Probably the oddest releases for Sears that year were the Sears exclusive Speedway and Hockey/Pong consoles. Speedway was a racing/pong hybrid that came in 2 and 4 player (Speedway IV) models. What was unique as well (besides the use of the same hardwired wedge controllers, and 2 extra detachable ones in the 4 player model) was that it had a human and robot mode. The robot mode would allow you to play games directly against the console itself when other players weren't present, through a limited sort of game AI. Hockey/Pong was similar to Super Pong, however it was housed in the original Pong style case. The two systems were also unique for using a "pong on a chip" not manufactured by Atari - Speedway using the Universal Research Labs F4301, and Hockey/Pong using the previously mentioned GI chip. In exercise of the fact that Sears did not have an exclusive marketing agreement, they also signed on to distribute an OEM version of calculator manufacturer APF's entry in to the home pong market. The Tele-Games Hockey-Tennis was an APF TV Fun in Tele-Games clothing, and used the same exact GI chip as the Atari created Hockey/Pong.

Atari's Pong.

True to their word, consoles with the actuall Atari label did not actually enter the market until that year as well. The first was their version of the original Pong console. The very first pong console to bear only Atari's name, it was exactly the same as the original Sears model except for the labeling. It was joined by Atari's version of Super Pong, which played identical to the Sears version but continued to use the original Pong style case and mounted dials. Atari also needed it's own exclusive release of course, the Super Pong Ten. This console was a hybrid of the Sears consoles they were manufacturing, which also added 6 more games. It supported 4 players and used the same detachable wedge shaped controlers (with the appropriate Atari insignia), but used the original Pong case design and mounted dial controllers for players 1 and 2.

Something happened on the way to planning for next year's Christmass season however - the home Pong market exploded largely thanks to the help GI and their OEM "pong on a chip". 52 individual Pong consoles by 45 seperate companies were released between 1975 and 1976. To keep on top of the home pong market, Atari tried to follow their previous strategy in the early coin-op market by staying ahead of competitors through innovation. They created 7 consoles for Sears and 6 for their own label for release in 1977, funded partially in thanks to Atari's sale that year to Warner Communications.