zeitshabba

Now that the Atari wallet project launched it is time to begin the system & game resales again on eBay. Unlike before, when I needed the extra monies to buy equipment, materials, games and whatnot, all my Atari auctions under eBay seller niles.z will split 30% of the closing price between two charities. If you want more details about the auctions, charities, or where the rest of the money goes, click here. If we have an auction that is collector-specific, I'll update this post to make it easy to find. I won't mention the 2600 system sets, as those are for nostalgia-seekers, not fellow collectors. Thank you and enjoy your day! Closing September 25th are all my rarest games listed in the rarity guide and a few of lesser gems: Music Machine with albums I & II Video Jogger Sir Lancelot Chuck Norris/Ghost Manor Atari Video Cube Threshold w/ manual Tax Avoiders 5200 Mario Bros lab loaner Click here to see all my auctions.

The wallets are on sale thru Father's Day - all text labels only $35, any/all picture labels only $55. While supplies last, of course.

If you recognize the music in the video and can identify the artists & album it comes from, and are the first to comment with it on the blog entry at nilesz.com, you win a wallet of your choice!

Ahhh, so would I! Never been fortunate enough to own a T-handle of any kind... I did originally plan on making a single Waterworld, Asterix & Obelix wallets, but couldn't bring myself to harm any game quite that rare. A couple of folks have asked if the label was protected, and they are not. I did purchase some mylar sheets and adhesive to attempt label protection, but I never had the time to experiment properly to see if it'll hold. The labels on the wallets I've carried usually wear out in about 2 years. And thank you everyone for your input!

supercat, thank you. This post is better at articulating a proper pricing response than anything I could muster. I'm an engineer. Words do not flow from me like honey. More like warm chunky peanut butter.

The hinges are polypropylene ("living") panel hinges, meaning they can flex over a million times and not wear out. The metal wire was the spring from inside the original cart that kept the top piece sliding up to protect the chip. There is only one per cart if they have one at all. And I can tell you from the cigarette holders I did make (yes, I did, and they were not nearly as concise as the wallets) that 100s would definitely not fit. Euros do not fit into the cash side, either. I do recommend for fun checking out the video on my website, nilesz.com. From there you'll find links to my etsy store featuring wallets currently in stock and other fluff/stuff that I was told I should have in a website.

My apologies for adding a human touch to the wallets with a long-winded opening. I'm not a machine, and I thought it would be a better intro than "Look, I made wallets from games." I'd hate to see what you guys consider foreplay - "take it off already" would be the wise guess. As for the size lamenting, there are two simple tests you can do: sit your wallet down beside a cart & observe the difference, or simply put a cart in your pocket & "test drive" one. I know that not everyone will share the same excitement, but with less than a thousand total being processed, I need 1 out of every 304,059 people in the US to buy one to sell out the entire batch.

How often do you fall? Is this a problem with more people than I realized? After working on this for almost five years, I've thought of virtually every use possible, with almost every one being suggested again later by any one of the folks also working on the project. Cigarette holders, flashlights, stash boxes, women's cosmetics, photo frames, etc. are all easily possible but lack any creativity and all fail to use the parts back inside them again. I doubt you'd ever have someone cross a bar to ask about your pencil holder or have the post office worker run off for five minutes with your cigarette holder to show their coworkers. The wallets draw a crowd in public.

Good point accousticguitar. It helps to post the pics after I take them. ... and another ... When closed, it looks just like a normal Atari game with hinges and two small wires showing on the sides.

That is an obvious question and the answer is not at all. It is recommended to be carried in the front pocket, as wallets should be, to avoid loss, pickpocket or back pain. Its the same size as a standard bifold wallet. Cigarette cases only work for smokers and reuse less internal parts.

They can't all be the same price or else I'll end up with a pile of text-label Combats while every picture-label game - such as Defender or ET - will be snatched up. Most everyone had a Defender or ET and would prefer one of those over a lower-priced Outlaw or Video Olympics. And given the volume of time (over two hours) and associated costs (machine time, magnets, tools, etc) the $40 pricepoint is not a moneymaker. As for the hole, it is something that owners can chose to do on their own. When it takes over two hours to complete one simply as a wallet, I try to avoid too deep of customizations. One modified it to keep the chip in place while another added the chain hole as you mentioned. I'm looking forward to seeing what a larger audience will do with them.

