PlayCable Psycho Stormtroopers Intellivision Hot Spot

PlayCable was produced in limited quantities for the Intellivision system. It was test marketed in a few areas of the United States & Canada (I am told). The idea was for the public cable owner to be able to play a wide variety of games through their cable access. The PlayCable component attaches to the main console just like the Intellivoice voice synthesis unit. The cable subscriber would be able to choose different games, fed from the cable company to the PlayCable console. This was a very good idea in my opinion. Instead of paying for the high price games (If you could find the great titles), you could just pay a monthly charge to get most of the games that were made for the Intellivision system! The system failed it's trial run & never went any further.

The "PlayCable instructions box set" It is a set of all of the instruction manuals for the PlayCable system. These sets are very hard to find, since the unit was only test marketed for a short time. The instructions themselves are very much different from the originals. The printed graphics on the covers are much cleaner. Some of the books colors are even different than the ones that came in the Mattel boxes. They even have a page that gives instructions on how to load the games from the PlayCable system.

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PlayCable Pamphlet PlayCable instructions box set First page of PC instructions

Here is a list of all of the PlayCable instruction books in the box set, along with there part numbers. (note) Some of the instructions do not have the "PC-" preceeding the part numbers. I am told that this is how they came. A few of the instructions were made without any part numbers at all.

          1. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (PC-3410-0920 USA)
     2. Backgammon (PC-1119-0920 USA)
     3. Baseball (PC-2614-0920 USA)
     4. Basketball (PC-2615-0920 USA)
     5. Bowling (PC-3333-0920 USA)
     6. Boxing (PC-1819-0920 USA)
     7. Checkers (PC-1120-0920 USA)
     8. Football (PC-2610-0920 USA)
      * Football, Playbook (PC-2610-0950 USA)
     9. Frog Bog (PC-5301-0920 USA)
    10. Golf (PC-1816-0920 USA)
    11. Hockey (PC-1114-0920 USA)
    12. Horse Racing (PC-1123-0920 USA)
    13. Math Fun (PC-2613-0920 USA)
    14. Night Stalker (PC-5305-0920 USA)
    15. Reversi (PC-5304-0920 USA)
    16. Royal Dealer (PC-5303-0920 USA)
    17. Shark Shark (PC-5787-0920 USA)
    18. Sharp Shot (PC-5638-0920 USA)
    19. Skiing (PC-1817-0920 USA)
    20. Soccer (PC-1683-0920 USA)
    21. Space Hawk (PC-5136-0920 USA)
    22. Tennis (PC-1814-0920-G1 USA)
    23. Utopia (PC-5149-0920 USA)
    24. Word Fun (PC-1122-0920 USA)
    25. Armor Battle (PC-1121-0920 USA)
    26. Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack (PC-2611-0920 USA)
    27. Las Vegas Roulette (PC-1118-0920 USA)
    28. Sea Battle (PC-1818-0920 USA)
    29. Space Battle (PC-2612-0920 USA)
    30. Sub Hunt (PC-3408-0920-G1 USA)
    31. BurgerTime ( no part numbers )
    32. Buzz Bombers ( no part numbers )
    33. Mission X ( no part numbers )
    34. Motocross ( no part numbers )
    35. Astrosmash (3605-0920, USA)
    36. SNAFU (3758-0920, USA)
    37. Space Armada (3759-0920, Hong Kong)
    38. Triple Action (3760-0920, USA)
    39. Lock'N'Chase (5637-0920 USA)
    40. Auto Racing (PC-1113-0920 USA)

The rare thing about these instructions are the part numbers on them. Most of the PlayCable instruction books will have "PC-" preceeding the part number. This variation signifies that it is a PlayCable instruction book. Here is an example of the PlayCable instruction book part number for "Major League Baseball".

Check out the inside of the PlayCable pamphlet ! Too bad it never came to my area,....I would have been all over it. It interests me why this idea never took off ?

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To see and get technical information on the Playcable system for Intellivision, go to INTV Funhouse! Vader-o has a great page on this unit. (Click Here!).