][4] |
| Display | Television, through an RF lead[3] |
| Sound | As the Intellivision[2][3] |
| Input | Two detachable hand controllers: keypad, side buttons and disc[1][3][5] |
| Power | Mains lead to a transformer inside the console[6][3] |
| OS / Firmware | Exec program in ROM, a different version from Mattel's[2][1] |
The Sears Super Video Arcade is Mattel's Intellivision console as sold by Sears under its Tele-Games name. Mattel made it in Hong Kong, with a cream top cover, a wood-grain front and hand controllers that unplug from the console, and its title screen leaves out the "Mattel Electronics" caption.[1][3][5] MAME dates it to 1981 and runs it as an Intellivision with its own Exec ROM.[2] Inside, it is the same machine as the Mattel Master Component, model 2609: Larry Anderson's Intellivision FAQ calls it "functionally identical", and Gordon Jennings's 1984 repair book covers it in the same chapter as the Intellivision and the Tandyvision One.[3][6]
History
[edit | edit source]Anderson's FAQ explains the Sears version by Sears's practice of selling products under its own name, as Atari did with the Tele-Games Video Arcade, and the FAQ's history section lists the Super Video Arcade and Radio Shack's Tandyvision One as Mattel's two store-brand versions.[3][7] Sears also sold Mattel's games in its own boxes under the Super Video Arcade name, with Sears numbers such as 49 75201 for Football and 49 75229 for Astrosmash.[4]
How it differs from the Intellivision
[edit | edit source]| Feature | Mattel Intellivision (model 2609) | Sears Super Video Arcade |
|---|---|---|
| Case | Brown, with gold-coloured trim | Cream top cover printed SUPER VIDEO ARCADE; wood-grain front printed TELE-GAMES; brown ribbed rear section |
| Hand controllers | Wired to the logic board on coiled cords, stored in recesses in the top | Detachable; they lie side by side in a recess in the centre of the top |
| Power and reset | ON/OFF switch under a small brown cover, and a reset button | Round controls about an inch across at the front right, marked RESET and OFF-ON |
| Exec ROM | Mattel's RO-3-9502 and RO-3-9504 | A different version, dumped separately by MAME; the chips' own numbers are not recorded |
| Title screen | Shows "Mattel Electronics" | No "Mattel Electronics" caption |
From Wikipedia, Anderson's FAQ, MAME, Jennings and photographs of the console.[1][3][2][6][5]
The rest of the hardware is the Intellivision's: the CP-1610 processor, the STIC graphics chip, the AY-3-8914 sound chip and the internal mains transformer, power supply board and logic board described on the Intellivision page. MAME runs both on the same machine configuration, and Jennings's repair chapter gives one set of steps and voltages for all three versions.[2][6] Mattel's service manual and subassembly manual are written for model 2609 and do not name the Sears version in their operating, test or repair sections.[8]
Cartridges
[edit | edit source]The Super Video Arcade plays Intellivision cartridges, and Sears sold Mattel's games in its own boxes.[4] The cartridge slot is in the right-hand end of the console.[5]
Repair
[edit | edit source]The Super Video Arcade has its own repair guides, which cover its differences and link the Intellivision guides for the steps that are the same:
- Sears Super Video Arcade General Maintenance: opening the case with detachable controllers, the controllers, the Exec chips and cleaning.
- Sears Super Video Arcade Troubleshooting Guide: the Sears title screen, the MTE-201 test cartridge, Jennings's power checks and controller swaps.
- Sears Super Video Arcade Capacitor Replacement Guide: Mattel's model 2609 capacitor list and how to check it against your board.
Jennings's notes on the group apply here: the hand controllers "usually are the first things to go bad", and most power supply faults are in the two regulators or "the two larger capacitors".[6]
Documentation
[edit | edit source]No Sears service manual has been found. The nearest documents are Mattel's manuals for the Intellivision, model 2609, described on Intellivision Service Manuals, and Jennings's Repairing Your Home Video Game, which is on the Internet Archive.[8][6]
Gallery
[edit | edit source]-
The Super Video Arcade from the back right, with the power cord leaving the rear
Related pages
[edit | edit source]- Sears Super Video Arcade General Maintenance
- Sears Super Video Arcade Troubleshooting Guide
- Sears Super Video Arcade Capacitor Replacement Guide
- Intellivision
- Tandyvision One
- Intellivision II
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Wikipedia, "Intellivision" (retrieved 2026-10-19), section on variants: "The Sears Super Video Arcade, manufactured by Mattel in Hong Kong, has a restyled beige top cover and detachable controllers. Its default title screen lacks the 'Mattel Electronics' captioning. In 1982, Radio Shack marketed the Tandyvision One, similar to the original console but with the gold plates replaced with more wood trim."
