Soviet-era Pong console is easy to repair

Many early home video game consoles were developed by American and Japanese companies: think Nintendo, Commodore, and Atari. But on the other side of the Iron Curtain, which was still very much in place in the 1980s, an entirely separate industry was built on names like Tesla and Elektronika. As a resident of the Republic of Georgia, [Thomas] at Workshop Nation has built up a large collection of Soviet-era gear. Some time ago he came across an Elektronika Video Sport 3, a 1990 vintage Pong type video game console made in the USSR, and made a delightful video that shows him playing bring her back to life.

Like its Western counterparts , the Video Sport 3 is built around a dedicated chip, in this case a K145IK17. This is a Soviet clone of the GI AY-3-8500 that powered almost every TV Pong console in the West, allowing it to run multiple variations of Pong > as well as a simple target shooting game. Interestingly, the Video Sport 3 also has a "test" mode where it outputs a test signal to help you adjust your TV settings, which is very useful in the days of analog CRTs. It also comes with a comprehensive user manual, as well as complete diagrams to help you repair it if it breaks down.

[Thomas]'s device didn't work right away, so he opened it up and tried to find any errors. The main board he found inside was a beautifully handcrafted single-layer board with a dozen chips and numerous discrete components. Nothing looked obviously broken, but [Thomas] decided to replace a few electrolytic capacitors as a precaution. This proved to be enough to get the console working again - dodgy capitals really are a universal problem with older hardware.

A small black and white Elektronika TV that [Thomas] found earlier forms a perfect complement to the Video Sport 3. Together they give us a glimpse of what a typical video game setup might have looked like in the early 1900s 1990 Soviet House. In fact, the Eastern bloc provided a reasonably wide range of personal computers, although few people could buy them. Some really weird machines were also produced for professional users.