Fairchild Channel F!

[FND]

Cool!

 

I have never seen a Channel F with a "Jet-Stick" though - and Casino Poker is mentioned (again) as Casino Royale... Perhaps these were only plans that never happened. Never seen a unit with that bright eject-button either...

 

I've seen the button on a Video Command Joystick however.

 

Interestingly enough the only brochure I have ever seen that refered to it as Casino Poker was the RED one I have

produced by Fairchild (no mention of Zircon anyware on the brochure) and its listed as a Keyboard Videocart #k-1 Casino Poker

 

The other three different Brochures I have along with two different letters all list # 25 as Casino Royale and all were

printed by Zircon. I think maybe Casino Poker was the name used by Fairchild and Zircon was using Casino Royale

 

Here is the brochure that came in the same evelope as the Jet-Stick brochure, notice it does not include #18 or #19

and they even removed the screen shot inside of number #18, they must of stopped making it (Kinda explains why #18 hangman is somewhat harder to find).

They again list Casino Royale as number 25 and removed the "SYSTEM II" from the front of the brochure.

[Atarifever]

I've got one of those, in near mint condition - unfortunately it came without the box:

 

 

The twists are connected to the POT Y and POT X connectors on the Atari/VIC interface, but I don't know what happens if you ground the POT pin since they're usually connected to +5V through a variable resistor.

 

To fire you press down (which makes it useless for speed-shooters), the pull up function is not connected to any wire.

 

Just found this Zircon add which kinda solves the speed-shooter problem.

 

Brochure states these were also available for

the Atari VCS, Atari 400/800, PET, & VIC-20 Computers

 

The brochure could not have been released any earlier then Christmas season 1982 since it references the book

Ken Uston's Guide to Buying and Beating the Home Video Games which was published in May 1982

 

 

 

I just noticed that the ad says you can choose from "over 23" games. Wow, more than the odd number 23? I was just going to ask if there were exactly 23, but no, there are more! Hooray!

 

That's an Odyssey 2 level bit of advertising right there.

[e5frog]

... but when they actually delivered it (eventually) they never called it Casino Royale, did they? I have only seen Casino Poker carts...

 

 

Maybe it was meant to contain several games, but only poker got finished, so they renamed it and released it. Slot Machine would be the obvious choice for a Casino cartridge, and perhaps a re-run of Black Jack as well. I don't know if Checkers is really a Casino game but it seems to share the same silicon wafer as Slot Machine, early releases of Slot Machine and Checkers can be re-jumpered into either "Slot" or Checkers.

Edited November 25, 2007 by e5frog

[FND]

... but when they actually delivered it (eventually) they never called it Casino Royale, did they? I have only seen Casino Poker carts...

 

 

Maybe it was meant to contain several games, but only poker got finished, so they renamed it and released it. Slot Machine would be the obvious choice for a Casino cartridge, and perhaps a re-run of Black Jack as well. I don't know if Checkers is really a Casino game but it seems to share the same silicon wafer as Slot Machine, early releases of Slot Machine and Checkers can be re-jumpered into either "Slot" or Checkers.

 

 

Yes I have only seen the game itself with the title Casino Poker.

 

I think your idea of the multi-game Casino Royale makes a lot of sense especially when you think about the

Slot Machine/Checkers carts that contain the code for both games, could have been the original idea but for

some reason it never got finished.

 

There is also the fact that I have a Brouchure listing only the carts numbered up to 24 and then Casino Royale noted

as not available, this could have been around the time they gave up on the idea of a multi-game cart called Casino Royale.

NOTE: I do have two later Brochures that list carts up to #26 that include the #25 Casino Royale again so it seems they

may have decided to go ahead with the title but maybe not as a multi-game

 

I still cant figure out why they continued to used the name only in the advertising though

 

Maybe Fairchild had already had a run of labels made and Zircon just went with them, but at the same

time listed it in there Brouchures with the Casino Royale title with the hope of generating some sales through

the tie in with the movie?

 

Or maybe they were just afraid of the possibility of having to pay a licensing fee so they then just deciced to

advertise it with the "Casino Royale" title but name it "Casino Poker" that way they could just say it was a mistake in the

brouchure ?

Edited November 26, 2007 by FND

[e5frog]

They again list Casino Royale as number 25 and removed the "SYSTEM II" from the front of the brochure.

 

Is there a scan of the other page as well somewhere?

 

 

 

 

Edit: Don't bother - I found it... x82fr2rs.jpg in the same directory. Are all your scans browse:able or must I guess the filenames?

 

Edit2: I probably had a small brain malfunction, found this page and also noticed the spelling error in the header "BROUCHERS" http://fndcollectables.com/CHANNEL_F_INFO/.../brochures.html

 

I only WISH I had all those too... Could you scan the RED brochure in some insanely high resolution and make it available to me? I'd like to get a close look at the keyboard controller - perhaps that would be a nice building project - that and programming Space Odyssey - as it looks in the screenshot. Perhaps the Galactic Space Wars/ Lunar Lander cartridge was meant to actually be a journey to the moon, shoot some enemies along the way and then land on the moon...

Edited November 27, 2007 by e5frog

[workingstiff]

A few years ago I saw a fairchild at the Goodwill in great shape with games for like $40 or $50 behind a glass counter. Not sure if it actually worked but I think it even had the box! I knew what it was and was tempted to get it, but it isn't something I had growing up and I felt that it was more of a museam piece than a game system. interesting to own but not really fun to play.

Edited November 30, 2007 by workingstiff

[BassGuitari]

FND, where on earth did you find those scans? They're awesome! I didn't know the "Video Command" joysticks with actual buttons even existed for the Channel F, I thought they were just made for the Atari/Commodore systems.

 

Speaking of which, does anyone have any 2600 Video Command joysticks they'd care to part with?

 

 

Also, FND, I still owe you some Fairchild dustcloth/paperwork scans, don't I? I'll try to take care of that this weekend for you!

[BassGuitari]

A few years ago I saw a fairchild at the Goodwill in great shape with games for like $40 or $50 behind a glass counter...interesting to own but not really fun to play.

 

Eh, you'd be surprised. For the most part that's true, but there are a few F games that are actually fairly engaging. Namely, Video Whizball and Dodge It. Galactic Space War isn't bad either, but the sounds are kind of obnoxious. I really like the maze games on Videocart 10, and Desert Fox and Space War are pretty cool in short bursts...getting anyone to play them with you is a challenge in and of itself, though.

[FND]

FND, where on earth did you find those scans? They're awesome! I didn't know the "Video Command" joysticks with actual buttons even existed for the Channel F, I thought they were just made for the Atari/Commodore systems.

 

My approach to locating the Brouchures and Paper work is done mostly by checking Ebay, Craigs List, For sale post

newspaper adds and just about everywhere I can think of for Channel F Game Systems whenever I see a system for sale I

always ask if there is any paper work included and if so I direct them to my web site in hopes they may have something I

dont already have. Problem with this approach is I end up with way to many Channel F Game Systems, Honestly I have lost

count of how many I own, Recently I have started just telling the sellers they can keep the game system and just send the

paper work

 

Also, FND, I still owe you some Fairchild dustcloth/paperwork scans, don't I? I'll try to take care of that this weekend for you!

 

Cool, That will be much appreciated always looking for new paper work scans to add every piece is like a part of the

puzzle and helps to get a handle on the history.

 

Thanks in advance

FND