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Wow! Intellivision Keyboard Component 1149 on Ebay!


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On 1/14/2024 at 5:21 PM, rietveld said:

How many are known to exist?

Best recollections are that between 4,000 and 6,000 units were assembled. We know for sure that the serial numbers of released units passed 2400. Of course, not all of the assembled units were sold. Because Mattel rushed into production without building a pre-production prototype, the first units didn't work; the very first few were sent to APh to troubleshoot. The next few went to Chandler's group. Marketing gave about 150 to focus group participants to take home and play with. Marketing also got 100 or so for show-and-tell. Twenty were used for life-testing the tape drives; these were repurposed as development systems for Baum's group. A U-Haul full, probably about 200-250, was delivered to APh for some kind of a networking project right around the time the product was cancelled. We know that Dave Chandler took at least three home. Various other Mattel executives got units too: you can be sure that there are some barely-touched Keyboard Components hiding in closets belonging to Prodromou, Gillis, Rudd, Baumbush, Fairbanks, Barnes, Quan, Lishman, Denham, Daglow, Timmins and the like. The unit that just sold on ebay (SN 1960), described as having "been adult owned its entire life," might well have been one of these. Prospective retail customers got some units too. Units were sent to France and China to support software development there. A few units are known to have walked out the door with laid-off employees. The lawyers representing Mattel in the Magnavox case got several to use as exhibits, so did the lawyers representing Mattel in settling accounts with the assembly house. The California Museum of Science and Industry contacted Mattel for product to power an exhibit where visitors could answer a few questions about energy and, if they got them right, play an Intellivision game—there were 3 or 4 stations, and they presumably got enough backup product to make replacements for wear and tear.

So no, this non-functioning using-up-valuable-room-in-the-closet-because-it's-too-big-to-display-in-the-living-room-next-to-the-Picasso-and-too-valuable-to-be-stored-in-the-damp-basement treasure isn't exactly one-of-a-kind. They don't change hands much because those who own one have an emotional attachment that can't be broken for a mere $5,000. To their wives' chagrin, the owners will hoard their precious until they die. Then their heirs, who have no such attachment, will put them on ebay for $25,000 and see who bites. Even papaintellivision's heirs were quick to so dispose of his legacy.

WJI

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On 1/14/2024 at 5:21 PM, rietveld said:

How many are known to exist?

Then again, if a unit doesn't work, does it really exist? No keyboard component works today if it hasn't at least had the tape belts replaced, and maybe the capstan. And then there's the failure prone SMC CRT5037. And those pesky, leaky electrolytic capacitors. It's also worth noting that decle and Ron the Cat had to resort to building a tape-deck emulator to resurrect the software.

WJI

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On 1/15/2024 at 1:44 AM, Intvfun said:

Well a few thousand were sold. 

But they did a recall for a full refund.

The number actually reported back as sold to customers was over 1200; the total probably didn't exceed 1400. Not all purchasers were identified and the number of returned units was lower than expected. Mattel's lawyers designed the repurchase offer to be attractive and well-publicized enough to shield the company from liability, but management wasn't exactly heart-broken over units that weren't returned.

However, more than 1400 had entered the distribution chain, and returning the unsold inventory of an abandoned product to Mattel wasn't exactly anyone's priority. All the retailers cared about was getting credit, which Mattel was quick to provide, and Mattel management's mindset was to move on from the mess as expeditiously as possible. So not all unsold inventory made it back to Mattel.

WJI

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On 1/14/2024 at 5:21 PM, rietveld said:

How many are known to exist?

Interesting question, I found 2 dozen with a little googling:

               Just sold on ebay (SN 1960)
               Owned by William Moeller
               Owned by Ron the Cat (SN 2081, Computer III logic board)
               Formerly owned by Dave Chandler, put on market by his heirs
               Formerly owned by Dave Chandler, sold at PRGE auction in 2012 (SN 400357)
               formerly owned by Dave Chandler (he had 3 total)
               Marketed on ebay by Press Start, British Columbia in 2022
               Owned by Keith Robinson/Intellivision Productions/successor in interest
               Offered by findingmemoriesdaily, Long Island, in 2022 (SN 400963)
               Picked up by Deprekate for $75 in 2016
               Owned by y-bot with Computer III logic board
               Owned by y-bot with Computer II logic board
               Owned by Rick James (SN 401303)
               2 of which Tallarico said "We have 2 as well," but BSRSteve claims one is his.
               Owned by Alex Pace in Italy
               Owned by retrogmr
               Sold off by retrogmr
               Owned by krslam
               Owned by MonsterSky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWp-wPnshQE
               Owned by classic-videogames which was obtained from ex Mattel employee in early 2000s.
               Owned by Joe Z.
               2 of which cmart once knew the immediate whereabouts

