The game PONG was released in 1972, one year before my birth. At the age of 18 I have constructed myself a Pong hardware using the AY-3-8500 integrated circuit on a self-made circuit board … basically a DIY game console! The game has now rested for more than 25 years. I have discovered it and was unable to connect it to any screen since it features a RF transmitter and needs to be connected to a regular VHF tuner which does of course not exist any more for most of today’s TV’s (remember the old days when you had to fine tune the TV channels?).
Thanks to PJ Evans and his inventive post a simple composite output can be constructed to using the video and sync signals of the AY-3-8500. This worked flawlessly and the good old PONG console has come to a new life!
On the picture above you see the self made console from the mid 1990’s. The small circuit board on the lower right corner is the composite video add-on. Endless memories to a fun time when sprites were black and white, nobody had to wait for a game to start up and the games were not asking for updates …