Cassidy Nolen

I got a 5200 Trakball MIB and unopened Kaboom for Xmas this year. Not too shabby. She supports my colleciton and enjoys it too. On the other hand, she has Jungle King in the gameroom. She is as bad about SSX Tricky as I am on GC. Good deal (on the games and the lady!) Cassidy

I know its cheesy, but I like the dark effects in Haunted House. The ghosts come in and "blow" out the light. I wanna know what fool goes in a place like that without a Maglite? Cassidy

Ugh, Those are awful. What ever happened to the sandwich jokes? Cassidy

Awww, Why did you have to go and make me want one? Geez! Now I cant stop thinking about making a portable with a screen like the VCSP. That would be smaller, easier to carry, etc. Ahhhwwww. Cassidy BTW, the screens are available at www.mcmelectronics.com for pretty cheap...You can run it all from a Mavica battery if you change the backlight to a couple of bright led's.

Human Cannonball; the splat is the only thing making it playable. Although there is a variation of it on the web for PDA's to play. How ghetto....... The whole concept of Yars revenge humors me. Its even funnier now that I know it was about Ray Kassar. Halloween is a riot too. Have to giggle at Knight on the Town, too Cassidy

That I know of: Silver label Gravitar Quadrun WaterWorld Crazy Climber Rubiks Cube Atari Video Cube (same as Rubiks) Cassidy BTW,Have all but Gravitar (smile)

It probably would be best to just let it lie. The more I have thought about it, it would probably have been better to just do it instead. As for making the game, I thought (or it was my understanding from the Garfield ROM) these were for hobbyist and collectors to enjoy. All I have done is make it possible to play this on a real system rather than on emulation. Anyway, I have been working to get a picture of one on the web, but the dang server keeps shutting my site down, too much traffic. Oh well. Let me try again this weekend. I do really appreciate the support. Makes me feel good. And, no, I have no master plan. Unless you count having a bologna sandwich for lunch a master plan..... Cassidy

A picture of my homebrew label should be there. If not, I posted a mirror of it on another site. http://www.geocities.com/cassmandoo/polo1.jpg or http://www.geocities.com/ecamusements/polo1.jpg I do not have the end label on the web, but it is the same quality. I even bought the font! I am not making a fortune with these, I just would like to cover my costs. This is my first game production, and I would like to get back part of the setup costs, too. Thanks for the support and interest on this one. Cassidy Maybe I could do another someday?

Well, The more I think about the conversation, he did not say I could not make the game, just that I could not say Atari on it. Sooo..If I do change the logo and remove the name, I can sell them. Ok, email me if you are interested. That way I will have some idea how many to finish up. Was thinking of some for the Philly show, too. Cassidy

I must admit, cold cuts did cross my mind as an alternate logo; think what it does for Subway? I guess there is an interest in these carts. If people have anything on my trade page they would like to possibly trade, let me know. This might be ok after all. Cassidy

Hi guys, I have a story for you. You know that game POLO that Carol Shaw did for the 2600? Well, I decided I wanted to own a copy for myself. As obsessive compulsive as I am, next thing you know, I have a burner, 50 donor carts, chips, Photoshop, you get the point.....all ready to make some carts for myself, friends and others. This time, I decided to go it the legal way and actually try and get endorsed. I contacted Infogrames, got the number to corporate licensing, got the guy in charge, and talked to him. He asked me to email everything to him so he could have it reviewed. This was a month ago. Today I get an email sayig "you cannot use the Atari name in any way, blah blah". What a bunch of fooey. I was offering to pay royalty for the production of 50 copies. You would think the profit for them would be worth the trouble. The guy does not even know if they own the rights to the ROM code. Wierd. Anyway, so now I am stuck. I have a bunch of Polo carts I was way excited to sell/trade and now I do not know what to do with them. The labels and all are perfect. Do you think if I trade them for things it would be ok? I am not selling them, just getting things in exchange. Interested on your thoughts.. Cassidy [ 02-08-2002: Message edited by: Cassidy ]

It must be complete enough to sell for 550 in Vegas this last summer! Cassidy

If you did not mind leaving the Atari world, the Turbo Grafx 16 Galaga 90 is my personal favorite. I have owned several full size Galagas, and I still enjoyed playing that version on the TurboExpress more! Wierd, but true. You can probably get the emulator on the web and see if its worth the moolah. Cassidy

