bloatedmonkey

Just curious, what would those circumstances be? My hope was that the prize was good enough to get people to participate. I can't think up a contest to give away several hundred dollars worth of games without having a chance to recoup some of the costs. I just thought this was a clever way to do that. I'm surprised so many people want me to sell the games rather than try to win them for free. Don't mistake this as a plea for money. I'm not going to make enough to even pay for the games, so it's not going to send my kid to college. Since at least one person has signed up, the games will be given away, not sold (I can't go back on my word).

Just to clear up a couple of the comments, regarding data mining and spamming, this is from the upromise privacy policy: We respect your privacy. We will not provide your personally identifiable information to third parties (including our contributing companies) for marketing purposes without your permission. We secure your data. We monitor for intrusion attempts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; deploy encryption technology, firewalls and systems monitoring; and audit our safeguards with the help of leading security firms. We offer you choices. You may choose whether and to what extent you receive marketing messages from Upromise and our contributing companies. If you do not wish to receive marketing messages, you may opt out at any time. And we offer you choices, so that you receive only those offers that are of interest to you. If you read the full privacy policy, you'll see that it's similar to credit card companies and the like. I rechecked the member agreement, and could find nothing to this effect, nor anything that suggests that this contest can not be run. Anything else?

That's probably true. I just thought this would be fun and give someone a chance to walk away with some new toys. As it stands now, the people who have signed up have a 50% chance of winning the prize. (Note: the prizes will still be awarded even if I make $1). As for spamming, I signed on over year ago with an email account that I don't use for anything else. Other than Upromise account updates, I receive no mail to that account. You just have to unclick the spam boxes when you register...unless I'm special or something. I work for one of the large companies that's registered with this service, and they push it to their employees. I can say with some certainty, that they wouldn't do that if they didn't have faith in the site, both from security and longevity. If you have a credit card, then you've already done that! Finally, to everyone who's still deciding, consider the risk and the reward, and make up your own mind. I'll be happy to answer any questions or concerns.

That Mario never ceases to amaze me

I'm quite sure that's not the case. What's the chance one of these actually exist?

In an effort to kick-start my kid’s college fund, I thought I'd give this a try. This contest is totally free to enter, and it’s for a good cause. Most importantly, you could win this: Contest details here or through the Atari link at http://www.bloatedmonkey.com Good luck! ....and I'd appreciate any comments!

Just wanted to introduce y'all to a new fan. This is Melanie, age 4 months.

This one looks a little too beat up for my taste

I never saw that other box. I didn't think to look for it. I wouldn't have won it anyway, but definitely would have pushed up the price. I'm quite jealous!

I think one of these showed up less than a year ago. I was second high bidder and I think it sold for around $600. The seller offered it to me after the high bidder didn't contact her, but then she was contacted right before I was able to respond. Bummer.

Actually, I was just messing with you. I forgot about the whole avatar fiasco.

Al, you're allright! I don't care what CPU says about you.

Interesting. That was before I started collecting. Thanks for the correction, old-timer. Grandpa, can you tell me what collecting was like before Ebay? I'd be willing to bet that Ebay has helped with that. I haven't even seen a Pac-Man outside of Ebay in a few years. Then again, I prefer to hang out in strip clubs rather than Goodwill. Atarinuts, you are wise. Beware the dark side. [/i]

It's actually pretty interesting that prices for rare games are running at all time highs, while the economy is in the crapper. And Atari is far from a main-stream hobby. A thousand bucks is alot to this group but it's nothing to the general collecting public. I fear things are destined to become much more expensive. Luckily I have most of what I want...EXCEPT FOR THAT DAMNED LOCHJAW!!! Revenge of the Jedi Monkey: You can't win, chumps. If you strike him down, he will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

Except in this case, we're not fighting in the back lot. You can't see your opponent, and you don't even know if anyone won. This situation is much more analagous to politics than to sports. In my opinion, doing an under-the-table deal unknown to your opponent is not nearly as fun as seeing the expression on his face as you beat him into submission. Much as my monkey will do to you when I sew his head back on, you sick freak!

Can you tell me where Combat II is being sold? I've been unsuccessful at getting one on Ebay. I was actually referring to the "special edition" labels, and numbered versions of games that, yes, are sold later - not that everyone considers them collectable, but they are nonetheless. Sorry to interrupt the Austin discussion. Maybe this should continue elsewhere.

Sorry to post again, but in football you look your opponent in the face and do battle. If you walked out on the field and there was no team, but a sign, saying "this game has already been decided", you'd probably be none too happy. That was my point. But I now see the errors of my virtuous ways.

So be it, jedi.

...and if this girl happens to be your best friend's girlfriend? Just because something's legal and gets you want you want doesn't mean it's right. It's fine to debate what's "ethical". Maybe I'm just whining because I lost out. But I've loved the whole Ebay experience over the years because like all great sports, it's been up front and out in the open with clear defined rules. Without that, it's just not as much fun. That's just my opinion. Sorry if my rant offended.

Glad to hear that. I expected only the highest standards from you guys. See you there (hopefully).

The people who would bid on this already have Yars' Revenge. They don't have Lochjaw. It's a simple case of supply and demand. Plus there's interesting history with this particular game.

OK, I'm cooled down now. I have to vent about this every once in a while. Here's the problem: Every once in a while, I see a lot with something I don't have and I say "Hey, I'll watch that and see where it is on Tuesday, and if I can afford it, I'll bid on it." So Tuesday rolls around and it says "auction ended - all bids cancelled. Since I can't find out what it sold for, all I can do is get mad, since I never had a chance to find out if my bid was good enough. In this case, I actually wrote this guy the following before the auction ended: I'm interested in your atari lot. I expect that you will get some offers for it. Please don't accept any offers without giving me a chance. In any case, I recommend that you let the auction go to the end, as you will probably get the best deal. I hate that I'm forced to do that. [/i]

You're correct. The last Lochjaw I saw on ebay was bought by buyatari for $800, so I would have bid in that region and lost. (By the way, lots of peole around here thought he paid too much back then - who's laughing now?) My point is that the only reason to make an offer to someone is if you think it will sell for more when you have to compete in an open auction. That only screws the seller who may not know how valuable his stuff is, and all the people who are playing by Ebay's rules.

I don't have friends who use underhanded tactics to cheat people. The seller obviously didn't know how valuable his lot was. We do.

Are there going to be any "limited releases" at this show? It would help me explain to my wife why "I have to go"