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 Fairchild Channel F
The Fairchild Channel F is a game console released by Fairchild Semiconductor in August 1976 at the retail price of $169.95. It has the distinction of being the first programmable ROM cartridge-based video game console. It was launched as the Video Entertainment System, or VES released their , but when AtariVCS the next year, Fairchild renamed its machine.
The first microchip was created at Fairchild Camera and Instrument by Robert Noyce. This small wafer of silicon would play the most important role in the evolution of video games. Because of it, video games would no longer be limitted by the number of TTL switches. One of the first systems to contain this technology was the Fairchild Channel F.
A small library of titles were produced for the Channel F, but the system never achieved the kind of popularity experienced by the other systems at the time. The Channel F originally sold for $170 with its game cartridges averaging around $20 a piece.
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The Channel F was designed by Jerry Lawson using the Fairchild F8 CPU, invented by Robert Noyce before he left Fairchild to start his own company, Intel.
The F8 is very complex compared to the typical integrated circuits of
the day, and had more inputs and outputs than other contemporary chips.
Because chip packaging was not available with enough pins, the F8 is
instead fabricated as a pair of chips that had to be used together to
form a complete CPU. The graphics are quite basic, although it is in
color, which was a large step forward from the contemporary Pong machines. Sound is played through an internal speaker, rather than the TV set.
The controllers are a joystick without a base; the main body is a
large hand grip with a triangular "cap" on top, the top being the
portion that actually moved. It can be used as both a joystick and
paddle (twist), and not only pushed down to operate as a fire button
but also pulled up. The unit contains a small compartment for storing
the controllers when moving it: this is useful because the wiring is
notoriously flimsy and even normal movement could break it
There are twenty-six cartridges, termed 'Videocarts', that were
officially released during the ownership of Fairchild and Zircon.
Several of these cartridges are capable of playing more than one game
and were typically priced at $19.95. The Videocarts are large and
yellow, and usually feature colorful label artwork reminiscent of the
artist Peter Max. The console contains two built-in games,Tennis and Hockey, which were both advanced Pong clones. The reflecting bar could be changed to diagonals by twisting the controller, and could move forward and backward.
A sales brochure from 1978 lists 'Keyboard Videocarts' for sale. The
three shown were K-1 Casino Poker, K-2 Space Odyssey, and K-3
Pro-Football. These are to use the Keyboard accessory which is a 16
button keypad. All further brochures, released after Ziron took over
Fairchild, never listed this accessory nor anything called a Keyboard
Videocart.
There is one additional cartridge released numbered Videocart-51 and
simply titled 'Demo 1'. This Videocart is shown in a single sales
brochure released shortly after Zircon acquired the company. It was
never listed for sale after this single brochure which was used for
winter of 1979.
Ken Uston reviewed 32 games in his book Ken Uston's Guide to Buying and Beating the Home Video Games in 1982, and rated some of the Channel F's titles highly; of these, Alien Invasion and Video Whizball were considered by Uston to be "the finest adult cartridges currently available for the Fairchild Channel F System."
The games on the whole, however, rated last on his survey of over 200
games for the Atari, Intellivision, Astrocade and Odyssey consoles, and
contemporary games were rated "Average" with future Channel F games
rated "below average".
Uston rated almost one half of the Channel F games as "high in
interest" and called that "an impressive proportion" and further noted
that "Some of the Channel F cartridges are timeless; no matter what
technological developments occur, they will continue to be of
interest." His overall conclusion was that the games "serve a limited,
but useful, purpose" and that the "strength of the Channel F offering
is in its excellent educational line for children."
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