badbrad Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 I got this Activision cart today and it has a foam insert on the connector. I've never seen this before. Comments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 Some of my activision carts had that, I believe it's just to protect the contacts, as they have no self closing door to do so. Not all my games (that I bought new) had that, so I'm not sure if that's rare or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 I have a couple of early Activision carts that have the foam protector. I think it's something that Activision abandoned quickly. I've never seen it mentioned in any of their literature. Maybe they quit becuase too many people called in to complain that they couldn't get the cart to fit in the Atari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 I got this Activision cart today and it has a foam insert on the connector.I've never seen this before. Comments? I can honestly say that I have never seen this before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 I have an Activision Checkers cartride that has a foam insert and one other early Activision title I can't offhand recall the name of. Also, most of my IBM PC Jr. cartridges (Am I the only one who collects these?) have a foam insert. My guess is that at one time the cartridge manufactures believed foam inserts were a cheap alternative to the Atari style dust guard. But then they quickly abandoned the idea after concluding that a little dust posed such a tiny risk to the longevity of a cart that even a solution as cheap as a foam insert couldn't justify its own cost. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 Hey yea, now that you mention it, I do seem to recall getting an Activision cart like that way back in the day. Cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriel Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 I had an Activision Checkers cart like that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbrad Posted March 9, 2003 Author Share Posted March 9, 2003 This is also Checkers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 Maybe they put foam in there to keep the pieces from falling out and getting lost There's nothing worse than setting up the checker board to find out that you're missing a checker or two 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 Maybe they put foam in there to keep the pieces from falling out and getting lost There's nothing worse than setting up the checker board to find out that you're missing a checker or two ROTFL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yar Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 Alot of those probably just get thrown aside, so you never really see them around. Hehe, maybe they're worth something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Rescue Group Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 The Activision Checkers cartridge I found last week has the foam in it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CincYnoTi Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 activision put these in many of their first releases. there were at least two different types, dark/spongy like shown above, and a lighter, greenish kind with finer grain sponge holes. i have found these in dragster, boxing, checkers, fishing derby, and bridge. i think these sponges also came in an early cartridge style which has ridges/hooks on the inner surface to hold the sponges in place. you can find these ridges in the early games even in cartridges that do not have the sponge protector (either the owner pulled the sponge out or activision started releasing games without the sponges). i have found carts with these ribs in the first nine activision releases (dragster through freeway). kaboom, the last title to have one of the diagonal black-stripe original box styles: http://www.atariage.com/box_page.html?Soft...57&BoxStyleID=8 is the only one of the original ten titles i have not yet found in a cartridge with the inner ribs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CincYnoTi Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 actually, now that i've looked at my carts with the foam, the one pictured in this thread looks more like the green color. the other one is almost black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbrad Posted March 9, 2003 Author Share Posted March 9, 2003 The foam is brownish-grey. The cart has 4 hooks to hold the foam. (see pic) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 So you didn't need to take the foam out to play the game? I never even considered that possibility before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackratVG Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 I've also run across a foam insert in a Boxing game. At CGE 2002, I attended almost all of the keynote speeches, one of which was a manager sort of person at Activision. His name was Steven Wyatt. During his speech, he joked about these foam inserts saying that they had first included them as a cheaper alternative to the dust cover, but later decided against them for fear of static electricity building up and erasing the game contents. Hope this helps, Jarett Waite Owner Packrat Video Games Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the 5th ghost Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 The carts I have with the foam insert are Dragster, Boxing, Checkers, Fishing Derby, Skiing and Bridge. I also have the other ones up to Kaboom! with just the teeth. My guess is that Dragtser through Bridge got the foam insert. The later released carts just used the leftover cases till they were used up. Be careful if you find a cart with the darker foam. It tends to get sticky with age (built up moisture maybe?) and could fall apart if you try to insert it into your Atari. This happened to me Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattG/Snyper2099 Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 For the record, I too own a copy of checkers with the greenish foam insert as well as one without the foam. MattG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 wow id never seen that foam before, thats cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PackratVG Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 I just remembered one more thing that Steve said at the expo. Evidently, Atari threatened a law suit for the possibility of static electricity building up in the foam insert and damaging the console. This claim seems a little unfounded, but I guess that it was enough for them to stop production of the inserts. Jarett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted March 11, 2003 Share Posted March 11, 2003 I never thought that you could insert the cart with the foam in it, I always removed it (and lost most at a younger age) Though I guess that would account for the reason that the Acrivision carts have such a deap cart edge, for the foam to squeeze up into when you insert the cart. Interesting, but I doubt it worked to successful over much use. That's probably the real reason theys topped using these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smf_4ever Posted March 11, 2003 Share Posted March 11, 2003 I got a few carts last year that had the black foam in them... While removing the foam-garbage, they fell apart into a sticky mess that stuck and crumbled to everything like ashes.. Needless to say.. I was down on the rug.. with carpet cleaner rather than playing at this time.... Stupid foam!!!!!! stupid stupid stupid!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapdash Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 Also, most of my IBM PC Jr. cartridges (Am I the only one who collects these?) have a foam insert. Yeah, I've got a few of them. Heck, maybe all of them. PC Jr carts aren't the center of my collection or anything, but I do collect them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 i want peanut demon attack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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