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History
The story of the RCA Studio II starts with Joseph Weisbecker, an engineer at RCA. In the 1960s, Weisbecker was trying to convince RCA to enter the personal computer segment, while the company was in the mainframe business. He knew he needed a working prototype to have a chance of convincing RCA’s management to invest in such a market. So in his free time, he built a computer from off-the-shelf parts and named it FRED, for Flexible Recreation and Educational Device. Joseph wanted to present his creation to RCA but needed the right approach. Jerry Herzog, a colleague at RCA, helped Weisbecker turn FRED (renamed System 00) into a microprocessor-based design, since they thought this would be the best way to convince RCA to invest in the project. RCA took notice of the System 00 design and invited both men to join its Solid State Division to continue their research there.
Joseph Weisbecker continued developing new versions of FRED on his own, adding features such as a light gun, a cassette player and a smaller form factor. Once in a while, RCA allowed him to bring his new creations to the research facility so that other engineers could work on them. The engineers finally managed to condense System 00 into two chips. From there, Weisbecker created the final version of the FRED prototype, dubbed FRED 2. His design document shows that he played with various ideas, such as a modem and data storage on vinyl, cassette and ROM. RCA decided to use FRED 2 to develop an arcade cabinet. Dubbed FREDOTRONIC, the cabinets used interchangeable games and were among the first arcade machines to use microprocessors. Five games were created for the arcade: Mines, Chase II, Computer Bowling, Swords and Scramble-Split Seconds. Sadly, after the cabinets were deployed in a test market, the reception was not good, and RCA decided to pull the plug on this venture.
In 1976, Joseph Weisbecker pitched the idea of a home video game console to RCA. RCA hired Andy Modla to program the games. It also bought games from Joyce Weisbecker, Joseph’s daughter, who had developed games using the FRED prototype they had at home. With this transaction, she became the first female professional game developer. RCA already knew the shortcomings of its system: it was black and white, the graphics were a bit crude, and it did not have detachable controllers. RCA planned to correct these flaws in a future release, thinking that what it had was good enough to enter the market as it was.
Release
The first prototype was ready in March 1976. Dubbed the Videomate, the system was planned for release before the 1976 Christmas holiday, but delays with the FCC pushed the release to February 1977.
This time, the reception in the test market was positive, and RCA decided to proceed with a nationwide release in April. The system came with five built-in games: Freeway, Addition, Bowling, Patterns and Doodles.
Production took place on a labor-intensive assembly line of about 125 workers, mostly women. Chips and discrete components were inserted by hand. Everything was wave-soldered except for a few wires. Production ran at 1,000 units a day on a single shift. Three or four adjustment and troubleshooting stations on the line performed rough testing of the RF components. The tests used a test-program cartridge that displayed different patterns on the screen and tested the keys, the beeper and the expansion slot. RF output levels were verified at a final test station using a Boonton RF power meter.
A bit later, cartridge production started in the same facility at a rate of 3,000 units per day.
The system continued to receive good reviews, but sales were still sluggish. Units piled up in the warehouse and never sold briskly, since the competition already had color video game consoles with detachable joysticks.
During this time, RCA continued working on the RCA Studio III, an improved version of the Studio II. The new version had better graphics, color capabilities and better sound, while remaining backward compatible with the previous version. Some of the later games released for the Studio II, such as Biorhythm and Math Fun, were actually RCA Studio III games.
With the Studio III almost ready, RCA even started work on the RCA Studio IV, an intermediate home PC, and the RCA Studio V, a full-fledged computer.
Demise
Although owners of the RCA Studio II loved their console, the device was not very popular. Units piled up in inventory, and RCA decided to offer units to its employees at a discount. After a disastrous Christmas season, RCA pulled the plug on the console and sold its remaining stock to Radio Shack for 10 cents on the dollar. Radio Shack sold the Studio II at a discount and even sold the hardware needed to build a programming cartridge for the device. At this point, the Studio II had sold fewer than 64,000 units.
In April 1978, a ray of hope appeared for the RCA Studio line when RCA licensed the rights to the RCA Studio III hardware and games to the Conic Group, a Hong Kong-based electronics giant. The deal included all the games released for the Studio II, plus Bingo, Star Wars, Concentration Match and Pinball.
Games
Ten games were officially released for the RCA Studio II in cartridge format (this excludes the five built-in games). Other cartridges were released in other countries, based on the RCA Studio III hardware. An eleventh game, TV Casino Series: TV Bingo, was also found in the wild, but we have found no indication that it was ever released. With only two copies found, it is highly likely that this cartridge was either a prototype or an early production copy, and that the game was cancelled before its release.
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| TV Arcade I: Space War 18V400 |
TV Arcade II: Fun with Numbers 18V401 |
TV Arcade III: Tennis/Squash 18V402 |
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| TV Arcade IV: Baseball 18V403 |
TV Arcade Series: Speedway/Tag 18V404 |
TV Arcade Series: Gunfighter/Moonship Battle 18V405 |
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| TV School House I 18V500 |
TV School House II: Math Fun 18V501 |
TV Casino I: Blackjack 18V600 |
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| Biorhythm 18V700 |
Additional Cartridges
Although not commercially available, the following cartridges also exist:
- TV Bingo: An unreleased bingo game, although some copies do exist. The game was finally released as an RCA Studio III cartridge.
- Demonstration Cartridge: Used in stores to show off the system’s capabilities.
- Test Cartridge: Used by RCA to test the system as it came off the production line.
- Prototype cartridges also exist.
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| TV Casino Series: TV Bingo 18V601 |
Demonstration Cartridge Stock No. 5008331 |
Test Cartridge |
Built-in Games
The system came with five built-in games:
- Addition
- Bowling
- Doodle
- Freeway
- Patterns