dwh Posted September 10, 2005 Share Posted September 10, 2005 I was going through my Atari 2600 game boxes and some of them still have the price on them, so I thought someone might be interested. Most every game listed below was purchased between 1982 and 1985 and one or two might have been purchased some time in the very late 1980s. Berzerk $24.97 Hills Department Store (I think we got this within weeks of its release) That is about what I paid for my copy at a Toys-R-Us, but I pissed the checker off by paying for it with a bag of change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindfield Posted September 10, 2005 Share Posted September 10, 2005 (edited) I just noticed I just got a boxed Squeeze Box with a price tag of $20.02 from Kay-Bee on it. The original price is crossed out with red felt marker and a new price of $7.99 was written in. Edited September 10, 2005 by Mindfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted September 11, 2005 Author Share Posted September 11, 2005 I just noticed I just got a boxed Squeeze Box with a price tag of $20.02 from Kay-Bee on it. The original price is crossed out with red felt marker and a new price of $7.99 was written in. 928986[/snapback] Damn! I can only make a black line over red. Oh well, close enough: $20.02 $7.99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.Yancey Posted September 11, 2005 Share Posted September 11, 2005 This site is handy for adjusting inflation.. If you bought something for $24.97 in 1980, in 2004 it will be equivalent to $57.23, figuring 2.292 inflation, which is about right.. 928780[/snapback] That makes it pretty easy to figure out with their calculator. I don't know how they really arrived with their factor for inflation. I think it has averaged 4% for quite a while now. Even most government jobs give out 3.xx% cost of living raises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arlo Posted September 11, 2005 Share Posted September 11, 2005 They used the average CPI in that calculation-specifically CPI-U. There are lots of fun ways to calculate inflation, but that's probably one of the most seen. It's the one where they have a basket of goods to purchase, and they calculate the cost of those goods to urban consumers. It's also the basis of the inflation calculator on BLS.gov, which seems to match the results of the calculator in the link posted by Maibock with maybe a rounding issue. If anyone's bored enough to want to read about this stuff, you can look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI FAQ here I checked out the Cleveland Fed's website, and they have a nifty tool that'll chart inflation based on a couple of factors over various timeframes. It can be found here. You can click the download to excel and check out the quarterly statistics. As far back as 1992, sometimes inflation approaches 3.5%, but stays below, often significantly below. In 1991 and previous years, however, it bounces around a lot (14+% year-over-year inflation in the first 2 quarters of 1980, yowza!) However, as I said before, inflation can be calculated in a multitude of different ways, so in all likelihood you've primarily seen stats based on a different marker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroeight Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 Most games were around $22-24. Later they were starting to aproach the $29-34 price. The activision games came out all priced at $19. It was one of their selling points. Sorry to bump an old thread, but I am doing research. I don't remember Activision costing $19 at full retail. Can someone confirm this please? lloyd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 Memory says that's about right. Confirmation would come from receipts or catalogs and flyers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 Agreed. That's a pretty glaring error, since Christmas sales are always such a big deal with video games... Pac-Man was NOT part of the mad rush for Christmas toys in 1981 (or EVER, since it had been out for 9 months by Christmas 1982). But I do think it was a big part of the reason for the disappointing Christmas 82 sales. Pacman the arcade kicked off the early 80s videogame boom. I remember everybody was excited that "Pacman is coming to the Atari!". When it finally came, I'm sure it killed off a lot of the video game hype because the 2600 port did almost nothing right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 Not only are games today cheaper, adjusted for inflation, but they offer an incredible amount of content compared to what they used to have to squeeze into a 2K or 4K cartridge. I always roll my eyes when I see gamers today complaining about getting ripped off because a game "only" offers 30 or so hours of unique content. As opposed to the 15 minutes of content, 3 lives and you're dead that we used to pay the same price for. lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari PAC-MAN Fan Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 When video games were new, back then, they costed approximately about $30 before the video game crash of '83. That's not very much compared to the prices of Super Nintendo and Genesis games in the 90's which were like $60 or $70 when they were new. I would say that the cost of new games today are approximately $40-$60. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUNNER Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Just for some info about Atari in Spain. Games were really expensive at the time (beginning of 80's). Basically 2 prices 50 euros (taking into account inflation) for more popular games such as asteroids or space invaders and 30 euros for activision's and not so popular games such as air sea battle or circus. As for the console itself it cost 300 € at the time. All this lead to only a few people owning Atari. I was lucky at the time :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zonie Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Yeah, Activision games were $19 ($18.95, whatever). I remember that being really cool that they were so cheap. I actually got both Pac Man and Defender early at our local Sears. Pissed off all my friends. I thought Pac Man was so lame, I sold it to one of my teachers shortly after I got it. I think it was $30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zwackery Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Yeah, Activision games were $19 ($18.95, whatever). I remember that being really cool that they were so cheap. I actually got both Pac Man and Defender early at our local Sears. Pissed off all my friends. I thought Pac Man was so lame, I sold it to one of my teachers shortly after I got it. I think it was $30. Not to throw shade on anyone's memories, but like a lot of companies, Activision gave the retailers a manufacturer's suggested retail price, so the consumer cost will vary by store and location. I have a copy of Pitfall! with a price tag of $24.99 on it (from Skaggs). I also have Bridge ($21.95 from Movie World), Double Dragon ($25.00 from unknown), Fishing Derby ($19.94 from Murphy's), Seaquest ($1.99 from Revco, clearly crash-priced), Skiing ($21.95 also from Movie World), Stampede ($7.88 from Nichols), and Starmaster ($24.99 from Cosco). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroeight Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Not to throw shade on anyone's memories, but like a lot of companies, Activision gave the retailers a manufacturer's suggested retail price, so the consumer cost will vary by store and location. I have a copy of Pitfall! with a price tag of $24.99 on it (from Skaggs). I also have Bridge ($21.95 from Movie World), Double Dragon ($25.00 from unknown), Fishing Derby ($19.94 from Murphy's), Seaquest ($1.99 from Revco, clearly crash-priced), Skiing ($21.95 also from Movie World), Stampede ($7.88 from Nichols), and Starmaster ($24.99 from Cosco). Activision games were not "discount" games at $19. Looking at old ads it seems that $25-$30 was the price for the good titles like Pitfall etc. That fits into the 31.95 MSRP that Atari used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FOX2600 Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Swordquest FireWorld 50¢ Revco Lol, poor fireworld. It makes me wonder if most casual gamers didn't realize you needed the comic or know of the contest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mulletino Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Most of my boxed Atari games from BITD have their original UK price stickers on. I'll try to remember to grab the info for reference. I _do_ know that I wouldn't have paid that price though, most of mine were bought in the January Sales with my Xmas/Birthday money for much cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Combat Posted Sunday at 07:53 PM Share Posted Sunday at 07:53 PM Hollywood suggested retail price for wizard games. 1983 Halloween....$39.95 1983 Texas chainsaw massacre....$39.95 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted Monday at 02:43 AM Share Posted Monday at 02:43 AM 6 hours ago, Captain_Combat said: Hollywood suggested retail price for wizard games. 1983 Halloween....$39.95 1983 Texas chainsaw massacre....$39.95 I'll take a case of each please 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Combat Posted Tuesday at 12:47 AM Share Posted Tuesday at 12:47 AM 21 hours ago, cvga said: I'll take a case of each please $40 was a lot of money in 1983. I was working two jobs making around $3.50 an hour. A movie cost $2 or $3. Used to love going to happy joes pizza and mall playing asteroids, donkey Kong, Pac-Man etc. Liked defender but it ate my quarters quickly. I beat galaga after a couple weeks playing took about 2 1/2 hours so my quarters went a long ways in that game. Used to play at a friend's house who had a Atari 2600 and thought it was amazing playing combat, bezerk etc. Nowadays I think we should destroy tech before it destroys us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted Tuesday at 03:43 AM Share Posted Tuesday at 03:43 AM 2 hours ago, Captain_Combat said: $40 was a lot of money in 1983. I was working two jobs making around $3.50 an hour. A movie cost $2 or $3. Used to love going to happy joes pizza and mall playing asteroids, donkey Kong, Pac-Man etc. Liked defender but it ate my quarters quickly. I beat galaga after a couple weeks playing took about 2 1/2 hours so my quarters went a long ways in that game. Used to play at a friend's house who had a Atari 2600 and thought it was amazing playing combat, bezerk etc. Nowadays I think we should destroy tech before it destroys us. Good points. I got my first real job in 1985 making $2.85 an hour. It would have taken awhile to pay for those two cases of games especially when I, like you, was spending a my check one quarter at a time (or buying music or buying Commodore 64 stuff, etc). A year later I was spending my money on my future wife. I had no chance from that point on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted Tuesday at 01:09 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 01:09 PM Here's some prices from the 1983 Sears Christmas Catalog http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1983_Sears_Wishbook/files/assets/common/page-substrates/page0599.jpg And some discounted games since this was the first year of the Crash http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1983_Sears_Wishbook/files/assets/common/page-substrates/page0600.jpg http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1983_Sears_Wishbook/files/assets/common/page-substrates/page0601.jpg 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jeremiahjt Posted Tuesday at 06:15 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 06:15 PM 5 hours ago, zzip said: Here's some prices from the 1983 Sears Christmas Catalog http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1983_Sears_Wishbook/files/assets/common/page-substrates/page0599.jpg And some discounted games since this was the first year of the Crash http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1983_Sears_Wishbook/files/assets/common/page-substrates/page0600.jpg http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1983_Sears_Wishbook/files/assets/common/page-substrates/page0601.jpg I have either never seen the 24 cartridge cabinet, or seen one and not realized there was a missing plastic cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+pboland Posted Tuesday at 06:43 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 06:43 PM On 9/10/2005 at 11:55 AM, maibock said: This site is handy for adjusting inflation.. If you bought something for $24.97 in 1980, in 2004 it will be equivalent to $57.23, figuring 2.292 inflation, which is about right.. I know this post is from 2005, but I thought it would be neat to adjust for inflation in 2024. And that $24.97 game in 1980 would cost (wait for it)....$94.65 today. That was using this calculator: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ Just to test the calculator, I put in the $57.23 form 2004 to today and got $94.63. Only off by 2 cents. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted Tuesday at 06:52 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 06:52 PM 8 minutes ago, pboland said: Just to test the calculator, I put in the $57.23 form 2004 to today and got $94.63. Only off by 2 cents. They probably both use the same algorithm and the price inflated by 2 cents in between your tests! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+tcmultimedia Posted 4 hours ago Share Posted 4 hours ago I remember buying most of my 2600 games in the early 80s from Circus World, a toy store in our mall. They used to do a weekly ad in the local newspaper, and was always so excited to see that. Defender is one I really remember- $34.99! So expensive, I mowed tons of lawns back then. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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