I'd like to first and foremost take a moment to thank Albert for making this community possible. Without him and all of you who maintain such a passionate and vibrant community, I would not have a completed Atari project to introduce today. I'll have a contest to win a few that I'll be announcing in the next week or so to show my appreciation. This project started in a manner most of you can relate to: I rebuilt my childhood collection, only have a pile of extra Combats, Pac Man, Asteroids, Defender, etc that aren't worth much at the end. Annoyed by this, I decided to carry a game with me everywhere I went, comparing it to everything I could find to see what else is that size. Out of roughly eight solid ideas, three different prototypes were finished and appeared easy enough to make with a minimum of changes to the original cart. But out of the original three, one in particular stood out. This design used every original internal piece except the screw in the "new" product. When each section was measured out against the design need, it was as if the cartridge was originally designed to be repurposed everything fit so perfectly. I began to resell complete systems on eBay with the profits diverted between buying more materials for my project, more components to complete systems, and the occasional few dollars here and there to cover personal expenses. After a year and a half, I had over 1000 games with nearly perfect labels and needed to disassemble the games and begin the repurposing process. I built a workshop in a friend's basement and we began machining the carts by hand, two years ago July. Two years ago August you'd find a CraigsList ad for one barely-used benchtop milling machine with all accessories for a steal along with a handful of other tools & machines. That milling machine was a chainsaw when I needed a scalpel. As the fates would have it, an old friend contacted me who runs the premier machine shop where I originally hail from. Last Thanksgiving I returned to jumpstart the machining process and by March this year I had enough raw materials to start assembling the final products. In a month or so I'll be relaunching the eBay resales under my new nilesz.com identity with 30% of all final sales being split between two charities – one for children in the hospital, the other for computer recycling/reusing to poor orphanages, libraries & schools worldwide. With the birth of my first child this past weekend, I have "hired" another friend who we are ramping up on the resales side while I focus on the project. If you read the last paragraph without jumping off to nilesz.com to see what it is I've been doing, then here ya go: I have found a way to repurpose Atari cartridges – no 3rd party carts – into wallets using every internal piece except the screw. The only additions to the original cart are magnets, hinges and the adhesive they require. Each wallet requires over two hours of time to repurpose, each handmade and thoroughly tested. I have carried an Atari wallet for years and after vigorous field testing, I am prepared to release the Atari wallets into the wild. I have sent samples to two members of the AtariAge community you may recognize, and I hope they'll stop by to give their review. I know not everyone is going to appreciate what I'm doing, and I'm cool with that. If you are an Atari purist who cannot condone my "destruction" of carts, please be aware that 99% of all carts I touch find a use, be it repurposed, recycled or reused. The more the wallets succeed the more games I'll be able to take in – good, bad, or otherwise – and help them find life anew. I'll be around most of this weekend to discuss the wallets between moments of tending to my newborn boy / scream machine, starting tomorrow afternoon. Daddy needs some sleep tonight. Thoughts?

Bump for price drop to $150 for the Mario Bros...

Once that wall between one overeager bidder and seller is broken, it becomes an unstoppable flood of shenanigans that is hell to deal with. I wouldn't want to be the seller in any of these situations, and as often is the case, once the seller is contacted the sale often collapses. Since this fiasco began I've watched two other auctions with rare games "disappear" into the ether of early auction terminations. No doubt both disappearances began with clicking "Ask seller a question..."

What does that mean? Are you inferring that Albert screwed with this auction? If so, you've got bigger problems. That was what the seller was told - or claims was told - by the unnamed person who contacted them. I'm mocking the f*cktard masquerading as an "editor of Atari Age." And if I was dumb enough to believe the troglodyte who contacted the seller, I would be man enough to call out Albert by name instead of in some squishy con-committal quotes. Albert gets nothing but the highest levels of respect from me, and he knows this. EDIT: Obviously Albert's above post was put up as I was responding with this one and the message has been received. I sure hope you aren't talking about me. I was watching it as were you. I didn't say anything or post anything tell It was relisted With Air Raid in the title. Then I knew it was all over so it didn't make a differnece. I was just going to pop it with a grand, So you might have gotten it. and as I stated before, I never contacted the sellers. BTW Nice grab on the Music Machine. I missed that one. Your hopes were correct hhwolfman - you sounded like another hopeful like myself. Perhaps on the next go-around we'll have our battle at the end of the auction. Clearly this one isn't meant for either of us.

What does that mean? Are you inferring that Albert screwed with this auction? If so, you've got bigger problems. That was what the seller was told - or claims was told - by the unnamed person who contacted them. I'm mocking the f*cktard masquerading as an "editor of Atari Age." And if I was dumb enough to believe the troglodyte who contacted the seller, I would be man enough to call out Albert by name instead of in some squishy con-committal quotes. Albert gets nothing but the highest levels of respect from me, and he knows this. EDIT: Obviously Albert's above post was put up as I was responding with this one and the message has been received.

This isn't the first time I've had auctions screwed with my members of this community - perhaps not an "editor of Atari Age" as it was this time - and the antics are long past annoying. The people who engage in this activity - as well as the auction-ending side deal pricks - never stand behind their actions and always hide in the shadows - weak actions by weak people. This auction simply was the latest and largest example of a persistent problem. Again you push the angle that I felt entitled to winning the auction - instead of "ripped off" now its "private deal." You clearly have your own agenda assigned to my actions that clearly I can't change, so I won't bother. I'm a reseller but not by choice. It'll be obvious to everyone why I have to resell in another month, but I'm not getting into that now. I'm a collector and I collect from the top-down. My only regret so far is selling the Xante game... the wife wanted a vacation and that was the currency. Soon, I'll be paying for everything with Atari games... and in a manner, you could too.

