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Perhaps unsurprisingly, since General Instrument was already involved in the cable industry, Mattel worked with
them to produce PlayCable—The All Game Channel. According to the official
Blue Sky Rangers
site, PlayCable launched in 1981, but was never widely adopted. Because newer games became too large to download
to the PlayCable unit, as well as high costs, the service ended in 1983. You will also find a small bit of other information
here.
Information about exactly which titles were available on the service is sketchy. Special thanks to cmart
for sharing the list of games in his PlayCable Playbook. Titles including the PlayCable icon
( ) are from known copies of the PlayCable Playbook.
To date, 37 titles have been explicitly identified from the Playbook.
In addition to the games documented in the Playbook, this list also contains titles whose manuals have been
found in the special packaging customers of the PlayCable service received to store manuals and overlays.
Manuals distinctly marked with PlayCable part numbers (having the PC prefix) and which make reference
to the service in the documentation are considered offical. Other games are included in which a PlayCable
manual set included a manual for the game, but had no part number at all. Perhaps these were prepared before
Mattel realized the titles could not be downloaded due to the increased size of the later titles? For example, most of the later
titles could not have been supported. Were plans to modify these in some way to accomodate the limitations of PlayCable? The world may never know.
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Note: This count is highly speculative, based on the few PlayCable manual kits
that have been discovered. OK, it's mostly based on my set and one that Hankster has
been kind enough to comb through and share scans from. If you know of anything missing or
incorrect, please
contact me!
PlayCable
|
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ABPA Backgammon |
1119 |
Yes |

2
|
R2 | Early copies include a full-color manual and a box with FOR T.V. VIEWING ONLY text above title; game review / info |
 |
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Cartridge |
3410 |
Yes |

2
|
C1 | ; game review / info |
 |
Armor Battle |
1121 |
Yes |

2
|
C2 | Early versions came with a full-color manual and a box with FOR T.V. VIEWING ONLY text above title; apparently the PlayCable release used the Hong Kong G1 manual (validated also by Hankster); game review / info |
 |
Astrosmash |
3605 |
Yes |

2
|
C3 | Some copies include an update to the instructions; the standard U.S.A. manual has also been spotted in PlayCable bundles (independently confirmed by Hankster and Atari_Bill); game review / info |
 |
Auto Racing |
1113 |
Yes |

2
|
U3 | Both ROM variants, many overlay and manual variations; the 1113-0820-G3 (Hong Kong) manual has surfaced in PlayCable packages as well; game review / info |
 |
Boxing |
1819 |
Yes |

2
|
U3 | ; game review / info |
 |
Bump 'n' Jump |
4688 |
Yes |

2
|
U1 | The standard U.S.A. version of the manual has also appeared in PlayCable packages; game review / info |
 |
BurgerTime |
4549 |
Yes |

2
|
C2 | Manual found in PlayCable kits has no part number; game review / info |
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Buzz Bombers |
4436 |
Yes |

2
|
R2 | Standard part number manual also found (thanks to Atari_Bill for the information); game review / info |
 |
Checkers |
1120 |
Yes |

2
|
U1 | Early copies have a full-color manual and a box with FOR T.V. VIEWING ONLY text above title; released in British-English markets as Draughts; part number 1120-0920-G1 manual also found in some PlayCable boxes (thanks to Atari_Bill for the information); game review / info |
 |
Electric Company Math Fun |
2613 |
Yes |

2
|
U1 | Early copies have a full-color manual and a box with FOR T.V. VIEWING ONLY text above title; ROM variant: 'backwards' entry for answers; game review / info |
 |
Electric Company Word Fun |
1122 |
Yes |

2
|
U1 | In addition to the PlayCable edition, Hankster reports that the 1122-0920 (U.S.A.) manual appears in his PlayCable set; game review / info |
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Frog Bog |
5301 |
Yes |

2
|
U2 | Hankster reports that the U.S.A. version of the manual has appeared in a PlayCable set—still need clarification if it's a blue/blue or blue/green version of the manual; game review / info |
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Horse Racing |
1123 |
Yes |

2
|
U3 | ; game review / info |
 |
Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack |
2611 |
Yes |

2
|
C3 | Early copies have full-color manual and a box with FOR T.V. VIEWING ONLY text above title; 1978 and 1979 ROM variants exist; versions of the 2611-0921-G1 (Hong Kong) manual have surfaced in PlayCable packages as well; game review / info |
 |
Las Vegas Roulette |
1118 |
Yes |

