The Jr. List

[skintigh]

A1891884673 - Seen on eBay by skintigh, Taiwan, 3-chip

A1891894480 - Seen on eBay by skintigh, ebay, looks like 3-chip                                             <<----------------------------------------------

A1891894481 - toymailman (Taiwan, manufactured September 1988, Rev. F board) 3-chip I assume?

A18B1945963 - Seen on eBay by skintigh, still trying to determine revision...
A18C1975714 - Seen on eBay by ApolloBoy (Taiwan, manufactured December 1988)
A1931985935 - Seen on eBay by ApolloBoy (Taiwan, manufactured March 1989)

????????????? - LittleJoe, 1-chip, Rev 3 board
A1982041661 - Mirage1972 (Taiwan, possible 1-chip, manufactured August 1989)

A1982042053 - me 2nd hand from TK 1-chip
A1982045143 - Longhorn Engineer (Taiwan, 1-chip, manufactured August 1989) Rev 4 board
A19B2057527 - Benzman66 (Taiwan, 1-chip, manufactured November 1989)
A1012071066 - Ravenprose (Taiwan, manufactured January 1990)

 

Found another seeming 3-chip. A1891894480 Bizarrely, it's the serial number 1 before @toymailmans unit!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Added notes on Rev 3 and Rev 4 1-chip boards.

 

[high voltage]

Is this still being updated?

[skintigh]

4 hours ago, high voltage said:

Is this still being updated?

If not I may start a new one

[skintigh]

Oh noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ?

 

This looks like a 3-chip, right?

 

I was hoping 1-chips started around unit #1,900,000 and they made 170,000+. This one I just found suggests they don't start until after 2,025,558 and there were around 45,508 made (if we assume @Ravenprose owns a 1-chip and it was one of the last ones made)

 

Otherwise, we have only confirmed they made 2057527 - 2042053 or 15,474 1-chip units!! That's about 0.75% of total production of Jr.s if the serial numbers can be trusted.

 

[skintigh]

Another data point:

A1 81 1499521 (blue)

seen on ebay by me.

[ApolloBoy]

On 8/6/2020 at 12:35 AM, high voltage said:

Is this still being updated?

It is now.

[The Nerd Lounge]

On 10/17/2016 at 11:30 AM, high voltage said:

Here's the little beauty

 

 

Atari 2600 VCS Jr incl. Centipede, short rainbow cib, Made in Ireland, PAL, Atari Inc, serial 174AI018412 (console), Atari Inc 1983

 

On the box is the rectangle for the serial number, but nothing is written into, nor stamped, or even a label, it's clean, like never used for its purpose.

Actually the jr was released in 1986, but designed in 1983. I think the Pal Centipede bundle was released from 1988-1992. 

[ApolloBoy]

1 hour ago, The Nerd Lounge said:

Actually the jr was released in 1986, but designed in 1983. I think the Pal Centipede bundle was released from 1988-1992. 

There's lots of evidence to suggest that a number of Jrs were released in Europe during 1984/85, especially since the earliest units on this list were manufactured before the Atari Corp. transition took place and there are a few European members here who can attest to seeing and/or owning a Jr. before 1986. 

 

The Centipede bundle is actually the oldest bundle for the Jr., again going off all the evidence found here and elsewhere. Later 2600 Jrs. (mainly those from 1990 onward) came with the CX78s and a 32-in-1 multicart.

 

@Curt Vendel do you happen to have anything regarding the release of the 2600 Jr. in Europe?

Edited August 26, 2020 by ApolloBoy

[alex_79]

1 hour ago, The Nerd Lounge said:

Actually the jr was released in 1986, but designed in 1983. I think the Pal Centipede bundle was released from 1988-1992. 

Those are the release dates for the US. The junior was available at least in 1984 in Europe, and it was produced in Ireland in the "short rainbow" and "black" version.

Mine is made in Ireland too, but it's a later version with the smaller box. I got it for christmas 1985.

Edited August 26, 2020 by alex_79

[Glennikit]

Hi there, I just bought my first 2600 yesterday:

Atari 2600 Jr

Format: PAL ( I think, I'm not entirely sure though)

Made in: Taiwan

By Atari Taiwan Manufacturing Corporation

Serial number: A1 784234656

I'm not really sure I follow how these S/N's work.

So if anyone has any info on that, feel free to tell. ?

 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Glennikit

[atariUCLA24]

So I’ve got a strange one... All black Jr, but says made in USA by Atari-Wong, which in itself doesn’t make sense. 

The box I got it with says made in Ireland. 
 

I imported it from Malaysia and it included the receipt showing it was bought there in 1986. 
 

The PCB is also missing the Atari copyright/rev info, has anyone opened a legit Ireland all black console and seen if they have these markings?

 

My feeling is that I might have found an interesting pirate console, what do you guys think?

S/N on console is 100080...

 

 

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

Here's the details on my console which I've modded for composite out:

 

Short rainbow | NTSC | Serial # AT860024927 | Atari Corp. | Made in Taiwan

 

- James

[skintigh]

Some more, plus I'm maintaining a list of just the last year or so here: 

 

[skintigh]

On 7/1/2015 at 9:29 PM, The Mr. Video said:

NTSC Long rainbow

made in taiwan by Atari corporation

Serial # A1811979907

 

@The Mr. Video

Could you do me a huge favor and double-check that number for me?

