A strange Othello with stamp, something special, or selfmade

[MattyXB]

For a long time I own now this Othello. Don't know where I buy it. And first I have not see it, but it has a stamp on the lable at the top.

 

There stand this:

NR6

DEZ

84

 

Is this a special cartridge? Or has someone stamp it by his own?

Is this made from Atari, like a test cartridge?

Its a PAL cartridge.

 

Someone know something about this? Or has this nothing to say?

[CPUWIZ]

I'd say it was put on by someone afterwards, my guess is:

 

Nummer 6

Dezember 1984

 

My $0.02

[MattyXB]

You mean, that someone buy it in Dezember 1984 as his 6th cartridge?

 

Maybe. But I have see for some month a Combat cartridge, which was numbered by Atari as a Test cartridge, or something like this.

 

Here is a picture from this auction in the past. Maybe my Othello is something like that?

[CPUWIZ]

That looks like a packaging slip and from the looks of it was shipped to Atari Sunnyvale Quality Control (15 boxes of 12 carts each). I don't think it's a test-cartridge, I think it's the final product but I could be wrong.

[MattyXB]

Under the packaging slip you see the endlable from this Combat. And this look strange. Its numbered with 13.

 

And in the auction was this sold as testcartridge from Atari. But never see this before. And never see this again. Maybe its like a Prototype?

[jahfish]

combat: well, it's not a test cartridge but a tested cartridge. atari have regularly taken out games from the regular production to test them, and this is a tested cart. i remember being second bidder on that auction .... but this cart is only interesting when the documents come with the cartridge.

 

othello: i wouldn't go too far with speculations, since there's no obvious signs or any documents that could make you think that it's something special ... since the date is also in germany, i'd guess it might really be just a guy who numbered his own carts

[Turnspike]

«snip»

othello: i wouldn't go too far with speculations, since there's no obvious signs or any documents that could make you think that it's something special ...  since the date is also in germany, i'd guess it might really be just a guy who numbered his own carts

 

That's one snazzy numbering job then. It dosen't look like pen and ink. I would say look very closely at the black ink on the numbers and compare it to the black on the rest of the label. Even hold the label at an angle and see if the blacks look the same. If the numbers were on the same printing plate that laid the black ink for the rest of the label than the ink should be identical. However, it it was laid down afterwards, there should be a difference in the inks. Very few black inks are alike, often times when you comprare blacks, you will find some will have alot more blue in them, even tho you don't notice when you look at that shade of black on its own. Also look for signs that the numbers were "pressed" into the label, a sign of after-numbering. This is just a tip from your friendly neighborhood Litho printer.

[Turnspike]

After further inspection of the label scan, you can see that the very top edge of "NR 6" just meets the black background of the rest of the label. This not only makes it easy to compare blacks, but this is also a way to position the lettering as far up and out of the way of the illustration as possible. This may not be anything special, but it looks to me that it is incorporated into the image design.