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5 hours ago, Rod said:

 

Interesting question, I found 2 dozen with a little googling:

               Just sold on ebay (SN 1960)
               Owned by William Moeller
               Owned by Ron the Cat (SN 2081, Computer III logic board)
               Formerly owned by Dave Chandler, put on market by his heirs
               Formerly owned by Dave Chandler, sold at PRGE auction in 2012 (SN 400357)
               formerly owned by Dave Chandler (he had 3 total)
               Marketed on ebay by Press Start, British Columbia in 2022
               Owned by Keith Robinson/Intellivision Productions/successor in interest
               Offered by findingmemoriesdaily, Long Island, in 2022 (SN 400963)
               Picked up by Deprekate for $75 in 2016
               Owned by y-bot with Computer III logic board
               Owned by y-bot with Computer II logic board
               Owned by Rick James (SN 401303)
               2 of which Tallarico said "We have 2 as well," but BSRSteve claims one is his.
               Owned by Alex Pace in Italy
               Owned by retrogmr
               Sold off by retrogmr
               Owned by krslam
               Owned by MonsterSky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWp-wPnshQE
               Owned by classic-videogames which was obtained from ex Mattel employee in early 2000s.
               Owned by Joe Z.
               2 of which cmart once knew the immediate whereabouts

You can add me to that list.

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6 hours ago, Rod said:

 

Interesting question, I found 2 dozen with a little googling:

               Just sold on ebay (SN 1960)
               Owned by William Moeller
               Owned by Ron the Cat (SN 2081, Computer III logic board)
               Formerly owned by Dave Chandler, put on market by his heirs
               Formerly owned by Dave Chandler, sold at PRGE auction in 2012 (SN 400357)
               formerly owned by Dave Chandler (he had 3 total)
               Marketed on ebay by Press Start, British Columbia in 2022
               Owned by Keith Robinson/Intellivision Productions/successor in interest
               Offered by findingmemoriesdaily, Long Island, in 2022 (SN 400963)
               Picked up by Deprekate for $75 in 2016
               Owned by y-bot with Computer III logic board
               Owned by y-bot with Computer II logic board
               Owned by Rick James (SN 401303)
               2 of which Tallarico said "We have 2 as well," but BSRSteve claims one is his.
               Owned by Alex Pace in Italy
               Owned by retrogmr
               Sold off by retrogmr
               Owned by krslam
               Owned by MonsterSky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWp-wPnshQE
               Owned by classic-videogames which was obtained from ex Mattel employee in early 2000s.
               Owned by Joe Z.
               2 of which cmart once knew the immediate whereabouts

Cmart has one, I think he had 2 but sold one to an Italian collector.

 

I think BBWW has one too.

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10 hours ago, Rod said:

 

Interesting question, I found 2 dozen with a little googling:

               Just sold on ebay (SN 1960)
               Owned by William Moeller
               Owned by Ron the Cat (SN 2081, Computer III logic board)
               Formerly owned by Dave Chandler, put on market by his heirs
               Formerly owned by Dave Chandler, sold at PRGE auction in 2012 (SN 400357)
               formerly owned by Dave Chandler (he had 3 total)
               Marketed on ebay by Press Start, British Columbia in 2022
               Owned by Keith Robinson/Intellivision Productions/successor in interest
               Offered by findingmemoriesdaily, Long Island, in 2022 (SN 400963)
               Picked up by Deprekate for $75 in 2016
               Owned by y-bot with Computer III logic board
               Owned by y-bot with Computer II logic board
               Owned by Rick James (SN 401303)
               2 of which Tallarico said "We have 2 as well," but BSRSteve claims one is his.
               Owned by Alex Pace in Italy
               Owned by retrogmr
               Sold off by retrogmr
               Owned by krslam
               Owned by MonsterSky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWp-wPnshQE
               Owned by classic-videogames which was obtained from ex Mattel employee in early 2000s.
               Owned by Joe Z.
               2 of which cmart once knew the immediate whereabouts

You can add me as well to the list.

 

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10 hours ago, Rod said:

Um. I was just doing a quickie survey. I was not planning to become KEEPER OF THE LIST.

You've done alot of digging and posted some excellent information. It would be a shame to waste that talent. The community needs people that are willing to go that extra mile to find a good & true history of the system we love. Your doing a great job!

 

... we got you now.

