Heavy Sixer Posted April 26, 2001 Share Posted April 26, 2001 Yesterday, I bought a few cartridges from one of my regular stops; as I was cataloging them, I noticed something very strange. I have in my possession a Human Cannonball cartridge with the Text 2 label (ref: John Earney's label variations list). The end label has 0 4 2 stamped on the end, indicating that this cart was made in January of 1982. Huh? I thought they stopped making the Text 2 style in 1980 (1978-1980), and switched to Text 3, which was followed by the familiar picture labels in 1981. Did Atari simply have surplus labels that they were using at that late date, or is this some kind of type-o? The stamped numbers only appear on Atari/Sears carts made between '81 and '84, yet the text 2 labels were canceled well before this. Has anyone else seen anything like this? -Heavy Sixer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 26, 2001 Share Posted April 26, 2001 I've found a few text2 labels outside the 78-80 range too. I have no explaination for it. Send me your findings and I'll add them to the list (it's about due for a new version). Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
videotwit Posted April 26, 2001 Share Posted April 26, 2001 Just to play the devil's advocate here, but has it ever been shown that the numbers stamped in the end labels of Atari produced 2600 carts actually are production dates? Now, I have done some significant research into this area (as far as Pac-Man carts are concerned, at least), and have never seen a stamp that doesn't follow the "date" pattern - but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are truely dating codes. Does anyone have any carts with end label stamps that don't fit into the pattern? Or does anyone have any other hypothesis about what these stamps could mean BESIDES dates? Better yet, does anyone have confirmation that they are dates (confirmation from an Atari Employee in the area of production would be awesome, if anyone could ever be reached)? Anyhow, these are just some ideas. I guess that I do think they are probably dates, myself, but wanted to open this discussion up to other possabilities, or even the possability of proving this "theory" (for lack of a better term). Thanks! Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari70s Posted July 24, 2001 Share Posted July 24, 2001 can some one explain this stamping numbers on that atari end labels ( also on the sears labels and what they mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 24, 2001 Share Posted July 24, 2001 The first two digits are the month and the last digit is the year. So 123 would be the 12th week of 1983. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari70s Posted July 24, 2001 Share Posted July 24, 2001 cool and what woudl 033R mean 3rd week of 1983 R? what is the R for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 24, 2001 Share Posted July 24, 2001 Dunno... I've seen that too. My best guess would be where it was assembled (but what would R stand for?). That would be my guess. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari70s Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 hmm i wonder if there are any 530 or 534sout there 53rd week 1980 or 1984 ( leapyears) that would be pretty unique. he tempest since your into rare items want to see the screen shot of my game when dad transfers teh digital pictures i just took . i doubt they will be good the camera sucks but i got soem close ups and some fade aways. he told em 2 or 3 feet back for the best pics but oi dont buy that. people tend to improvise at times. maybe the R means REDO? they redid the labels?dont knwo i was thinking place of manuactored. but who knows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 I was thinking about that. R could mean they had to redo a set of labels because the first batch got messed up. But why bother putting the R on the label? It's not like you have serial numbers like you do with money (and the * notes). Sure send me those pictures. If you want to see my stuff go to my page: http://www.msu.edu/user/reicher6 Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
videotwit Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 A few even have an "S" on them, IIRC. (I've seen very few of these, however.) The date theory really does make the most sense - noone has been able to disprove it at least - so I think these letter codes probably tie in somehow with that. It certainly isn't random, but I don't have any good ideas about why they were used. [ 07-25-2001: Message edited by: twit ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahfish Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 just a thought ... R could stand for "Revision". just like there has been imagic carts with labels saying rev. a or rev. b, still the labels are just the same ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 Another mystery for the ages I suppose. Just like my prototype codes... Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
videotwit Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 I'll try to see if I can find it again, Ben. My collection has gone through a major reorganization recently, so it may be a time-consuming effort. (I've moved from organization by manufacturer's part number to alphabetically by manufacturer - plus I've weeded out the label variations and traded many of them off to try to focus on obtaining new titles) In any case, I'll try to dig it up tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari70s Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 HEy all im going to my manuals cause i got a hunch on this ok keep on track on the location thery S = can mean either SUNNYVILLE, CA (my frist run guess other reason might mean that it was made in Somerset, NJ???i doubt that but who knows where there factories were R = Rolling Medows ,IN?? if this is true then there is some A's out there for Alington,TX theres to S places S might be one then SU sunnyvale or SO for the somerset location?? lol let me know if thats clear reading. but is it sounding far fetched? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
videotwit Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 This might not be too far off, though. Most stamps do not have a letter associated with them - could it be that these were produced at the location with the highest output? An analogy might be made to mint marks on coinage if this is true... Who has a list of all the US factories producing carts... anyone... anyone... Another question: what are people's opinions about when the stamps were added to the end labels - before or after they were attached to a cart? (I don't know if this tidbit of information could help at all, but there is always a possibility it may.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skatepunk60 Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 just a hunch but the stamp may have been applied after it was affixed to the cart because i had a v. pinball game that the end label fell off of and where the stamp was imprinted it stuck to the cart like it was really hit hard onto it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
videotwit Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 That is my assumption as well. Then what this would seem to indicate would be that the stamp is associated with the actual production of the cart rather than the label itself (which is whay I asked the question in the first place). If it is true, that means that the letters imprinted could very well be the place of the carts manufacturing - which would be much easier to track down than the locations where Atari had the labels printed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skatepunk60 Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 it kinda sounds like the codes printed on coins to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari70s Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 well i still go with the theroyis still that what i posted early i still did Somerset ,NJ make atari carts? i know sunnyvale, CA made games, can anyone varify Arlignton Texas or the one in IL? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
videotwit Posted July 26, 2001 Share Posted July 26, 2001 Well, I just spent the last million hours (or so it seemed at the time) digging through all my carts to see if I could dig up that "S" stamp. No luck, unforunately. Maybe I am remembering incorrectly, or maybe I just traded it. Has anyone else remembered seeing this end stamp besides me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari70s Posted July 26, 2001 Share Posted July 26, 2001 off to the races searching for the S stamp. ( what happened to the stamp machine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari70s Posted July 26, 2001 Share Posted July 26, 2001 2 questions Star Ship big yellow text 1977 on the label stamped 45 2 45week of 82? and also slotracers 1978 label stamped 12 2 whats up with that are we all lookign for the atari inc stamps or also sears too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ze_ro Posted July 26, 2001 Share Posted July 26, 2001 My Slot Racers cartridge has "E511" stamped onto the end label... anyone care to speculate what the E stands for? Note that it comes before the number and not after it. Other than this stamp, it's just a normal picture label Slot Racers. Also, a lot of my Atari-made games have no stamp at all. Did Atari stop/start doing this at some point? --Zero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari70s Posted July 27, 2001 Share Posted July 27, 2001 Zero, im thinkign that atari might have started this in the 80s and carts before 1980 wont haevt this sticker and im thinking about 84 85 the video game crash to cheapin the price andall might have stopped BEN, a 0 9 3 D ? 9th week of 83 but what is up with the E 5 1 1 51st week of 81 . hmmm maybe it was atari day stamping? e=5th day d=4 that wouldnt work cause what to do with days 28-31 (if you think day 27 is a blank like z=26? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari70s Posted July 28, 2001 Share Posted July 28, 2001 hey i got a sticker (looks to be factory done on my DRAGONFIRE Imagic cart any intfo on that ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.