The Tomy Tutor, originally sold in Japan as the and in the UK as the

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...

Tutor, is a home computer produced by the Japanese toymaker

Tomy is a Japanese entertainment company that makes children's toys and merchandise. It was created from a merger on March 1st 2006 of two companies: Tomy (founded in 1924 as Tomiyama, changing the name to Tomy in 1963) and long-time rival Tak ...

. It is architecturally similar, but not identical, to the

TI-99/4A The TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A are home computers released by Texas Instruments in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Based on the Texas Instruments TMS9900 microprocessor originally used in minicomputers, the TI-99/4 was the first 16-bit home computer. ...

, and uses a similar

Texas Instruments TMS9900 Introduced in June 1976, the TMS9900 was one of the first commercially available, single-chip 16-bit microprocessors. It implemented Texas Instruments' TI-990 minicomputer architecture in a single-chip format, and was initially used for low-end ...

16-bit CPU.TMS9995, closely related to the TI-99/4's

TMS 9900 Introduced in June 1976, the TMS9900 was one of the first commercially available, single-chip 16-bit microprocessors. It implemented Texas Instruments' TI-990 minicomputer architecture in a single-chip format, and was initially used for low-end ...

); other competitors in its price range still used 8-bit microprocessors. The Pyūta Jr. was a console version of the Pyūta, released in April 1983, and similarly was only sold in Japan. In Japan, Tomy set a sales target of about 90,000 units and ¥5 billion revenue for the first year by selling Pyūta to elementary and junior high school students as a "drawing computer", having nearly 40,000 units shipped in its first 4 months as of August 1982. However, sales fell sharply when

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

released Family Computer (later deployed as

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

) in 1983 as a cost-effective option. In February 1985, Tomy ceased its production and withdrew from the market. As of May 1984, a total of 120,000 units were shipped for domestic and export use in Japan. Pyuta mk-II

In the other hand, the Tutor did not sell well against the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

in the UK and the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

in other countries outside Japan. It ended up being removed quickly from the market and replaced the following year by the Pyūta mk2 with a standard mechanical keyboard instead of the original "Chiclet"-style keyboard. However, the new model seems to have been sold only in Japan, and even then only for a short period of time.

Technical specifications

* CPU: Texas Instruments TMS9995 * Video:

TMS9918 IMAGE:TMS9918A 01.jpg, VDP TMS9918A IMAGE:TMS9918A 02.jpg, VDP TMS9918A IMAGE:TMS9928A 01.jpg, VDP TMS9928A The TMS9918 is a video display controller (VDC) manufactured by Texas Instruments, in manuals referenced as 'Video Display Processor' (VDP ...

VDP ** Resulution: 256 x 192 pixels ** 16 colors, up to 2 colors out of 8 horizontal dots ** Up to 32 monochrome sprites of 8 x 8 pixels, max 4 per horizontal line ** No

hardware scrolling In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

function * Memory: 20 KB ROM built-in, 16 KB RAM (with 256 bytes CPU RAM built-in) * Keyboard: 56 keys, JIS compliant * Sounds: SN76489AN DCSG "Digital Complex Sound Generator" * Weight: * Media:

ROM cartridge A ROM cartridge, usually referred to in context simply as a cartridge, cart, or card, is a replaceable part designed to be connected to a consumer electronics device such as a home computer, video game console or, to a lesser extent, electroni ...

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...

* Expansion: data recorder (optional), game adapter

List of games

* ''Baseball 3D'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''Battle Fighter 3D'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''Bomb Man'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''Car-azy Racer'' (USA-exclusive, developed by Wordwright) * ''Cave Crawlers'' (USA)/''Maze Patrol'' (Japan) * ''Deep Six'' (USA)/''Marine Adventure'' (Japan) * ''Donpan'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''

Frogger is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and manufactured by Sega. In North America, it was released by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct a series of frogs to their homes by crossing a busy road and a hazardous rive ...

'' (Japan-exclusive port of the 1981

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

arcade game) * ''Hyperspace'' (USA)/''

Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer a ...

'' (Japan) * '' Jungler'' (USA/Japan, port of the 1981

arcade game) * '' Loco-Motion'' (USA)/''Guttang Gottong'' (Japan) (port of the 1982

arcade game) * ''Mickey Athletic Land'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''Mission Attack'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''Monster Inn'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''

Mr. Do! is a 1982 maze game developed by Universal. It is the first arcade video game to be released as a conversion kit for other arcade machines; Taito published the conversion kit in Japan. The game was inspired by Namco's ''Dig Dug'' released earlier ...

'' (Japan-exclusive port of the 1982

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

arcade game) * ''Mystery Gold'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''Night Flight'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''

Pooyan is a fixed shooter arcade game released by Konami in Japan in 1982. It was manufactured in North America by Stern Electronics. The player controls "Mama", a pig whose babies have been kidnapped by a group of wolves. Gameplay The player contr ...

'' (USA/Japan, port of the 1982

arcade game) * ''Rescue Copter'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''Saurus Land'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''

Scramble Scramble, Scrambled, or Scrambling may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * ''Scramble'' (video game), a 1981 arcade game Music Albums * ''Scramble'' (album), an album by Atlanta-based band the Coathangers * ''Scrambles'' (album) ...

'' (USA/Japan, port of the 1981

arcade game) * ''Super Bike'' (Japan-exclusive) * ''Torpedo Terror'' (USA)/''Bermuda Triangle'' (Japan) * ''Traffic Jam'' (USA/Japan) * ''Triple Command'' (Japan-exclusive) * '' Turpin'' (Japan-exclusive port of the 1981

arcade game) * ''Yonin Mahjong'' (Japan-exclusive)

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite magazine, url=http://www.gondolin.org.uk/hchof/reviews/yc-tutor, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215155544/http://www.gondolin.org.uk/hchof/reviews/yc-tutor, date=October 1983, author=Simon Beesley, magazine= Your Computer Kquote=Simon Beesley looks at .the Tomy Tutor, to be sold in this country as the Grandstand Tutor., archive-date=2018-12-15, access-date=2019-07-19, title=Japan's Latest Contender itle visible on printed version}

External links

Tomy Tutor
at Floodgap.com
Review of Tomy Tutor
from '' Your Computer'' magazine, October 1983
Tomy Tutor/Pyūta page
at Old-computers.com

Home computers Takara Tomy Products introduced in 1982