DoctorSpuds

December 4, 2018

Dig Dug... I love the game but am not very good at it unfortunately. This is the best I can do for the time being.

November 29, 2018

What a thoroughly confusing and unpleasant game, I think I'll just take participation points for this round.

November 19, 2018

Thanks Steve! Good score to start, it definitely gets pretty difficult on the later levels.

Any feedback about difficulty ramping, skill levels, etc. is greatly appreciated!

Man I think you hit the nail on the head difficulty-wise, but man I keep getting my ass kicked on the arena, but that's mostly my fault since I keep thinking that hiding in the corners will keep me safe.

November 16, 2018

This game is unhealthy for my wallet.

November 14, 2018

Alright I have a gallery up with scans of all the pages. Check it out HERE

Also I was very confused when you mentioned the misspelling of Yars' Revenge since the catalog I was using to compare the two actually had it spelled correctly, I checked the # and it was CO16725-Rev. D just like the other two. Could this be another variation?

The top is the new version that is the subject of this topic the middle is the one I used to compare and the third is the one you used to compare. It seems we've got these things coming out of our ears around here.

November 14, 2018

I have recently acquired the catalog and will get some high quality scans on here somewhere, maybe in a gallery or for download somewhere. I have also found another difference between the two, the picture they use for the original Breakout is reversed in the standard manual while in the other version it is not.

November 13, 2018

Welp, those cats got me in the end.

November 13, 2018

Another one of these has turned up in Wisconsin of all places.

It came in with a small lot of boxed games, oddly enough the only Atari brand game is a sealed Pole Position, the rest were either CBS or Parker bros. These things found their way into circulation somehow. A mystery indeed.

November 5, 2018

This game is murder on my keyboard and I still suck at it.

October 28, 2018

Just covering my bases

October 21, 2018

I never could get in to Demon Attack

October 17, 2018

Improved my score a bit and attempted the bonus game.

October 12, 2018

Well, it's a start.

October 5, 2018

Here's a modest start to my run this year.

Dragonfire:

Score: 2920

September 13, 2018

Hmmm how about...

Polaris

Solaris

Jawbreaker

Time Warp

Cosmic Swarm

Sea Hawk

Space Cavern

And for a paddle game how about Tac-Scan? (Did they already do that one?)

And for another paddle game how about Bumper Bash?

August 30, 2018

Ouch! Let's hope the fuse blew before something else blew if you feed 115V into equipment expecting 9V.

From the looks, and smell of it, only the fuse blew. I've done my fair share of chip/board frying and this doesn't have the "melting circuit board/internally dying chip" smell. If it did I wouldn't have bought it.

August 30, 2018

Yes, all the early VIC-20's take 9V AC input, in the range of up to 2-3 ampere. Not until the VIC-20CR version with 5-pin DIN input, they took the dual voltages of 9V AC + 5V DC.

However, as noted it has a rectifier which means it will be alright to power with 9-12V DC if the power supply can deliver enough amount of ampere/watt. It is due to part of the power supply is inside the computer it runs so hot.

I have located a snag... The fuse is blown... I think the guy I bought it from just used a 2 pin plug that goes directly to the mains like what you find with stereo or radio equipment, I'll need to get a new fuse before I do anything, thankfully they're incredibly cheap on ebay.

August 30, 2018

However as noted in another thread, the VIC-1001 was introduced in October 1980, the VIC-20 was announced in January 1981 with expected delivery by March, but still by May or June it was a rare find even on the US market, with supply trickling out by the early fall, around the same time the first batches of PAL models hit the European markets. Unless the VIC-1001 exclusively used ceramic chips, one would have thought that a pre-launch VIC-20 built from a production model 1001 to have plastic chips as it had gone so long between October 1980 and Feb-Mar 1981.

I have done many google searches to find the same model board as the one in my VIC, and only one of the pics I've seen have the ceramic type chips, and it's got an even lower serial number than mine (101516), very interesting since most boards I've seen, even from VIC-1001's don't have the ceramic chips, (perhaps they were using up old stock?). Again, since this was previously owned by a journalist it isn't too far fetched to think that Commodore swapped the keyboard on an early VIC-1001 they had sitting around for an early PET style VIC-20 keyboard and shipped it off as a review machine, at least I hope that's what they did, since it makes for a far better story.

Last Minute Addition: After doing more googling I have found that the strange object at the center top of pic 4, is a bridge rectifier (MDA970-1, m7732), for converting AC current into DC current, does this mean my machine has a built-in power adapter? Because I have two pin power cables that would fit the plug, but I don't dare power the machine up for fear of destroying it. I have not seen this on any of the board I've looked at which leads me to believe this was added by the previous owner, is it safe to power on?

August 30, 2018

That's a very old 6502 there! To me, it looks like the bottom half of a VIC1001 and the top half of an early US VIC-20.

It's a pity that it's mismatched, but the main thing I'm confused about is the two chips, I've only ever seen chips like that on prototype or lab copies of video games.

Any info would be highly appreciated.

August 29, 2018

Ladies and gentleman of the retro computing world... this VIC-20 makes absolutely no sense. It seems to be a bit of a Frankenstein's monster, it has the wrong badge and keyboard type for the model number board (1001006 REV 3), it has a PET style keyboard with mustard function keys, with a silver (not rainbow) VIC-20 badge while the serial number sticker is for a VIC-1001. Clearly the keyboard has been replaced at some point, what really confuses me though are two of the chips on the board, they are a dark grey color with a plaque for the chip type and number, but here's the kicker the pins are gold. Could this have anything to do with the serial number, which to date is the lowest I've seen (102640). Here's a link to a VIC-20 serial number registry (currently mine is at the top) https://cbmvic.net/registry/all, you'll get more detailed info there. Here's some pictures for you to mull over, any help or info at all would be appreciated. It was owned by a fairly prominent journalist (I will NOT tell you his name), so it may have been a 'review computer' sent to him by Commodore, but there would likely be something in or on the case/board saying that. Also I have no means of powering it on yet, seeing as I don't have an a/c adapter that fit's nor do I have the proper video cables.

Help, please

July 6, 2018

Hmmm. I think I like this game...

June 23, 2018

I know I can't hold a candle to some of the scores that we're gonna see here this week, but at least I tried

User Feedback Forum · June 12, 2018

This gem of a human being offered me some Odyssey 2 games for quite a reasonable price, 50$ down to 35$, with 20$ priority air shipping which he then halved to 10$. If you ever get the chance to buy from him... DO IT! you will not regret it.

Big 'ol thumbs up from me. woo!