TV Schoolhouse II, Bingo and the end of a system.
Entry posted by Guest
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Okay, since it's a "TV School House" sequel, one might expect the same sort of standardized testing format. One might, but one would be wrong. This is actually a Math test game, you can compete against yourself or another player. The drill is the same as the Math game built into the system. A problem is shown, you get points for answering it correctly, the quicker you answer, the more points you get. Up to 10 points can be awarded per problem if the answer is input within the first 1.5 seconds after the problem is posed.
Response time, difficulty level and type of math problem (the basic four, see manual page scan, or a combination of them) may all be selected.
This is better than the built-in math game. The problems can have answers which are greater than 9 and they certainly have more variety. The one problem that can't be solved is the fact that this really isn't a "game". It could be considered a "competition" if you're playing against another player, but not a game.
Rather than do a full summary of the RCA Studio II in the next entry, as I normally would, I've decided that in the spirit of the system, I'll just do a ugly little half-assed summary right here.
We had more fun with Space War than any other cartridge, but that wasn't much.
Patterns, built-in to the system, was a little fun in a 2D no-color lava-lamp kind of way.
Moonship Battle/Gunfighter, Tag, Freeway and Tennis/Squash were all painful due to the built-in, non-detachable keypad controllers.
Baseball was technically the most, um, complex game in the library. It kept track of innings, scores, balls and strikes. It was a little fun, but it was too long.
Bowling didn't suck as badly as some of the others. I'm just sayin'.
Fun with Numbers. I've nothing more to say about this "arcade" cart.
The TV School Houses are not games, so, screw them.
Blackjack is just too mundane to give a flying fig about.
And that's all I feel like bringing myself to think about.
Bonus Feature - The "lost" game: Bingo!!!
No, I don't have it. But I'll tell you everything I know.
According to a post on usenet dated April 17th, 2000, a person named Dan was driving home from Phillyclassic and rediscovered the RCA Studio II game, Bingo.http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.v...54253f28d02636f
QuoteI stopped to poke around in an open box with some portable phone stuff on top. I thought I recognized a familiar looking item about the size of a deck of cards. It was a Studio II cart. I poked around some more and realized the boxed was packed with Studio II carts (all boxed complete) and a console plus.......the TV/power box. Got the lot for $10. But that's not the brag. I suspected that this might give me a complete Studio II collection. When I got home I pulled out the DP guide and checked them off: Baseball...needed that; Biorhythem...needed that, BlackJack...needed that, Gunfighter/Monship Battle...needed that, SpaceWar...needed that, Tennis/Squash...I just got this one this morning, TVSchoolhouse...don't need that, Fun with Numbers...don't need that, Bingo...don't see that one in the guide. Then it slowly sinks in. I FOUND ATITLE NOT LISTED IN THE GUIDE!!! WOHOO! Sure its no proto, but a dream ofmine none the less.
So, there you are. That's all the information on the internet which I've found about this game, other than what it says in the (since republished) DP Guide which is: "TV Casino Series. Includes 20 bingo cards & 150 marker chips. comes in a larger box than the normally miniscule RCA game boxes."
I'm assuming the box is blue-themed, because it's from the TV Casino Series, and that the box is the size of the TV School House I box, just because that's what I'd guess. Your mileage may vary.
I'd love to understand the mechanics of gameplay and how the RCA Studio II handles this game, but alas, the email address in the usenet post is defunct. If anyone has Bingo and wants to share some of that information, the world would be grateful, at least the dozen or so people in this world that reads this blog. A picture of the box? A scan of the manual? A dump of the ROM? Screenshots? A little essay talking about what the game is like to play? Anyway, that's all for the RCA Studio II. At best, it was disappointing, at worst, it was frustrating to the point of generating small fits of impotent rage.
Next entry I'll start again on the carts for the Fairchild VES that carry the copyright date of 1977. We'll start with Videocart #4.
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