No Label

[hedgehog]

I seen like 10 atari 2600 carts at a thrift, but didn't buy them because they had no labels. I have no Idea wich games they are. I don't know if I should buy them, they are like 3$ a peice.

[Pitfall Harry]

Label Lotto can be a blast to play, but not at $3 a pop. Chances are, the label-less carts are the ultra common titles for a couple of reasons:

 

1. There are statistically so many more common games than rare games.

 

2. The common games are generally the most fun to play. Therefore they got more play and their labels fell off from excessive handling.

 

I'm usually game for a round of Label Lotto if I haven't found anything in the wild for a long stretch. But even then, I'd pass if they wanted more than a dollar for their naked cart.

 

The rarest thing I've ever found without a label so far is Imagic's No Escape.

 

Ben

[King Asmo]

I wouldn't play "Label Lotto" as Pitfall Harry calls it for more than 50 cents a cart.

 

Whenever I play, I *always* seem to get Q*Bert or Popeye.. once I got an Empire Strikes Back and an Amidar cart. Woo.

 

95% or more label-less carts I've ever seen are Parker Bros. ones, so that's why I've gotten so many Popeyes and Q*Berts.

 

KA

[Pitfall Harry]

Sometimes there will be a cart with a label that's 98% torn away. It can be a real challenge to figure it out what a game could be by looking at only 2% of a label. Of course, the cartridge case offers significant clues as well. I once bought a Sky Skipper cart that had only a teeny fragment of label remaining because I HAD TO KNOW if I'd guessed right. If it had no label at all, I would have passed it up.

 

Oh, and I guessed wrong. It turned out to be Strawberry Shortcake. That's the way it goes.

 

Ben

[atari70s]

In my time ive seen 2 carts (still at the thrift shop) forsale 1.00 ea

 

one is aSega cart with no label on it ( i cant even unscrew it since it is odd shaped. ).

 

teh second cart is an 2600 cart with 7800 label. The chip is a 2600. so im thinking its a cover up of a common game. probably not worth the 1.00

[atarimastermarty]

Popeye and Q*bert are easier to find labeless because of Parker Brother. They put there labels on crappy. I opened my sealed tutunkahmen, to find that the label was already peeling off. It had never been touched by hands! So yes im sure there more common to find those 2. Yea, 3 bux a pop is kind of expensive. Im not to sure i would have done that. Ive never even found a labeless cart.

[Keir]

If you're at a flea market with someone who sells a lot of Atari games, you could try to buy all the label-less ones at a discount, like 5 for $1 or something.

 

I know I always find myself eyeing PB carts thinking, "what if it's a Q*bert's Qubes?"

[King Atari]

I know the feeling about PB carts. I once found a PB cart with only the edge of the end label on, and I saw Q-Bert on it. "This might be Q-Bert's Qubes!". Of course it was plain Q-Bert.

[Room 34]

I have a knack for winding up with yet another copy of "Frogger" in this kind of scenario.

[Elektro]

I have a knack for winding up with yet another copy of "Frogger" in this kind of scenario.

 

lol! I was just reading this message, and thinking of the label-less cart I just bought from goodwill yesterday, and it turned out it was Frogger! I haven't found anything in so long, my curiousity got the better of me. I think it's the first label-less cart I've ever bought.

[Pitfall Harry]

The AtariAge cartridge rarity guide lists the label-less Halloween cartridge as an 8 and the variation with label as only a 7. I wonder how many collectors would try to upgrade the rarity of their collection by giving up their labeled Halloween for the unlabeled one and throw in something else to even up the trade? Or how many collectors would simply tear the label off their cart to get an even sweeter, haggle-free deal?

 

I guess if enough collectors tore the label off, eventually the labeled variation would become the rarer. That would show 'em.

 

Ben

[hedgehog]

Well, I went back today, I didn't by any of the carts with no lable. I guess 3$ is a little to much for a cart that u don't even know the name of. They had a few other carts with labels though, Bowling, Jungle Fun, Asteroids, Donkey Kong, and packman.

[StanJr]

Dude, I love the Label Lottery, but $3 a pop is a bit much. I get a lot of Pac-man and combat from label lottery, and M Network games are ALWAYS fun!!! I got 3 of them free at Philly and ended up with Frog's N' Flies, SuperChallenge Football, and Astroblast! Weeee! Good fun.

[Ridenmy65]

I did get lucky one time and picked up a label-less cart and it turned out to be dishaster by ZIMAG. Not too bad for my buck.

[hedgehog]

Well I went and bought one today, and it was Chase the Chuck Wagon:) J/K