Alex

Ah, I was wondering about that. They seemed very similar, but the descriptions weren't exactly the same. First Quarter also looks like it's being reprinted on Amazon's site (new release date), which added to the confusion. I hadn't heard anything about it though...

Yes, the 2/5/7 would be good. It's something we've been meaning to do, we just haven't gotten around to it yet. We initially had the left-side nav on the message board pages, but removed them to give more space to the boards. We'll definitely do the 2/5/7, anyone else have any comments on the left-side nav?

Oh yeah - any word on Joust?

You're right - how's that?

Hey Guys - The original idea was just to have a single auction, but it only involved a few homebrew cartridges at the time. There have since been many amazing pledges and a single auction would obviously not be the right choice. I doubt we will run single auctions for every item - some things will be bundled together, such as a book auction, a homebrew game auction, an autographed games auction, and some things like the VCSp and prototype helmet should get their own auctions. The goal here was to raise awareness among classic gamers, and we thought the traffic generated by this site could help to that end. We will be trying to run the auctions in the manner that generates the most income while still remaining manageable. People are certainly encouraged to run their own September 11th auctions, although a number of people have commented to us that they don't want to sign up for Billpoint which is required, so sending an item to us is preferable to them. If anyone has any suggestions about how we may improve this auction, please drop us a line. We'll also change the text so that it's clear we will be running multiple auctions, although not necessarily 1 auction per item.

It's pretty rare (we rate it a 7/10), but much rarer with the box. I think a stash of loose carts were found at one time, but if you have the box it usually doubles the price (or more). I've never heard of any of the Xonox programmers being tracked down.

Not at all. We appreciate any kind of feedback. Some label variations have made it in even though we don't really include them as a whole. It would probably less confusing, for the very reason you cited, if we remove things like the bowling color variation. I know the same thing has happened with copyright variations - we have a few, but by no means all or even most of them.

I know I've had better luck with a RCA/Coax adapter than a traditional switchbox. Read about it here.

There's a huge amount of label variations that we do not cover. It depends on where you draw the line. There are cartridges where the "c" for copyright is slightly more curved for example. Currently, different color text variations generally falls in a category we do not cover. If many people want to see something included, we'll do so, so if you want it included, try to make a case for it and get people to agree with you. This site exists for the public, and we try to make inclusions based on general consensus. I would also suggest looking at Matt Reichert's Giant List of Label Variations, which does include minute variations and text color variations.

And in case anyone's wondering, he doesn't have any Xante stuff left over. It was all liquidated when they filed Chapter 7, and he has no idea what happened to it.

Randy Jones and Marco own the carts we have scanned. Beany Bopper I have a picture of from Ebay, but I don't have a scan. I don't know who won it. I've also heard that someone found a Xante Colecovision game, but I've never seen a picture. Roger Collins, the founder, said they had plans to make games for all the competing systems. So, who else lives in Tulsa? The K-Mart label is interesting. Roger said they never actually made it into K-Mart. He says they were scheduled to test market in the local K-Mart in the beginning of '84, but the crash that started in late '83 killed those plans. He said they only acutally sold in some convenience stores and grocery stores, and he didn't remember Lamar either.

Andrew Davie and Joe Grand should be thanked for the idea and getting the ball rolling. We are merely organising and promoting it.

For those of you that don't check the main page regularly: http://www.atariage.com/features/auction/We all know about the tragic and senseless attack that took place on September 11th. To do our small part in helping with the relief effort, AtariAge is organizing a Classic Gaming Charity Auction with proceeds to benefit the United Way September 11th Fund. We are looking for donations of unique and rare Classic Gaming related items which we will organize into a large, one of a kind auction that we hope will raise a significant amount for the relief efforts. To help contribute to this cause, please visit this page, which has all the information on what we're doing and how you can help.

Do you know which issue? We have scans offline, I can look for you. Never mind, I found it, you made me curious. Here's a cropped image from the existing scan I had: Frog Pond [ 09-18-2001: Message edited by: Alex ]

Coming along very nicely! Keep posting about your updates, I've been following the progression of your game. I look forward to finally seeing new 5200 games from you and Tempest.

This was just one employee, and perhaps he left before they started making carts, or maybe he just didn't know about them. I don't know how big the BB operation was, and how aware everyone was of everything that was going on. If they did make them, it's entirely possible they were licensed. Perhaps they made a deal right before the crash, and only a small amount were published. Or maybe it was a pirate company like he said. Mysteries like this are what makes 2600 history so much fun...

Thanks for your comments. Most of my opinions of Zellers rarity has been what I've seen on Ebay, I probably search at least once a week. FWIW, I've seen boxes for all the games listed in our db, but I don't have nices scans of all of them. About Laaser Voley though - have you ever seen a Laaser Voley Zellers box? Or pulled a Laaser Voley cart out of a Laser Volley Zellers box. I've seen that cart too, but my opinion has been that it was just a similar pirate cart never sold by Zellers. It seems that there was a large source (or several sources) of those games with a black end label, white text, and a funky picture on it. Zellers probably bought from that source and put them in their own boxes. So there are many Zellers style games that weren't actually sold by Zellers. Thoughts?

I talked to ex-Beagle Bros employee Randy Brandt, and he says that he was not aware that Beagle Bros ever made any games for the 2600. I showed him the cart scans we have, and he thinks it was a pirate company trying to capitalize on the BB name. Anyone know anything else?

Hmmm, good point, I never noticed that. It's so commonly referred to as Decathlon that I think it may confuse some people, but personally I prefer accuracy over tradition. Anyone else? Good eye.

So, somebody else mentioned Zellers as being innacurate. Anyone else care to make their estimation of rarity? Here is our Zellers page for our take. When we created the Zellers section, we basically started at 5 and went up or down depending on where we felt they fell on the scale. Comments?

quote: Originally posted by StanJr: Perhaps the actual definition of what makes a game rare is what is being called into question. Does mere number of copies determine rarity, or is it available copies? Is it the visibility of games? Perhaps we need to re-evaluate what Rare means? A good question. Traditionally, the rarity guide has reflected existence, not strict availability. And it's never been local - in other words, all those Oshea's games are considered common, even though you might not have ever seen them at the local flea market. Theoretically that could be a problem if one person owned all copies of a particular game. Would it be rare just because nobody can get it? In a strict definition, no. It might be "unavailable", but not rare. The bottom line is that it's a subjective process. The more people comment on specific game rarities, the more accurate the list might become.

Thanks again! Interesting, that sure doesn't look like the usual Ultravision T-Case. Could it be there is a Karate variation? That's one more for you to collect, Marco! Karate T-Case

As far as released US games go, not counting any minor label variations, all we need are: Ultravision Karate Pong Sports (Sears picture label) Vidco Copy Cart That's it, for the items we know about. Also a few homebrew titles like Dark Mage, Thrust, and Video Simon. After we get those three, I'll start asking for boxes, and of course there are many more boxes that we need. Oh yeah, and an Atari Blackjack picture label. Reliable sources claim to have seen it, but I've been unable to verify it. The other three listed above I've actually seen, but I don't have scans, just digital photos that aren't very detailed. [ 09-17-2001: Message edited by: Alex ]

Thanks Marco! Whenever we ask for something really rare, you seem to have it. So, um, how about a scan of Ultravision Karate? Did Gauntlet actually come with a box or manual? [ 09-17-2001: Message edited by: Alex ]

With the recent addition of the Spike's Peak single ender to our archive (thanks Mark!), we only have a few US cart scans left to go. One of them is Answer's Gauntlet, anybody have this? How about a scan? Many thanks if anyone can do this!