200w.gif

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a.thumb.jpg.c07658bb240b2db6b7a772ea07e3a22c.jpg

On 2/19/2024 at 9:23 AM, Lathe26 said:

You can add me to that list.

 

On 2/19/2024 at 2:16 PM, BBWW said:

You can add me as well to the list.

 

Serial numbers or they don't exist.

Edited by Rod
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5 hours ago, Rod said:

 

a.thumb.jpg.c07658bb240b2db6b7a772ea07e3a22c.jpg

 

 

 

Serial numbers or they don't exist.

Fair enough - I return from my trip next week. Until then collection photos offer a plausible truth.

https://flickr.com/photos/13839114@N00/albums/72157714568894336/with/51050897827

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On 2/20/2024 at 2:50 AM, DZ-Jay said:
On 2/19/2024 at 4:33 PM, Rod said:

Um. I was just doing a quickie survey. I was not planning to become KEEPER OF THE LIST.

Too bad.  TAG! YOU'RE IT!!! 😆

On 5/26/2011 at 3:45 PM, RYsr said:

I have one of the original Intellivision 1149 computer stations with original box and manual.

On 1/8/2013 at 9:13 AM, Foom said:

I also own a Keyboard Component.

On 1/13/2013 at 6:55 PM, Knarfian said:

Here are a few really old pictures of the board I was working with

On 6/1/2016 at 1:14 PM, cmart604 said:

There are actually a number of working ones out there, including at least one of Joe's.

On 6/1/2016 at 1:49 PM, Rextro said:

I would be interested in fully testing and confirming mine properly.

On 12/13/2016 at 7:18 AM, Games For Your Intellivision said:

I've included a few pictures of Frank, Myself (William Moeller) and Carl Mueller posing with my Keyboard

On 2/24/2018 at 3:01 AM, intvnut said:

Man... now I feel like I need to dig my KCs out of storage and open them up.

 

On 5/8/2020 at 12:58 PM, BSRSteve said:

HEY. One of those is MINE

On 5/8/2020 at 2:37 PM, retrogmr said:

Tape drive is an on-again, off-again affair.

On 5/9/2020 at 11:28 AM, Alex.Pace said:

One is mine

On 5/8/2020 at 3:45 PM, krslam said:

I've got one too if we're counting.

On 2/19/2024 at 2:16 PM, BBWW said:

You can add me as well to the list.

 

All right, guys. Since DZ-Jay has officially tagged me, ship me your KC's so I can verify their serial numbers.

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On 2/28/2024 at 1:33 AM, Rod said:

All right, guys. Since DZ-Jay has officially tagged me, ship me your KC's so I can verify their serial numbers.

a.thumb.png.9907e2aa65c4184fe5d1d19989124e7c.png

Keep 'em comin'. Be sure to include all digits, including the leading "4" if there.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2/19/2024 at 6:36 PM, Rod said:

 

Interesting question, I found 2 dozen with a little googling:

               Just sold on ebay (SN 1960)
               Owned by William Moeller
               Owned by Ron the Cat (SN 2081, Computer III logic board)
               Formerly owned by Dave Chandler, put on market by his heirs
               Formerly owned by Dave Chandler, sold at PRGE auction in 2012 (SN 400357)
               formerly owned by Dave Chandler (he had 3 total)
               Marketed on ebay by Press Start, British Columbia in 2022
               Owned by Keith Robinson/Intellivision Productions/successor in interest
               Offered by findingmemoriesdaily, Long Island, in 2022 (SN 400963)
               Picked up by Deprekate for $75 in 2016
               Owned by y-bot with Computer III logic board
               Owned by y-bot with Computer II logic board
               Owned by Rick James (SN 401303)
               2 of which Tallarico said "We have 2 as well," but BSRSteve claims one is his.
               Owned by Alex Pace in Italy
               Owned by retrogmr
               Sold off by retrogmr
               Owned by krslam
               Owned by MonsterSky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWp-wPnshQE
               Owned by classic-videogames which was obtained from ex Mattel employee in early 2000s.
               Owned by Joe Z.
               2 of which cmart once knew the immediate whereabouts

The one previously owned by me was passed along to Doug P. aka 'Foom'. He's owned it since about 2010. 

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On 2/21/2024 at 1:37 AM, BBWW said:

Fair enough - I return from my trip next week.

Back yet?

On 3/25/2024 at 4:27 AM, Games For Your Intellivision said:

The one previously owned by me was passed along to Doug P. aka 'Foom'. He's owned it since about 2010. 

Acknowledged and list updated to reflect.

a.thumb.png.dc41b218c76db67ed7e35520e1f9b031.png

All right the rest of you: keep those numbers coming.

 

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