I've developed an interest in early discrete logic games over the last 6 months and have a few 4 Player Cocktail Pong clones in my collection as well as a growing number of PCB's that were purchased as untested (non-working) which I've been going through and getting back up and running.
I've been toying with the idea of making a faithful reproduction of the Atari (Syzygy) Pong PCB, there have been a couple of people who have made PCB's but have redesigned the board and layout.
One example is the Pong Reborn PCB.
I managed to source a few blank (unpopulated) 'Pong Reborn' PCB's, these were available for sale around 2012 but are no longer available.
Purchasing the IC's locally here in Australia is quite expensive so when the bulk of the parts arrive from overseas I'll complete assembly of the rest but I should have the first board completed in a couple of weeks, just waiting on the last 19 IC's to arrive.
One of the drawbacks of this board was that it wasn't designed to be put in an arcade cab and has no edge connector. I've also realised that although it is close to the original, there are a few differences in the game play.
These will go into some reproduction cabs that I plan to build, I've built a couple of Pong cabs last year.
Full size...
Half size...
I had to resort to putting a board in them based around the AY-3-8500 chip which is nothing like the original.
So for the last 6 months I've been researching and am at the stage where I'm almost ready to get things in motion.
One of the biggest challenges is not having an original PCB in front of me to ensure the dimensions are correct and the layout is perfect.
If anyone has a spare Pong PCB in any condition I'd be interested in purchasing it or trade for a completed Pong Reborn PCB.
I've found a great scan of an unpopulated PCB which prints close to the original size (I placed an IC over the holes and it matched almost perfectly) which I've been working off for the layout and overall dimensions.
If someone has a board that they can measure for me (in millimeters), that would help me out greatly, I need both long lengths as well as width.
16 page Pong Schematic PDF below...
I've been toying with the idea of making a faithful reproduction of the Atari (Syzygy) Pong PCB, there have been a couple of people who have made PCB's but have redesigned the board and layout.
One example is the Pong Reborn PCB.
I managed to source a few blank (unpopulated) 'Pong Reborn' PCB's, these were available for sale around 2012 but are no longer available.
Purchasing the IC's locally here in Australia is quite expensive so when the bulk of the parts arrive from overseas I'll complete assembly of the rest but I should have the first board completed in a couple of weeks, just waiting on the last 19 IC's to arrive.
One of the drawbacks of this board was that it wasn't designed to be put in an arcade cab and has no edge connector. I've also realised that although it is close to the original, there are a few differences in the game play.
These will go into some reproduction cabs that I plan to build, I've built a couple of Pong cabs last year.
Full size...
Half size...
I had to resort to putting a board in them based around the AY-3-8500 chip which is nothing like the original.
So for the last 6 months I've been researching and am at the stage where I'm almost ready to get things in motion.
One of the biggest challenges is not having an original PCB in front of me to ensure the dimensions are correct and the layout is perfect.
If anyone has a spare Pong PCB in any condition I'd be interested in purchasing it or trade for a completed Pong Reborn PCB.
I've found a great scan of an unpopulated PCB which prints close to the original size (I placed an IC over the holes and it matched almost perfectly) which I've been working off for the layout and overall dimensions.
If someone has a board that they can measure for me (in millimeters), that would help me out greatly, I need both long lengths as well as width.
16 page Pong Schematic PDF below...
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