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 MAME source, intv.cpp (retrieved 2026-10-19): the Sears "Super Video Arcade" is listed as a 1981 clone of the Intellivision with its own Exec ROM dump ("searsexc.bin"); a comment notes that the Sears Exec "should be two roms: RO-3-9502-???.U5 and RO-3-9504-???.U6 but the correct names are unknown as of yet", and another that "the sears one may use different chips". The Sears set runs on the same "intv" machine configuration as the Intellivision itself. No separate Tandyvision set is listed.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 Larry Anderson, Intellivision FAQ (1995-1996), section 3, "Hardware Descriptions", hosted by INTV Funhouse, intv_faq3.php (retrieved 2026-10-19). 3.1, Intellivision Master Component: "a brown molded plastic case with gold trim on the top" and "Two controller wells ... recessed in the top for housing the two hard-wired controllers". 3.2, Sears Super Video Arcade: "if you wanted to market your product through Sears, it had to have their name on it. Much like Atari with the Tele-Games Video Arcade, Mattel created a clone"; "Functionally identical" to the Mattel console, with "a cream-colored case with a wood-grain front, and removable controllers that rest in the center of the console"; the power and reset switches "are circular in shape and about an inch in diameter"; the top-view sketch puts the power cable at the back left, the RF cable at the back right, and the reset and power switches at the front right. 3.3, Radio Shack Tandyvision I: "faux wood-grain ... paneling in the place of the INTV I's gold panels. Otherwise, this unit is totally identical to the INTV I."
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Internet Archive, scans of Sears-boxed Intellivision cartridges, for example "Super Video Arcade Football [49 75201"] and "Super Video Arcade Astrosmash [49 75229"] (retrieved 2026-10-19): Mattel games sold by Sears under the Super Video Arcade name with Sears numbers.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Evan-Amos, photographs of the Sears Tele-Games Super Video Arcade, Wikimedia Commons, public domain (retrieved 2026-10-19): front left, front right, back left and back right, examined at full size: cream top cover printed "SUPER VIDEO ARCADE", burr wood-grain front panel printed "TELE-GAMES", two cream hand controllers with gold-coloured keypads and discs lying side by side in a recess in the centre of the top, a round RESET button and a round OFF-ON knob at the front right, the cartridge opening in the right-hand end, a brown ribbed rear section with vents, and the power cord leaving the back.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Gordon Jennings, Repairing Your Home Video Game (Datamost, 1984, ISBN 0-88190-277-2), chapter 3, "Hand controllers: Mattel Intellivision, Tandyvision, and Sears Super Video Arcade", p. 61, and chapter 5, "Mattel Intellivision I, Tandyvision, and Sears Super Video Arcade", pp. 89-96, which treats the three as one group: four assemblies (transformer and switch, power supply board, hand controllers, logic board); six cover screws, some units needing a nut driver; the small brown cover of the ON/OFF switch comes off with the top cover, and the hand controllers are passed through the holes in it; the hand controllers "usually are the first things to go bad", their membrane circuit chipping and shorting; a test with Skiing and Baseball; transformer readings of 9.25 V AC from green/yellow to either green and 18.5 V AC green to green; most power supply board faults in the 7805 and 7812 regulators or "the two larger capacitors". Scan on the Internet Archive, book_repairing_your_home_video_game (retrieved 2026-10-19).
- ↑ Larry Anderson, Intellivision FAQ, section 1, "General Information", hosted by INTV Funhouse, intv_faq1.php (retrieved 2026-10-19), 1.1: Mattel "also marketed the system in Sears stores as the Super Video Arcade, and at Radio Shack as the Tandyvision One in the early 1980's".
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Mattel Electronics, Intellivision Service Manual, model 2609, "MTE-201 Failure Codes and Causes", p. 2-5 (PDF p. 15): code B, U9 (SROM), "Check SUM System ROM"; code C, U3 (PROM), "Check SUM PROGRAM ROM". Hosted here as File:Mattel Intellivision Service Manual Model 2609.pdf. The manual's title page and the subassembly manual's are for model 2609; neither the subassembly manual nor sections 1 to 4 of the service manual (operation, testing, disassembly and repair) name the Sears or Radio Shack versions.
