Matt Fisher Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I'm new to AtariAge so I'm not sure where to post this. I spend the weekends during the summer at the flea market searching for video games. I found a complete GCE Vectrex in the box. The owner said she wanted $20 for it so I bought it. I got home and started to unbox the Vectrex and I found a game inside. The game is Mr. Boston Clean Sweep. I'm new to Vectrex collecting so I wasn't sure what this was; I was just happy to have found a game tucked inside the Vectrex box. After researching the game I found that the Mr. Boston version of this game was part of a collaboration between GCE and Mr. Boston Liquors. I tried to find more on the promotion or prototype or whatever but there's not much out there. An interesting fact is that my Vectrex has a sticker that says, "Property of Glenmore Distilleries Co. Louisville Kentucky." I found that Mr. Boston was a subsidiary of Glenmore in the 80s. I guess this Vectrex and Mr. Boston Clean Sweep were given to the parent company. I have one problem though. I tried to play the Mr. Boston cart but the game will not load past the screen where you choose the number of players. The game does display the Mr. Boston advertisement. The Vectrex will play Mine Storm that is built-in. I've read that the solder points in the Vectrex are known to go bad. I ordered a copy of Spike online so I can test the system. I'm praying the second game does not load so I can point my finger at the Vectrex. If the cart will not load I have a guy in Denver that can test the cart for me on a known good Vectrex. I don't know how to upload a photo in the posts but I will email anyone upon request. How do you upload a photo? I only see how to link to another site. Bayougames This would only be the third boxed Mr. Boston known. Pretty lucky, I would say! By the way, I'm willing to bet that either your cartridge contacts or the connector on the Vectrex itself are dirty. If it loads a little, as you describe, I wouldn't think that bad solder inside the console is the problem. Whenever I have a game that freezes like that, reseating the cart a couple of times is the most I have ever had to do to get it going. If you decide to try cleaning, I wouldn't be too aggressive cleaning that cart, though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Wow... we always hope more complete copies of Mr Boston will eventually appear. If you want to sell it BayouGames, pending getting it working, then I'd definitely be interested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovethevectrex Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 I'm new to AtariAge so I'm not sure where to post this. I spend the weekends during the summer at the flea market searching for video games. I found a complete GCE Vectrex in the box. The owner said she wanted $20 for it so I bought it. I got home and started to unbox the Vectrex and I found a game inside. The game is Mr. Boston Clean Sweep. I'm new to Vectrex collecting so I wasn't sure what this was; I was just happy to have found a game tucked inside the Vectrex box. After researching the game I found that the Mr. Boston version of this game was part of a collaboration between GCE and Mr. Boston Liquors. I tried to find more on the promotion or prototype or whatever but there's not much out there. An interesting fact is that my Vectrex has a sticker that says, "Property of Glenmore Distilleries Co. Louisville Kentucky." I found that Mr. Boston was a subsidiary of Glenmore in the 80s. I guess this Vectrex and Mr. Boston Clean Sweep were given to the parent company. I have one problem though. I tried to play the Mr. Boston cart but the game will not load past the screen where you choose the number of players. The game does display the Mr. Boston advertisement. The Vectrex will play Mine Storm that is built-in. I've read that the solder points in the Vectrex are known to go bad. I ordered a copy of Spike online so I can test the system. I'm praying the second game does not load so I can point my finger at the Vectrex. If the cart will not load I have a guy in Denver that can test the cart for me on a known good Vectrex. I don't know how to upload a photo in the posts but I will email anyone upon request. How do you upload a photo? I only see how to link to another site. Bayougames wow, mr boston! thats the rarest game for the vectrex, and its actually one of the rarest games of all time, only about 5 are known to exist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayougames Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 I have a little more info the Mr. Boston cart. It will load to the point where you choose the number of players and game 1 or 2. I can change both of these values but if I let it sit there the Vectrex will shut off or if I hit button 4 from the player/game select screen it will shut off. Well, it seems like it is shutting off but I see light on the screen every now and then. Also, the title screen loads with a "0" above the title sometimes. This doesn't appear to make a difference in how far the game gets while loading. Any ideas? I've seen crazy numbers thrown around for a complete copy of Mr. Boston. If I can't get the cart working, how much do you all think the box, overlay and manual should go for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayougames Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 (edited) I figured out how to post photos so here are the board and bent pin on the Mr. Boston cart. Does anyone know if this is normal? It doesn't seem likely this was intentional. If it isn't supposed to be like that can I get it repaired? It can't take much to desolder, straiten the pin and solder the chip again. Edited September 5, 2012 by Bayougames Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard H. Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 AAMOI is the genuine Mr Boston on EPROM ? (i.e. not mask ROM) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovethevectrex Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 I figured out how to post photos so here are the board and bent pin on the Mr. Boston cart. Does anyone know if this is normal? It doesn't seem likely this was intentional. If it isn't supposed to be like that can I get it repaired? It can't take much to desolder, straiten the pin and solder the chip again. wow, thats insane. your so lucky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayougames Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 I received Spike today so I could test my Vectrex to determine if the problem I'm having is due to the Mr. Boston cart or the system. The Spike cart loaded to the same point as Mr. Boston and died. I guess that's good news. Now I need to find a replacement cart reader for the Vectrex. I am considering consigning Mr. Boston to Atari2600.com. If anyone on AA is interested in buying the cart please let me know. I will wait a week or so before working a deal with Atari2600.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 Interested... really dependent on ensuring the cartridge does work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grimeka# Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 Very nice collection, congrats!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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