65bonneville Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Can someone explain to me the deal with "for color tv viewing only"? Was this phrase only printed on some early boxes, making it rare? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+the1hatman Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Can someone explain to me the deal with "for color tv viewing only"? Was this phrase only printed on some early boxes, making it rare? Thanks In the earliest releases the note FOR COLOR TV VIEWING ONLY appeared not at the bottom of the front text but inside the artwork for the game: Armor Battle, Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack, Major League Baseball, NFL Football, NBA Basketball, Math Fun, ABPA Backgammon, Checkers. These are also noteworthy for having full color manuals and carts without the INSERT TO THIS LINE mark on the top. Some of the carts are also heavier than normal thanks to an additional metal shield over the board. *pics by JasonlikesINTV 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Hey, nice pics! Those are gorgeous 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Can someone explain to me the deal with "for color tv viewing only"? Was this phrase only printed on some early boxes, making it rare? Thanks Building on what the1hatman said, it's a pretty subtle early box variation. Some are rare, but others like NFL and MLB are easy to find and typically don't command any sort of premium. Most folks don't know or care about them and few will pay any sort of premium. Armor Battle is kinda tough to find though, so watch that auction Honestly, of all the subtle variations hiding pictures above, the coolest thing to seek out are the manuals. They're really nice looking, not impossible to find, and a fun subset to collect. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpressed Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 I have a couple of auctions of French Canadian variants ending soon: Coleco Zaxxon (no manual) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/ZAXXON-FOR-MATTEL-INTELLIVISION-BY-COLECO-FRENCH-CANADIAN-VARIANT-NO-MANUAL/253784036259? Intellivision console (malfunctioning) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/MATTEL-INTELLIVISION-CONSOLE-FRENCH-CANADIAN-VARIANT-MALFUNCTIONING/253786925981? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+the1hatman Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Yeah NFL and MLB are so common there really isn't any reason to pay extra for them. It can be tough to find full color NFL Playbooks in decent shape but that's true for all NFL Playbooks. After those two it gets a little more hazy. The rest are all rare enough that they do command a premium but opinions differ as to which ones are more rare than the others. In my personal experience from hunting these down the rarity goes as such (most to least rare): 1. Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack - you'd think with so many of this title out there the variation would be common but I rarely ever see these 2. Checkers - I have only held 2 of these ever and one of them is in my personal collection 3. ABPA Backgammon - #3 and 4 are interchangeable as both are pretty uncommon 4. NBA Basketball - see above 5. Armor Battle - used to be higher on this list but a few have popped up on eBay recently 6. Math Fun - I used to see a lot of these but they have become quite scarce the past few years 7. Major League Baseball - common 8. NFL Football - VERY common As Jason said above about the manuals, they are a fun subset to collect and are not nearly as tough to find as the FCTVO boxes. Any US made gatefold of these games with the full Keyboard Component text on the front will likely have the color manual. Space Battle (red box) and Las Vegas Roulette also have the full color manuals but never came with FCTVO boxes. The one notable exception seems to be Armor Battle. US gatefolds of that one that are not FCTVO seem to have been packed with the 2 color made in Taiwan manuals. It makes finding full color manuals for it much tougher than the rest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 (edited) I have a couple of auctions of French Canadian variants ending soon: Coleco Zaxxon (no manual) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/ZAXXON-FOR-MATTEL-INTELLIVISION-BY-COLECO-FRENCH-CANADIAN-VARIANT-NO-MANUAL/253784036259? Intellivision console (malfunctioning) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/MATTEL-INTELLIVISION-CONSOLE-FRENCH-CANADIAN-VARIANT-MALFUNCTIONING/253786925981? What's the serial number on the Intellivision. I haven't seen a label like that before. Edit: Sorry I missed the last photo. Usually those Canadian labels fade badly and disappear. The earliest ones must be different. Edited August 4, 2018 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+intvsteve Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Anyone spot a FCTVVO Math Fun, drop me a line. It always seemed surprising to me that there's not a Space Battle or Roulette. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpressed Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 What's the serial number on the Intellivision. I haven't seen a label like that before. Serial is in one of the photos. Yes, I haven't seen many of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Anyone spot a FCTVVO Math Fun, drop me a line. It always seemed surprising to me that there's not a Space Battle or Roulette. Is Math Fun the last one you need? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojotv67 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Yeah NFL and MLB are so common there really isn't any reason to pay extra for them. It can be tough to find full color NFL Playbooks in decent shape but that's true for all NFL Playbooks. After those two it gets a little more hazy. The rest are all rare enough that they do command a premium but opinions differ as to which ones are more rare than the others. In my personal experience from hunting these down the rarity goes as such (most to least rare): 1. Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack - you'd think with so many of this title out there the variation would be common but I rarely ever see these 2. Checkers - I have only held 2 of these ever and one of them is in my personal collection 3. ABPA Backgammon - #3 and 4 are interchangeable as both are pretty uncommon 4. NBA Basketball - see above 5. Armor Battle - used to be higher on this list but a few have popped up on eBay recently 6. Math Fun - I used to see a lot of these but they have become quite scarce the past few years 7. Major League Baseball - common 8. NFL Football - VERY common As Jason said above about the manuals, they are a fun subset to collect and are not nearly as tough to find as the FCTVO boxes. Any US made gatefold of these games with the full Keyboard Component text on the front will likely have the color manual. Space Battle (red box) and Las Vegas Roulette also have the full color manuals but never came with FCTVO boxes. The one notable exception seems to be Armor Battle. US gatefolds of that one that are not FCTVO seem to have been packed with the 2 color made in Taiwan manuals. It makes finding full color manuals for it much tougher than the rest. Anyone spot a FCTVVO Math Fun, drop me a line. It always seemed surprising to me that there's not a Space Battle or Roulette. So much talk about the FCTVO boxes makes it more painful to see only the two most common in my collection . I wouldn't mind paying the premium as long as they popped up more often. Sometimes there is high demand when they show up though making it more challenging... must. exercise. patience. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+the1hatman Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 So much talk about the FCTVO boxes makes it more painful to see only the two most common in my collection . I wouldn't mind paying the premium as long as they popped up more often. Sometimes there is high demand when they show up though making it more challenging... must. exercise. patience. Well I can think of one that's available eBay Auction -- Item Number: 283077439213 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 I always wondered if the very first cartridges in 1980 came with catalogs. I don't think so because they have the space action network and that astrosmash screenshot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+the1hatman Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 (edited) I always wondered if the very first cartridges in 1980 came with catalogs. I don't think so because they have the space action network and that astrosmash screenshot.I have always found it doubtful that they did. Too many games listed that came out after the first 8 or 10 and not as COMING SOON either. Seems unlikely. Still, I keep a blue US catalog with all my early run games since we'll never truly know. We could have someone with a sealed copy open it up to check but even then we have seen variation in when/which catalogs were placed inside games before. So no matter what one would find it doesn't mean that all came that way. There's just no way to ever know for sure. Edited August 4, 2018 by the1hatman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 (edited) A lot of the games could have been conceived and rendered by Mattel artists as early as 1978 but not Astromash. That was the programmer's concept well after the national launch. Edit: The other thing I wonder about is if the 1979 test market packaging was any different. I think the cartridges might have been the same but I know there is a rare early console package. Intellivision Productions has one and I think cmart has one but nobody has been kind enough to post a photo. Edited August 4, 2018 by mr_me 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+intvsteve Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Is Math Fun the last one you need? yep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humblejack Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Just a note to let you all know I put some more stuff on ebay. Intellivision Inc. Backgammon Shrinkwrapped https://www.ebay.com/itm/202392193855 World Series ML Baseball Shrinkwrapped https://www.ebay.com/itm/202392225112 All three French Intellivoice games and the French Intellivoice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari_Bill Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Just a note to let you all know I put some more stuff on ebay. Intellivision Inc. Backgammon Shrinkwrapped https://www.ebay.com/itm/202392193855 World Series ML Baseball Shrinkwrapped https://www.ebay.com/itm/202392225112 All three French Intellivoice games and the French Intellivoice Very curious as to what the Backgammon goes for. I see it's already got a bid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Very curious as to what the Backgammon goes for. I see it's already got a bid. I have a decent guess, but I don't want to influence the price by tossing out numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 I have a decent guess, but I don't want to influence the price by tossing out numbers. Eleventy billion? ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Eleventy billion? ? Are you some kind of mind reader? Get out of my head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Are you some kind of mind reader? Get out of my head Bahahahaha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humblejack Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 Very curious as to what the Backgammon goes for. I see it's already got a bid. Tough to say, it is the only known shrinkwrapped copy to exist. I really like Cmart's estimate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 Tough to say, it is the only known shrinkwrapped copy to exist. I really like Cmart's estimate. It's also the nicest condition one I've seen and I've personally handled 2 known copies and seen pictures of at least three additional ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojotv67 Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 Well I can think of one that's available eBay Auction -- Item Number: 283077439213 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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