"Astrocade: One More Time "
By Mark Brownstein.
"Video Games," June 1983.


The year is 1976 and Atari is busily developing what will soon be known as the 
Video Computer System. It is designed to accept cartridges which push into the 
top of the unit and allow individuals to play games on a regular television 
set. With about 600 bytes of storage capacity, the unit will be enormously 
successful.

Meanwhile, across the country, Jeff Fredrickson, of Dave Nutting & Associates, 
the design wing of Bally/Midway, is busily developing its own home game system 
that will be known as the Bally Professional Arcade. It will be designed to 
accept cartridges that load similarly to a cassette tape (and even look like 
them), while allowing owners to play games on a regular television set. It has 
at least six times as much game storage capacity as the Atari VCS, but won't be 
the success it should have been.

By now, everyone knows something about the VCS. With estimates of about 12 
million units out there, and seemingly non-stop television commercials for 
compatible cartridges, it has touched every game player's life. The Bally unit, 
on the other hand, has sold, perhaps, 120,000 units, has had limited television 
advertising (a short campaign last year under its new name and ownership, 
Astrocade), until recently no third-party software developers, and remains one 
of the better-kept secrets in the history of home video game systems.

Bally's plan was to introduce a BASIC programming cartridge which would allow 
the user to write his own programs, games and learning activities, as well as 
some limited home management monitoring. The cartridge was introduced about a 
year after the release of the master unit when a cassette interface, permitting 
the recording of programs and playback through the computer, was also 
introduced.

Bally's planned third step would have satisfied those users frustrated with the 
limited capacity of the original unit and BASIC programming cartridge. A 
keyboard computer, dubbed "Z-grass" (for the graphics oriented, user-friendly 
operating system) was announced with the introduction, in 1977, of the Bally 
Professional Arcade.

This computer was scheduled to have 64K RAM, 32K internal ROM, a full-sized 
keyboard, broadcast quality video, dual audio cassette jacks with motor 
control, RS-232 Input/Output interface and CPM compatibility. The Z-Grass 100 
(a later iteration of the original design) was designed to be a full, state-of-
the-art computer. So what happened?

Well, to fully understand the answer, it's important to trace the history of 
the arcade system. Although initial orders were taken in September 1977, Bally 
wasn't ready to fulfill its orders for a few months. Those units were, on the 
whole, defective, with heat-sink problems being the major difficulty. A user 
would buy the unit, take it home, turn it on, and it would overheat, frying 
some of the sensitive components. The system would then have to be returned to 
the dealer and many of those first sales ended up being non-sales, with the 
defective units returned for refund, rather than being replaced by working 
units. It took some owners six or seven "trade-ins" before getting one that was 
reliable. This was enough to discourage most potential purchasers, and marked 
the system from the beginning.

With overall corporate attention focused on other growth areas and business 
activities, Nutting's design group was involved in perfecting the design of the 
Z-grass computer add-under. According to Nutting, this went through "at least 
12" revisions, and when he was finally satisfied that an acceptable unit had 
been developed, Bally management decided to abandon the endeavor, principally 
because of quality problems, and the resulting slow sales.

Astrovision (which changed its name to Astrocade) entered the picture, 
purchasing the license to manufacture, market, and develop new hardware and 
software for the Bally Professional Arcade. Astrovision also apparently 
purchased all units and components still at Bally. The Nutting design group and 
Action Graphics, which was then a wing of Nutting, would provide software and 
engineering support to Astrocade but, in the words of Nutting, "no money."

Until Astrocade finally began releasing new software in late 1981, there had 
been no cartridges available for approximately two years. Lack of product would 
have doomed most systems (as it had Fairchild's Channel F), but not the 
Professional Arcade. And, in 1977, the unit was touted as an expandable home 
computer. Promoting it this way succeeded in attracting buyers who, for the 
most part, desired to get into computer programming (the VCS buyers were mostly 
interested in playing games), thus keeping the system alive.

Robert Fabris, publisher/editor of The Arcadian, a newsletter which publishes 
programs and information about the system, began his publication in 1978. He 
has been one of the major forces keeping it going since that time. His 
publication, meanwhile, has served as a link between the owners of the unit, 
and has also been a major provider of information by both Bally and Astrocade. 
It was through this publication that many of the third-party programmers have 
sold their cassette-tape loaded programs for the system. However, Astrocade 
never reached its anticipated goals, releasing only a few cartridges, 
abandoning plans for a keyboard, and finally declaring bankruptcy last year.

The first computer add-on was introduced in June 1980. Called the Blue-RAM 
($180 assembled, $140 kit) it was designed by John Perkins, of Perkins 
Engineering. The unit provided 4096 bytes of memory, which could be designated 
either RAM or ROM by moving a switch, 128 bytes non-protectable ROM, and 
allowed games to be transferred to Blue-RAM and recorded onto tape. Also 
available was an 8K extended BASIC cartridge ($49.95), for more complicated 
programming, and simplified graphic design and game development. Perkins 
Engineering also offered a 62-key keyboard ($89.95) which simplified the entry 
of programs into the system, a specially designed modem/printer interface 
($99.95), a Blue-RAM operating system ($9.95, which allowed development of 
longer programs), and a BSR controller ($19.95), providing the Professional 
Arcade with the capability to control up to 16 lights or appliances in the 
home.

Perkins Engineering now also offers a 16K system ($275 including 8K Extended 
BASIC), a kit for converting the 4K Blue-RAM to 16K, and a 32K Blue-RAM ($395 
including extended BASIC). Both units take about three weeks to prepare before 
shipping.

In April 1981, Alternative Engineering introduced its Viper (Video Image 
Processing Equipment Research) System 1, a 16K memory expansion for the Bally 
Professional Arcade. The $275 unit included an 8K extended BASIC language tape, 
with special graphics routines and other features which facilitated 
programming. Available at extra cost was a keyboard ($175), and a 16K RAM card 
($150). Expansion cables, multi-bus adapters, an EPROM programmer card, and an 
RS-232 interface card were also announced. In addition to these two 
manufacturers, other users developed light pens (to allow drawing on your TV 
screen), printers, other keyboard/memory expansions, and machine-language 
programming utilities (to program faster video games).

While the Blue-RAM and extended memory Blue-RAMS are still available, 
Alternative Engineering may stop production of the VIPER, for a very good 
reason-- they have licensed the Z-grass operating system for use in an add-on 
keyboard computer. Sources at Alternative Engineering indicate that a unit has 
been designed to the basic specifications of the unreleased Z-Grass 100: 64K 
RAM, 32K ROM, and a 4K screen interface. The unit will have a full-sized 
keyboard, two cassette recorder interfaces with motor control, RS-232 ports, 
CP-M compatibility, and voice. The name for the device hasn't yet been decided 
and a cabinet design hasn't been finalized.

Marketing of the unit will be through Esoterica Limited, an Ohio-based producer 
of arcade software, with an already well-established distribution network. The 
company, which began by providing cassette tape-loading programs, has recently 
made available the first independently-produced game cartridge for the 
Professional Arcade. Future plans call for the computer to be released 
throughout the distribution network, with units hopefully on the store shelves 
when you read this.