I had one of these when I was a child, it was my first taste of gaming, albeit in vibrant black and white
It was the Mk8, because it had eight games, there was also a Mk4, Mk6, and a Mk10. But no odd numbers are allowed here though
I picked this one up as "not working", but it was in its original box
It's almost in mint condition, there is a cable mark near the left controller
Licensed by Magnavox, why is that? It's just another Pong-on-a-chip clone, there were loads of those that weren't licensed, perhaps it was a marketing ploy..?
Also "You will become a superstar with Binatone TV game", I never became a superstar, should I ask for my money back?
It even came with the instructions, and back in the day electronics had a schematic diagram printed in them, so you could repair them yourself. Could you imagine that today? You can see the General Instruments AY-3-8610 Pong-on-a-chip IC proudly displayed in the middle
Powering up the machine with an Atari 2600 PSU (or batteries) and pressing serve, it makes a noise like you would expect, so that part is working at least. But the TV didn't find anything on its first sweep, so I fiddled with the buttons and switches and tried again. And this time it found something.
But like the ZX80 and ZX81, the video signal is not compliant with the TV standard, It's missing the part of the signal called the back porch, which sets the black level for the picture. So the first part of the transmitted line it sees sets the black level, meaning you get a dark and muddled picture. Older CRT's could cope with this, but modern LCD's can't
Also it's clear some of the switches and the dial need cleaning, but it works
So I will have to dig out my 14" portable and try again...
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