 

A1 81 1979907 is a very interesting number: "A1 81" means January 1988, but "1979907" puts in in the range Dec 1989 to March 1999!

 

Also, there is a chance this could be a super rare 1-chip! If you post a good photo of the entire bottom of the Atari I can check.

[The Mr. Video]

@skintigh

Here you go. Be aware that the board that is inside my jr. is a replacement board. I checked the board that was originally in this jr. and it had multiple chips on it.

 

[skintigh]

On 5/14/2021 at 4:39 PM, The Mr. Video said:

@skintigh

Here you go. Be aware that the board that is inside my jr. is a replacement board. I checked the board that was originally in this jr. and it had multiple chips on it.

 

Thank you for the speedy reply!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I was not expecting it to look so much like "81." I'm half convinced it's still a smudged "91" -- the 8s I've see had a larger circle on the bottom than the top. This has a smaller, squatter bottom, so that says "9" to me. But a 9 doesn't have an indent on the right side, so that says "8" to me, unless there was a very specific dead spot on the inkpad. Or the person stamping it sneezed violently? Could happen  

 

 

[skintigh]

Lowest serial number I've seen (on ebay) of an Ireland model (short rainbow)

264 A1 000962

Also, I don't understand why the first 2 digits are the week number, because they are never in order... Ordered by serial numbers:

 

Black models:

414 A10041349
414 A10043720
474 A1 057043
474 A1 071282
474 A1 073806
434 A1 076964
434 A1 081818
 

Short rainbow:
264 A1 000962
484 A1 001598
384 A10003226
154 A1 007545
164 AT 009609
284 A10013051
174 A1 018412
224 A1 069018
434 A1 086208
254 A1 095878

 

All models:

264 A1 000962
484 A1 001598
384 A10003226
154 A1 007545
164 AT 009609
284 A10013051
174 A1 018412

414 A10041349
414 A10043720
474 A1 057043
224 A1 069018

474 A1 071282
474 A1 073806
434 A1 076964
434 A1 081818
434 A1 086208
254 A1 095878

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by skintigh

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Just dug my two out from under my bed. ? Lazy so I just took these pictures. I live in Canada but cannot recall details except I most likely obtained from people in USA. I assume they are both NTSC. 

 

[ApolloBoy]

Updated the list. I may transition this to Google Sheets so it can be better organized and make it easier to add onto the list.

[OldPAL]

I think this other topic has some serials that you don't have. 

 

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

Just got my second 2600 ever, and it's another Jr. ?

 

 

Serial no. is A1 88 1822202 and it's an NTSC 3-chip, long rainbow, totally stock.  It will be getting a composite mod at some point, but it's not a priority right now.

 

Interestingly, there were clear signs it had been opened at some point in the past (one broken screwpost, fortunately still held in by the screw; front latches completely gone), but I didn't see evidence of anything having been fiddled with internally.

[+x=usr(1536)]

One more for the pile: short rainbow, battered case.  Seems to work fine, but switches are stiff and the channel select switch is broken; fortunately, it's jammed on channel 3 which is what we use around here.  First job will be a good run-through with contact cleaner and / or Deoxit.

 

 

Serial number is AT860179710, and it's a Taiwanese NTSC model.  Given that it's not in as good of cosmetic shape as my other Jr. is, this one is now the UAV candidate.

[skintigh]

On 8/9/2021 at 9:50 PM, OldSchoolRetroGamer said:

Just dug my two out from under my bed. ? Lazy so I just took these pictures. I live in Canada but cannot recall details except I most likely obtained from people in USA. I assume they are both NTSC. 

 

Those both appear to be NTSC, and I am 95% sure the first one is a very rare 1-chip!!

Could you please post photos of either the circuit board inside, or a some shots of the back where we can see through the vents on the back?

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

26 minutes ago, skintigh said:

Those both appear to be NTSC, and I am 95% sure the first one is a very rare 1-chip!!

Could you please post photos of either the circuit board inside, or a some shots of the back where we can see through the vents on the back?

Hmmmm, I really don't want to open them so I will take pictures of the vents of the back. What exactly does 1-chip mean? Besides being rare is there any advantage to having a 1-chip ? 

[skintigh]

25 minutes ago, OldSchoolRetroGamer said:

Hmmmm, I really don't want to open them so I will take pictures of the vents of the back. What exactly does 1-chip mean? Besides being rare is there any advantage to having a 1-chip ? 

Well, if you want to make a handheld, portable Atari it has an advantage because it's smaller and uses less power. Other than that, I'm not sure, and it's technically worse at audio because it only supports mono, not stereo (which the 3-chip theoretically could support, and a few early games could, too, but then that feature was dropped in production).

 

The 1-chip was a prototype to allow Atari to save money. They didn't make a lot, and towards the end started shipping them as I guess they ran out of other stock.

 

Every 1-chip I have seen is on a "rev 4" board, with one loan report of a "rev 3", but no picture. It's only a few screws to open and easy to do, but if you are hesitant you can take a photo a few feet away (and maybe zoomed a little) so you can see down through the vents, and take a pic, probably a flash would help. Mostly I'm looking to see which side of the vents have a metal RF shield behind them. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Edit: look 3 posts up, you can clearly see the well-illuminated RF shield through the vents on both side in that Atari.

Edited December 13, 2022 by skintigh