BigO

Feel better now?

In order to receive money through PayPal, do you have to be linked to a bank account? I've always assumed so but theoretically a credit card could receive credits. I don't generally sell things, so haven't checked into it. If I do attach a bank account, it'll be one set up only for use with PayPal. Sounds like I'd need to be sure there was no overdraft protection on it.

It does mean PAL -- this PAL end label on an NTSC cartridge is a known factory assembly error, fairly common. Thanks, A.J. I couldn't find that information here. Didn't think to use Google when the native search wouldn't let me use "P" as a search term. Good to know that I can just play it and don't have to store it under bullet proof glass with high security.

I just got a Joust with the 1985 "Atar" typo. The red text end label has a "P" about half way between the end of JOUST and the end of the label. What does that "P" signify? I thought PAL, but it plays normally in my NTSC console.

Or, if you want a 520ST to go with your power supply, I just saw one @ Goodwill a few minutes ago...

Haven't been in there in a couple of years, but this is just miles from my house in Phoenix, AZ. "With over 18,000 square feet of arcades and more than 300 games..." http://www.castlesncoasters.com/arcade.html As I recall, the machines only take tokens. But, they've got roller coasters, miniature golf and other stuff: a mini amusment park, essentially. I have the sudden urge to go play some pinball. Maybe I'll just go fire up my little old Roy Clark cocktail format machine.

I never again heard from the person who said they wanted this. So, if you want it, PM me. (I'll be away without computer access next week.)

Last chance. This piece has no place in my "cart only" collection which is growing to wife-annoying proportions. Will trade for cart only 2600/7800 game(s) that I don't have. Otherwise, I'll just keep the cart and manual and trash the rest.

Reading your memories made me realize something about my Atari memories. We had an Atari 2600, though as financially challenged as we were, us kids were quite surprised to get it. I don't remember what year we got it, but it was a big deal for us. Strangely enough, I have no memories of playing it. The only memories I have of playing the 2600 were of the hours spent on the floor in front of the console TV at my friend Pat's house. I only remember Combat, Circus, Outlaw and Superman specifically. I kicked butt at Circus and totally stunk at Superman. I thought the Superman game, because it had a plot, was cool but tired of it almost instantly...still don't like those games (sorry, Adventure fans). Despite not remembering playing at home, one of my most poignant and vivid memories involves the 2600 in our home. In early December of 1981, my 38 year old, previously vital and healty mom died after a month or so long bout with a particularly nasty form of viral pneumonia. That Christmas, we got several game cartridges that she had purchased earlier in the year. She always had Christmas shopped throughout the year, starting on Dec. 26th, for bargains so she could give us as much as she could with the limited resources we had. Her lovingly frugal shopping habits let her be with us for that one more Christmas.

Damnation. According to NY laws, anything over $1000 is grand larceny, which is a felony. I'm not sure about Arizona's laws or which state's laws would take precedence here, but I would definitely vigorously pursue some sort of legal action against this jerk. Falls under NY law. Curt goes to his local police, files a claim, police fax down the charges to buyers local police department, buyers local police go to his house, he gets charged with possesion of stolen goods, mail fraud, grand theft, credit card fraud and or a few other nice lovely things the law has in store for scum like this buyer. Go to the cops Curt you will get your money or your item back I'm sure of it. The headache will be worth it in the end and with any luck that bastard might get some jail time to think over his actions. If I were that guy, I'd have gotten rid of it already. Note: I am in Arizona (Phoenix) but am definitely not that guy. I don't know much about legal issues so if I were in this situation, I might start with a shot in the dark and contact the AZ Attorney General's (Terry Goddard) office just to see if they point me to any particularly relevant information. http://www.azag.gov/contact.html The Office of Victim's Services might be a reasonable contact to begin with.

But, do those sites utilize the 2600 console? Could not your assertion be applied to nearly all of the vintage technology discussed on this site? The point of much of what goes on around here is to do something new specifically with the retro technology, no? What's the excitement in playing any game on the 2600 at this point? However, I do concede that if I put in the effort to design a networking system for the 2600 and then succeeded in building a functional networked game, that would assuredly spell the end of my interest in Atari 2600 networked games. I'd have to leave the playing to someone else.

Such a scheme would make possible games where information needs to be visible to only one player. A version of Battleship would be an example. Latency wouldn't mean much. Low bandwidth should work well enough to transmit players' moves between consoles and support a little chit-chat to make sure the other console is still alive. I think some card games would lend themselves to this format fairly well. Chess or checkers (new games, not the existing ones) don't require hiding information from either player, but could likely be played over a network. There being 64 squares on a checker board, one could transmit a couple of bytes to say where a piece moved from and where it moved to. The rules and logic enforcement would take place on the console before the move was transmitted to the opponent's console.

Did I mention that I'll let it go cheaply? I'd be willing to trade it for some game(s) (cart only is fine with me) that I don't currently have, common or otherwise. The Games I Currently Have I also just bought a 7800 and have only a tiny number of games for it. I'm a little bit surprised that there is no interest in this even in trade for somebody's duplicate common(s). I feel much better about my original plan to trash the packaging and throw the cart into my duplicates box.

