Fast forward to May, 1997, a thrift somewhere in Chicago. During my normal rounds I spot what looks like an unusual intellivision. At first I thought it was a tandyvision, since i've never seen one of those. I picked it up, 'tutorvision', hmm, never heard of that one. Looks like a normal intellivision Model I, and upon testing later, it plays normal intelly carts.

Asking around on IRC, noone seemed to have heard of it. So, I emailed DougM, keeper of the INTV list and Keith Robinson, spokesman of the Blue Sky Rangers. Doug had never heard of it, but i got the following reply from Keith:

"INTV Corp. made a deal in the late eighties with World Book to release an orange Intellivision with special educational software. The entire deal fell apart with both companies suing each other. Dave Warhol of Realtime Associates, the company that wrote the special games, has always maintained that neither the system or the games were ever released.

Yours is the first report of anyone in the outside world ever having seen the orange Intellivision. We were under the belief that none were ever manufactured. Have you actually found one, or did you come across a picture of it in an old World Book brochure?

Either way, we'd like to hear. We were about to post information about this episode on an INTV page on the site, but with the claim that nothing related to it was ever released."

"Again, since we didn't think they were released, we don't know what they looked like if they were. However, it's doubtful that INTV would have spent money on new molds, so they probably would look just like regular Intellivision cartridges, altough possible in the same color as the master component.

We've been trying to put together the complete list of the World Book games, but so far Dave Warhol can't find his files from the project. He seems to remember they were to be packaged as two sets with six cartridges per set. One of the programmers who worked on the games recalls that two of the titles were "Story Stopper" and "Zoo Review." "

The main things that I noticed right off about the system were:

1) It has a power on LED, just like the INTV III.
2) The buttons on the keypad are bubble-style and not flat like the INTV III.

Pictures of the World Book Tutorvision

• Here is a picture of the entire tutorvision from afar. You can easily see the grey and gold cladding and trim, which gives the tutorvision its distinctive appearance. The blue plastic which encircles the keypads is another unusual feature. You can also see the power-on LED on the lower right, in between the off/on switch and reset.

• A overhead view of the Tutorvision. Notice the blue plastic under the controllers.

On top: "TUTOR-VISION by world book
On bottom: "World Book, Inc. A Scott Foresman company

• A closer overhead shot where you can see the Tutorvision logo on the top portion of the console, and the World Book emblem on the bottom.

• Another overhead view. Notice the CED selectavision player behind the unit, arcane hardware prevailed at this convention!

• Kevin Horton has taken apart the Tutorvision and here is the motherboard. it's definitely different from an Intellivision Master Component, as there is a great deal of component consolidation/update between the two, and its internals are quite new, some of the chips inside dated as late as 1990.

I compared the Tutorvision to my INTV III and they are identical in the basic case design. These versions (and the original release, model #2609) had smooth-sided openings into which the controllers could be stored. The second release of the original console (model 2609A) had two inch-long indents in the mail console's areas where the controller's side buttons would rest if the controllers were stored in the console.

I have never seen any report validating the reason for this change, but best guess would be that Mattel had reports from the field that side button contacts were failing and that this mod provided some stress relief for the contacts.

The syle of the numeric buttons on the Tutorvision matches my INTV III (bubble-type). It was mentioned that the INTV III had the flat-type buttons such as the Intellivision II had, if someone DOES have one of these, I'd like to verify it.

Editor's Note: I (Kalla) have seen an INTV III just like the one Scott mentioned. A friend of mine, Scott Kelley, has an INTV III just like this. I recall it with some degree of amusement because I recall complaining how hard the buttons were to "press" during a heated Utopia game.

On the original system, as the controller is slid into it's docking section, the top end (where the coiled cord is connected) is designed to fit flush with the center section of the console (where you can see vent lots in the opening photo on Kalla's home page). The Tutorvision's controller has an molded-in extension where the cord meets the controller. Shaped about 3/4" wide, it extends about 1/4" deep under the console's vents. This is a design I have not seen before and is not on my INTV III. ALSO, a minor redesign of the unerside of the controllers was noticed. There is a moulded-in relief in the base of the controller allowing the coiled cord to fit better underneath the stored controller.