The Grandstand Tutor

As many of the mysteries about the Tutor's past are solved, particularly with respect to its origins and cousins in Japan, its British ancestor now becomes the obscurity of note. For that reason, I have started to publish this stub in hopes of fleshing out this entry in the future.

Grandstand was the trade brand for Adam Imports (later Adam Leisure Group Ltd and Adam Leisure Group plc) who primarily imported from Asian toy and game manufacturers such as VTech, Epoch, Sega and Tomy and U.S. game maker Entex, rebadging them for the domestic British (and, at least for some period, New Zealand) market. Adam had a particularly close relationship with Tomy for many years and released many of their tabletop games, so it was logical for Tomy to approach Adam Imports when moving the Pyuuta westward outside of the Japanese market.

An enlargement of the case badge, which reads "Grandstand(R) Tutor, 16K Computer, by TOMY."

A review of the Grandstand Tutor in the UK computer magazine Your Computer 10/83, graciously furnished by Chris Stratford, is the only major reference in the literature to the UK Tutors. The pictures on this page are from that article, which I now have a physical copy of and scanned.

The Grandstand Tutor, as depicted in the article. Click for a larger view (169K).

The unit looks very similar to the released American Tutor except for two missing ports (composite video and audio) which have holes but no connectors.

From the review, which you can read at the link above, we can draw the following conclusions or at least strong implications:

• There are two distinct Grandstand Tutors, the earliest version, and the later version reviewed in the article. The very earliest Grandstand Tutor appears to have been based on the original Japanese Pyuuta firmware, but presumably translated to English ("In its initial version the Grandstand computer contained only GBasic [sic]" -- the original Pyuuta did not have Tomy BASIC). This version of the firmware probably falls somewhere between the Pyuuta's and the Pyuuta Jr.'s, which came out late 1983. There is the faint implication that the first Grandstand was only a demonstration model for the UK importers, who, as the article states, sent it back for upgrading. The picture may be that model given that the logic board doesn't seem finished.

• The second Grandstand Tutor appears to be the same firmware as the American Tutor (except for being PAL), as it seems to act the same as the Tomy Tutor based on the article's description. This upgraded UK Tutor no doubt preceded the American Tutor too since it seems from this review that it was Adam Imports' complaint that spurred the inclusion of Tomy BASIC; it is reasonable to conclude that the American Tomy Tutor was based on this second Grandstand revision after the changes were incorporated into the BIOS.

• Whether any were sold. I do have reports of PAL Tomy Tutors from a few Europeans, but that doesn't mean they were Grandstand Tutors.

• Whether both revisions reached market, if any did at all.