History of video games/Platforms/BSS 01

Development
The system used imported chips from the United States of America, a rare occurrence due to the prevalence of clone chips and serious export restrictions on legal transport of such chips to communist nations. These chips were likely obtained by funneling them through a network of fake companies to hide their use from export regulations and then smuggled across the border to East Germany.

Launch
The BildSchirmSpiel 01 (BSS 01) was released sometime around 1980 in East Germany for 500 East German marks, playing games similar to Pong. This cost of the console was prohibitive, costing as much as a worker would make in a half month.

Legacy
The price was reduced to 330 East German Marks in 1984, when the system was discontinued having sold 1,000 consoles, in order to focus production on alarm clocks with radios.

Around the reunification of East Germany with West Germany in 1990, most East German computer organizations folded. This included the BSS 01 manufacturer Halbleiterwerk Frankfurt Oder (HFO), which ceased operations around 1991. Despite widespread unemployment initially, the computer industry had returned to former East German areas by 2000.

Retrospective
The BSS 01 serves as a unique example of how a Warsaw Pact country approached building a video game console during the Cold War, and the barriers that had to be surmounted to create it. It furthermore shows how social factors surrounding the release of a console could cause it to sell poorly, in this case a high cost compared to standard worker wages.

Technology
The BSS 01 uses a GI AY-3-8500-7 chip and produces black and white graphics.

External Resources

 * Old Computers - BSS 01 page with history and specs.
 * Pong Museum - BSS 01 page with history, photos, and specs.
 * Game Medium - BSS 01 page with history.