Anybody interested in this 2600 Defender autographed by the programmer? The box is in less than stellar condition, but it's all there. Does it count as sealed if the top of the box has never been opened? Apparently through wear and tear, the bottom of the box is open. I can't really tell whether or not the cart has ever been played. The Cartridge, Atari Force comic, Atari Catalog and game manual are in very good condition.

What was that thread I saw the other day about linking 2600's together through their joystick ports? I was going to post the theoretical possibility of 2 player card games. The latency would be of minimal concern. The data transfer requirements could be small: maybe a few bytes per play to share the play to allow the "deck" in the partner 2600 to be updated and subsequently the display generated by that console. Not terribly practical, I guess, but would allow the uber-geeky to play games that required their hand of cards be kept private...pretty much most multi-player card games, I guess. If the display could be done, Battleship also might make a good multi-console game. [EDIT]: For practical purposes, the console that was powered on first could become the "master" if necessary. It could be the source of the shuffled deck initially. A 52+ byte initialization data transfer doesn't seem terribly daunting. There would also have to be some "chit-chat" going on between units to identify when the other console goes dead or quits playing or whatever. I suppose that could be a very small number of bits just to say "Yes, I'm here". Maybe 2 bits could be used to say either "I'm alive", or "I'm alive and I'm sending some more data following this teensy header packet."

In my 52 byte per deck scenario, I have notes on various ways to utilize the extra 2 bits per byte. "Visible/face up" was one of the options. The cards would all stay in one array, but be rearranged according to plays, and flagged as displayed or not. Employing Nukey's packed scheme, I could use one more array to store the "show it" bits which would take another 7 (6.5) bytes bringing the total to 26+13+7 = 46 bytes, saving 6 bytes. In my particular case, a "dealt" bit isn't necessarily beneficial but would certainly be in other games. In that case, you'd end up back at 52 bytes if each card needed both the "Dealt" and "Displayed" attributes. Of the possible 4 states, Undealt+Displayed probably wouldn't be used much. I'm now wondering if it might be possible to build a self-contained card game core logic/storage library. It'd take a way smarter person than me to figure out a configurable display kernel.

Up until tonight, I hadn't bothered to figure out for sure whether that name on the box was an autograph or a previous owner of the boxed Defender that I got with my Atari 2600 a while back. I figured there was some reason it hadn't ever been opened so I started poking around the 'net. They say you learn something new every day. Today I learned that Bob Polaro programmed Defender and signed autographs as Robert Polaro. Probably not all that unique, but it's the closest thing to unique that I have. It's been so beat around that the bottom has come open, but the comic, cart, catalog and manual are all still in really good shape. Might this ratty piece of potentially rare and valuable piece of video game history be of interest to a collector?

I'll check it again, thanks. I just stopped looking at the point where I saw the dead tags. Hmm...I'll have to give that storage scheme some thought. So, you're saying the first nibble of the first location in the values array would be associated with the first two bits of the first location in the suits array; the second nibble of the first values location would be associated with bits 3 & 4 of the first suits location, etc. That makes sense. It's a nice way to pack the bytes. Adds a little bit of overhead to interpret what goes with what, but in case the RAM situation gets ugly, I'll definitely keep that in my bag of tricks.

A recently acquired Crackpots was acting the same way on my 6-switch as the Megamania cart that started this post. My 4-switcher had no problem with it. My Junior didn't like it. I found what made it work was to push it in to the slot until it was firmly seated as normal then pull it back out just slightly. That works reliably and repeatably on the six-switch and the Junior.

I think I read that high scores or maybe other data can be stored in the AtariVox by games that are written to support it. There might be something there for you to check into. In doing a quick search for AtariVOX, I ran across "SaveKey/MemCard". Sounds like it might be what you're looking for.

Hey, thanks guys. I have a pretty compact memory footprint in mind that is specific to the game I'm toying with. I should be able to store the cards and a representation/mapping of a game "field" well within the 128 byte RAM limit. The game play itself shouldn't take much RAM and the logic for the rules seems to fall together nicely with the way I have chosen to represent the cards. If it were not for that pesky need to display the output, this should be a piece of cake. It remains to be seen whether I can extract the cards from that storage scheme fast enough to actually display them during game play. It also remains to be seen if I can figure a way to display as much stuff as I need to display. Though, I'm assured by an accomplished 2600 game developer that such a kernel can be constructed. Thanks, Nukey for the jump start. Much appreciated. I really like the use of the paddle controller in those games and think it would fit my game well. (Though, I have delusions of supporting multiple controller types.) Poker Squares sounds similar to the game on Casino that I've been looking at as something of a model for display purposes. I'll check that out. I'll check out the Euchre code, too. Among other things, I want to see how shuffling and randomization is implemented and how tracking of undealt cards and such is done in other peoples games. Can someone help me navigate the waters of the stella archives? For example: I find the threads in which the Euchre code was posted, but can't find the actual files, just the tags that indicate where the files had been attached. What blatantly obvious thing am I missing?

Anybody know of a commented disassembly of Casino (or other card game)? I've looked, but I can't seem to find one. (Can't say I'm surprised.) I'm curious about various aspects of working with cards on the 2600.

You might check here: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/1698/cy...getsbrain2.html

You might find some useful comments in this other thread: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...=105555&hl=

The mods using that chip intend for you to add it, but 6-switchers and Juniors have one in the console (and thus could get similar results from a simpler mod). Is that simpler mod documented anywhere that you know of? I can handle simple.