Actually, most times auctions like this do not get listed until after they close - and I usually win those auctions. Recent examples include Music Machine, 4 US Games protos with a M*A*S*H* dev cart and Bermuda Triangle proto... and the exact same style wins landed me the Pac Man loaner cart, Frankenstein's Monster proto w/ manual, Atlantis II. Not one of these auctions were listed here before closing. And you seem to think I wouldn't have gotten a shot at it? Based on what logic? Usually the others who find auctions like this one are all too interested in trying to snag a steal that they don't want to clue in other people and post it in frustration afterwards once they lose. Find an example of another "gem in the rough" auction that was found & announced here before it closed... go ahead and find one, I'll wait here. And while you're looking, let me know where the term "ripped off" came from, since I don't recall ever typing any such thing. But if you happen to come across a good reason why the excrement that contacted the seller would do such, that would be great as well. I'd love to hear why it was a good reason and why it wouldn't simply be the act of a fully-grown worthless load their mother should have swallowed. I accidentally deleted out the detail that mentions the eBay exchange I had with the seller after they took down the original auction and relisted it. I kept them to remind me of how not to act as a seller.

The deep pockets might have shown up, but not like they are now. Halfway through the original 7-day auction the lot was just over $50. After 24 hours it exceeds $1000. While I fully expected the closing price to breach $1k on the original auction, ensuring a relatively fair price for the cart to a seller who was unaware of what it was, I am already out of the running simply because of one giant walking taint hailing from these forums. Why do I believe such a person deserves scorn heaped upon them? They didn't post the auction here to help other collectors. Sure, it would have resulted in a large price jump, but posting it here instead of having the auction relisted would have been honest to the spirit of this place and respected the other collectors here. They are trash, pure and simple. Second, the seller is not an honest broker. In the first two sentences explaining why the auction was relisted, the seller claims to have not ended the auction early then explain how they ended the auction early to relist it. And, which I find the funniest, the seller claims not to care about the money. Of course not, you idiot. You relisted it for all of our benefit. Oh, the bullshit people throw out and expect you to not notice... And I dare the seller to identify the AA member... err, "editor".

My only question in all of this is... who was the ignorant [email protected]%ing jackass - the "editor of Atari Age" - that contacted the seller suggesting they end the current auction? I've tried for the life of me to understand why someone would perform such an act of douchebaggery, and the only reason that makes any sense is simply to be a dick. For those of us who found the game in the auction lot - which clearly there were at least a few of us - a bidding battle would have ensued. I was planning to win in the $1000-1200 range, hoping that the other lucky folks couldn't commit more than that to the purchase. The seller would have been thrilled for such a return, and a collector (myself or otherwise) would have been able to acquire an amazing piece for a reasonable price. Instead, someone who I'd bet has no ability to make a play on this game decides to make the auction into a three-ring circus for their amusement and nothing else. This auction now belongs to a few deep pockets and out of reach of most collectors. Well done, anonymous fartchunk By no means do I hold anything against the seller or anyone else with the sole exception of the rotten assface who blew this all up. To them, I wish the worst.

These are mostly 3-day auctions, so I don't expect they'll get much action. First, boxed Montezuma's Revenge. The label is beat up and the box doesn't have the white cardboard insert. Next, a lot of 5 PAL games: Klax complete in beat-ass box, Skate Boardin in plastic clamshell case, Commando, Othello and Congo Bongo. Finally, 11 complete boxed games with the "gem" being Keystone Kapers. They ain't the worlds prettiest, but its 11 games with manuals nonetheless. I'll be listing a very pretty Smurf's Save the Day in the next day or so, but if you'd prefer to PM a reasonable offer for it instead I'd rather see it go to someone here first. Ditto for the large lots of "nonworking" systems that I'll be listing as well - one batch heavy sixers (4-5), one batch regular systems (8-10) and one batch controllers (10-12 joysticks, 6-8 sets of paddles).

Wow did this topic slide into a cesspool of stinky metaphors. Would anyone be willing to lend a ROM dumper? I was sent the directions on how to do it myself, but I have neither the time nor the expertise to make it work within any reasonable time. Thanks in advance.

While I wait for my Music Machine to come in, I've decided to clear out a few protos I have that don't make me warm & fuzzy on the inside. The last one left, Mario Bros for the 5200. Asking: $150 Any/all 2600 prototypes that may have been available have been claimed. Thanks for looking and enjoy your day!

So I'm cleaning out all my systems, preparing to unload everything in sight, when moving a heavy sixer with a bad game select switch catches my eye... A Taiwan-made heavy sixer? I checked the remaining pile of non-working heavy sixers I'm moving outta here and none of them are like this. Are these unique, or have I simply been oblivious to their existence?

From what I can tell, yes, they are all finished, although I never truly tested the depth of the Head On & Maze Craze protos. We'll find out once I get some dumping done. Too bad I gave my Pac Man lab loaner to my father as a gift and won't be able to have it dumped with the rest.