2
|
C1 | Early versions have a full-color manual; copies of the 1118-0920(A) (Hong Kong) manual have surfaced in PlayCable packages; game review / info |
 |
Lock 'n' Chase |
5637 |
Yes |

2
|
C3 | ; manual color variation; have yet to confirm ROM variant in the wild; game review / info |
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Major League Baseball |
2614 |
Yes |

2
|
C3 | Early copies came with a full color manual and a box with FOR T.V. VIEWING ONLY text in the lower right area of the artwork; game review / info |
 |
Masters of the Universe - The Power of He-Man |
4689 |
Yes |

2
|
U1 | To be considered complete, the comic book must also be present; extremely doubtful that this was ever on PlayCable, but a copy of the standard U.S.A. manual and overlays is in my PlayCable set; game review / info |
 |
Mission X |
4437 |
Yes |

2
|
U3 | Game review / info |
 |
Motocross |
3411 |
Yes |

2
|
U1 | Game review / info |
 |
NASL Soccer |
1683 |
Yes |

2
|
C2 | ; game review / info |
 |
NBA Basketball |
2615 |
Yes |

2
|
C2 | Early copies came with a full color manual and a box with FOR T.V. VIEWING ONLY text above title; game review / info |
 |
NFL Football |
2610 |
Yes |

2
|
C3 | Early copies came with full color manuals and playbooks as well as a box with FOR T.V. VIEWING ONLY in the bottom left of the artwork; to consider a copy complete, it should have two playbooks; game review / info |
 |
NHL Hockey |
1114 |
Yes |

2
|
C2 | ; game review / info |
 |
Night Stalker |
5305 |
Yes |

2
|
C3 | ; Standard part number also found in some PlayCable boxes (thanks to Atari_Bill for the information); game review / info |
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PBA Bowling |
3333 |
Yes |

2
|
C1 | ; Standard version of manual also spotted in PlayCable boxes (thanks to Atari_Bill for the info); game review / info |
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PGA Golf |
1816 |
Yes |

2
|
C2 | ; game review / info |
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Reversi |
5304 |
Yes |

2
|
U2 | ; game review / info |
 |
Royal Dealer |
5303 |
Yes |

2
|
U3 | Most copies include correction slip (cover-up for a bug), though my PlayCable manual does not include such a correction slip; game review / info |
 |
Sea Battle |
1818 |
Yes |

2
|
C2 | Standard part number manual found in some PlayCable boxes (thanks to Atari_Bill for the information); game review / info |
 |
Shark! Shark! |
5787 |
Yes |

2
|
U1 | ; game review / info |
 |
Sharp Shot |
5638 |
Yes |

2
|
U1 | ; game review / info |
 |
SNAFU |
3758 |
Yes |

2
|
C2 | The standard U.S.A. manual has surfaced in at least two PlayCable sets; game review / info |
 |
Space Armada |
3759 |
Yes |

2
|
C3 | Both Space Network and Action Network (rare?) boxes exist; the 3759-0920 (Hong Kong) manual has been reported in multiple PlayCable sets as well; game review / info |
 |
Space Battle |
2612 |
Yes |

2
|
C3 | Both Action Network and Space Network versions exist, as well as ROM variants; early copies had full-color manual; the 2612-0920(A) (Hong Kong) manual has been reported in at least two PlayCable sets; game review / info |
 |
Space Hawk |
5136 |
Yes |

2
|
C3 | ; game review / info |
 |
Star Strike |
5161 |
Yes |

2
|
C3 | Some copies include a note about a bug in the game; game review / info |
 |
Sub Hunt |
3408 |
Yes |

2
|
C1 | Oddly, my PlayCable set has a copy of the Sears manual; were they just tossing in whatever they could find by then?; game review / info |
 |
Tennis |
1814 |
Yes |

2
|
C2 | Standard part number manual also found in some PlayCable boxes (thanks to Atari_Bill for the information); game review / info |
 |
Triple Action |
3760 |
Yes |

2
|
C2 | Hankster's, Atari_Bill's and my PlayCable sets contain a copy of the 3760-0920 (U.S.A.) manual; game review / info |
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Tron Maze-A-Tron |
5392 |
Yes |

2
|
U1 | Not sure if this was really a PlayCable title, but a copy of the 5392-0920 (U.S.A.) manual has been found in at least one PlayCable set; game review / info |
 |
U.S. Ski Team Skiing |
1817 |
Yes |

2
|
C2 | Some copies contain an errata slip; game review / info |
 |
Utopia |
5149 |
Yes |

2
|
U3 | ; game review / info |
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