MBO Tele-Ball VII

By admin , 17 April 2021
Tele-Ball VII
Description

MBO was a famous electronic German brand from Munich. This is a quite sober pong system... actually, not a very fun or nice looking one. At least, it is complete and offers the 6 games of the AY-3-8500 from General Instruments. The detachable controllers have a serve button. Each of them can be stored on the sides of the main unit.

MBO produced a large series of pong systems that they named "Tele-ball" with numbers from 1 to 9 (or more ?). But there did not seem to be any real evolution as this model 2 for example, displays nearly the same features as the model 7 except for the 2 shooting games. The chip included in the Tele-ball VII is dated from 1977 as the one included in the Tele-ball II. So maybe they made different shapes at the same time just to propose "different products" and to sell more.

An odd detail: whereas all the systems including a GI AY-3-8500 chip run with a 9 Volts voltage, this one is powered with only 6 Volts.

Year First Manufactured
1977

Contact Us

  • Contact: Aaron C. Sylvan,
    Board Chair
  • Address: IT History Society
    534 Third Avenue
    Suite 1248
    Brooklyn, NY 11215
  • Email:      info@ithistory.org