Unexpected RCA Studio II find (and questions)

[+thegoldenband]

In a completely bizarre turn of events, my fiancée just turned up five CIB RCA Studio II games in her parents' house/childhood home! I was actually there last weekend when she found the first two, and she turned up three more when she visited on her own this weekend. Here's what we have:

 

Space War

Tennis/Squash

Baseball

Math Fun

Blackjack

 

She wasn't able to find the console after a brief search, but we'll look more extensively when we next visit.

 

No one in the house has any idea where they came from, so our suspicion is that they belonged to her late father, who was a computer programmer and would've been interested in early consoles (we have his old C64 stuff). Chances are that these were packed away before my fiancée was even born, and somehow they survived in her sister's closet for who-knows-how-many years.

 

Naturally, this has raised a few questions:

 

- If we're not able to find the console, how much are they going for these days?

- If we find it but it doesn't have the proprietary switchbox, how hard is it to mod for standard RF/power?

- If we decide not to keep the games (unlikely) or decide to buy more, what's the going rate for Studio II CIBs?

- I know that there's been some homebrew activity for the console; is there a list somewhere?

 

I'm going into this whole thing with very low expectations -- I'm more than aware of the console's very poor reputation. But between the sentimental value of these items, and the sheer serendipitous surrealism of finding RCA Studio II stuff where where you'd never expect it, I'm intrigued.

 

And it also helps to know that there's some real activity on the Studio II scene, including this thread which I need to read in more depth but seems to indicate that a multicart is in the works. (Of course, we already have almost half of the console's official library as it is...)

[boxpressed]

Cool find. I'd say that a loose Studio II with switchbox and power supply should sell for between $35-$55, depending on condition. The problem is that many of these aren't tested, and I hear that the failure rate is above average. Add maybe $5 per CIB game, unless it's Bingo. CIB prices are all over the place because of BINs (both too high and too low). I'd say that one with a nice condition box is worth at least $100.

 

After picking up a beautiful CIB Studio II from AA member Atari2008, I have a loose one for sale if you're interested. It has been tested and is working. It comes with the switchbox but not the power supply. I've used a 2600 PS with it with no problems (both require 9v). PM if interested.

Edited July 1, 2013 by boxpressed

[0078265317]

Is this the same thing. eBay Auction -- Item Number: 111106332654

[boxpressed]

Is this the same thing. eBay Auction -- Item Number: 111106332654

 

Yes, but this doesn't come with the switchbox. The switchbox is actually the power switch to the console; there is no physical switch on the console. Flipping the switch to "game" turns on the Studio II, so the console cannot be operated without the switchbox.

[+thegoldenband]

^Thanks, boxpressed. I think I'd like to do a thorough search at the house first, but if we don't find it, I may well take you up on that (if it's still available).

 

BTW what does a Studio II do when you first boot it up, but before you press RESET? I've read that you have to press that in order to get things going, and that's certainly the case in MESS -- the screen flashes endlessly until you press F3 to kick things into gear.

[BassGuitari]

 

BTW what does a Studio II do when you first boot it up, but before you press RESET? I've read that you have to press that in order to get things going, and that's certainly the case in MESS -- the screen flashes endlessly until you press F3 to kick things into gear.

 

When you boot up a Studio II, you should get a blank black screen and a warbling beep. Screens of garbled nonsense have also been known to happen on power-up, which is fine as long as you get the black screen after you press the Reset button. I'm not familiar with any flashing, though. That's probably a MESS thing, though I have no idea what or why.

 

You'd be surprised how many people think their perfectly good Studio II systems are shot because they don't know what to make of the "boot-up screen." Not that I necessarily blame them; admittedly, it's not exactly the most intuitive console of all time.

[+thegoldenband]

^Thanks, that's good to know. No idea why MESS has the flashing garbage screen, but Studio II emulation in MESS seems to live up to the program's name.

[CatPix]

Funny to know that the 1292/Interton VC 4000 works the same.

From what I read, it's because of the RAM : In the mid 70's, processor-compatible RAM was extremely expensive, so a design idea was to put a minimal amount of RAM to load a piece of code that will allow to use the video RAM as regular ram (same thing in the Colecovision, that's why it got 1ko of RAM and 16ko of VRAM).