After about 7 hours of the most tedious board soldering I have ever done, I have a Tempest for my 2600. Check it out.... Pardon the mess in the 2600 room (yes, I no longer call it the office, seeing how 2600 takes up more space than the rest of the office stuff combined), but that is a real 2600 playing Tempest on a real TV, not emulated. I am estatic. This is the level I only dreamed of reaching in collecting. Thank you so much to everyone who helped. I really could not have figured this out otherwise. Cassidy

If I could meet one famous person on the planet, it would be Nolan. He is awesome. I think he should be Bill Gates, but instead he is just remembered as the guy who should have been. I wonder if he knows how many people love him? He (and Ralph) are the fathers, dreamers, and creators of so much of our digital world. Happy Birthday Nolan. May you have many, many more. Cassidy

Hi all, I am going to have several Pole Positions soon, and I am thinking of converting some to Pole 2's. I have a burner, and can do the eproms, but KLOV says there are some custom chips that are different. Does anyone know which ones? Are these going to make this too costly an endeavor, considering what Pole usually brings? Thanks for the advice. Cassidy

The original batch of Asteroids were shipped in LL cabs. Its not that uncommon. That is a really good price on it. Even if you had to find a monitor, go to auction and get a dead Omega Race for 20 bucks and gut it. Sweet. Cassidy

Hi all, I have tried to do this without bugging the group any more. I do however have proof that I have been trying As you can see, I have made quite a mess... My questions are a little more focused this time. I am sure that the program is on the eprom. I have matched the pins to the 2732 that will match up, and have a few questions about the others... I have wired in the 74133, 7474 and the 2 7404's (one on the board, like a 4K game, and one into the bankswitch circuit like the diagram that is floating around), but there is no mention of what to do with pins 1, 2, 27, and 28? Currently, I have them bent up just hanging around. I know that pin 2 is A12, but everything keeps saying "there is a difference between A12 and /A12 on the eprom (I may have that backwards)". Can someone point me toward the difference? I am trying to make a Tempest cartridge; beginning to be more work that its worth. Thanks, I really do appreciate you all and your advice. Special thanks to those of you who emailed me. Cassidy BTW, how do you have your setup rigged for checking things out? This seems like a very difficult process to repeat over and over.

Yo, King? Did ya notice the legs? Neat how the 2K file size games use one less leg than the others. Even though the chips have all the legs, the cart PCB does not have traces all the way down. Reason I found out: I tried using a Bowling cart for an eprom tester, and it would not work. As soon as I tried a Pac Man, it worked fine. Wierd. BTW, if you use a hair dryer on the label for about 30 seconds, you can peel them off and put them back down without damaging the labels at all. End labels, the same way. Cassidy

As far as grails go, that is probably my favorite to play. Waterworld is just hard, and Quadrun is stupid.... Chase the Chuckwagon has that whole Venture with a mutt thing going on. I dig it. Not maybe that specific ebay one. I have it on eprom, not on a real cart. Cassidy

Cool deal, man. I appreciate the help. I would not mind one that needed work, I want one more for the nostalga than function. I think I have had a Sears one before, and not known it. Strange what you learn too late..... I figured that was about the price for one. Let me know what turns up. Thanks again, Cassidy

Hi all, Wondering what they are worth. Would really love to have one with the California address on the bottom. If you have one you would consider parting with, let me know. I have a trade list on my website if you are interested (have some new things not there, too). Thanks, Cassidy http://www.atarionline.com/tradelist.html

Some thrift store suggestions: As far as thrift stores go, I have had my best luck in neighborhoods that have been established since the 70's; in other words, pre-urban sprawl. Around here, there has been so much construction in the last twenty years most people who live here have long since given these things away. In my opinion, the stores that have an older home community nearby are more likely to have these things, and more likely you will get what you want. I have also noticed that there is a trend twice a year of finding things: pre-holidays and spring cleaning. Its as if moving things around uncovers the old stuff, and then they donate it. Everybody may think I am nuts, but I have found, and I am not exaggerating, hundreds in the wild this way. Off the top of my head, finds have been: 40 loose and a telecenter 17 boxed, one sealed 1 5200 and 25 games for 25 bucks 1 7800 and ten games for 10 bucks lots of individuals (buck or two each) Works for me, hope it does for you all, too. BTW, how are we going to recognize each other at the show? Maybe we should all wear something that says atariage? This site rocks..... Cassidy

For starters, check out www.phillyclassic.com and plan a trip to that. Everybody there is awesome, and its the most fun on the east coast (ok, well, close). Welcome aboard a very windy and expensive path....... Cassidy

Just emailed Best. Lets see what they have. Again, the best bunch of collectors in the world, thanks. Cassidy