Colecovision

Aces Pizza in Williamsburg had there hands on a lovely piece of video game history with this Colecovision. But 40 years of ware had finally taken its toll on the machine. The door for the expansion module was lodged open, there was something loose inside rattling around, and when we tried to boot it up we couldn’t get a clean signal.

Behind the sticker on the front panel, there are three screws (one in the middle and two on either side) that need to be removed in order to access the motherboard. Some people online say you can remove the top of the console without accessing the front panel screws in an attempt to avoid disrupting the integrity of the adhesive that holds the iconic sticker in place. Personally, I think you are at more risk of stressing the 40+ year old plastic enclosure this way. With some care the sticker can be lifted to access the screws and a little plastic friendly glue or double sided tape will hold it back in place if the original adhesive no longer serves its purpose.

Once inside I was greeted by a few decades of dust and the culprit of the rattling noise which ended up being an old thumbtack. With the dust removed and the pins where the game is inserted cleaned, I was able to get a clear signal and every cartridge I tested booted up smoothly.

The lodged expansion module door had come off its track and was easily realigned. Fun fact, The expansion module was a peripheral device that allowed the Colecovision to play Atari 2600 games! That would be like if Playstation had an adaptor to run xbox games by todays standards.