How to clean Atari cartridges that stinks like hell?

[Mellotron]

Hi! So the other day I was walking down the street and saw a pile of trash bag. One of them had a hole in it and there was a Frogger cartridge coming out of it. So I pulled the cartridge out and I saw dozens other cartridges in the bag so I was like wow I'm bringing that trash bag home! So I bring it home, remove all the disgusting junk there was in it and put the game on my table and there was 58 cartridges! But, there's a problem. The games smells like if someone left them in pee for multiple years and then put rotten fishes on them. So how do I clean them up so that they doesn't smell like that? Because that odor they have is extremely disgusting and there's no way I'm keeping them in the house if I can't remove the odor. The labels are surprisingly in pretty good shape but I don't how and with what I could clean them without damaging them. Any idea?

[Necron99]

first thing you should do is clean the contacts, the shells, and the labels as best as you can. use a sanitizing rag for the shells first.

How To Clean Cartridges

That should get rid of most of the initial smell. if it is still smelly, I would put them in a box or bin with a lid and cut a bunch of dryer sheets into smaller squares and slip one in between each cartridge, seal the box and check again in a few days. repeat if necessary.

 

there are also similar ideas using kitty litter and baking soda.

[+save2600]

Welcome Mellotron! You a fan of Mike Pinder/Moody Blues by chance?

 

I agree with Necron's suggestions, but more importantly, what were the titles among the 58 games you found? Curious... and what a shame it is that people are 'still' throwing their old games out with the garbage. There's so many outlets and places to sell or donate - just befuddling why anyone would do that.

[Mellotron]

No I don't even know Mike Pinder or Moody Blues... But Yes is my favorite band so yeah...

 

I made a mistake! I did not find 58 games but 48... Anyway they are: phoenix, miniature golf, raiders of the lost ark, pressure cooker, ms. pac-man, missile command, california games, berzerk, winter games, super challenge baseball, asteroids, donkey kong, fathom, e.t the extra terrestrial, jungle hunt, spacemaster x-7, star raider, video chess, astroblast, yars revenge, demolition herby, combat, space invaders, journey escape, super challenge football, bugs, othello, centipede, adventure, haunted house, defender, night driver, space attack, cosmic creeps, kaboom, joust, super cobra, kangaroo, millipede, coconuts, venture, swordquest eartworld, frogger, realsport football, realsport volleyball, swordquest fireworld, pitall and battlezone

 

Some of then have surprisingly good label but other are in really bad shape.

[Raticon]

Put some vinegar in a tray or small open container and put it in a sealed box together with the games. Make sure there's no spill on the labels. Let them sit there for a few days, the vinegar should absorb the bad smell.
Repeat if necessary with new vinegar.

That is an old trick often used by car dealers to get rid of disgusting smell from used cars they want to sell

[+xucaen]

i just threw up a little.

[+save2600]

Ahh, yes - Rick Wakeman. Listen to ABWH all the time, but must not listen to their super early stuff enough to associate them with the mellotron. I'll have to listen out for it! But I cringe whenever someone says they don't know who The Moody Blues are. haha To me, it's just like saying they've never heard of The Beatles. (I'm *sure* you've heard some Moody songs before… Tuesday Afternoon, Nights In White Satin, I'm Just A Singer, I Know You're Out There, In Your Wildest Dreams, etc., etc. - just maybe never placed the band)

 

Anyway, you've got some good games there and a couple of slightly rare ones too. I might be interested in Demolition Herby if you decide to get rid of it and it's in decent enough shape. Have a trade list here if interested...

[Mellotron]

Yeah actually I knew "Tuesday Afternoon", "Nights In White Satin" and "I'm Just A Singer" but I didn't know it was from The Moody Blues. Well the first three Yes albums doesn't have any mellotrons because Tony Kaye didn't want to play them or something and that's why they got Rick Wakeman. I really like the mellotron on "Heart of the Sunrise" from "Fragile", "Close to the Edge" and "Tales from Topographic Oceans" have many great mellotron moments and also "Relayer" but that one has Patrick Moraz on keyboard because Rick Wakeman hated "Tales from Topographic Oceans" so much that he left the band. So they got Patrick Moraz... Apparently he played in The Moody Blues so maybe you know him.

 

What slightly rare games do I have? Because it's always cool to find rare but good games because you don't have to look for them and you don't have to pay ridiculous prices on eScam...

[Mellotron]

I got the smell off the case and label but it still smell disgusting inside... I don't think putting soapy water, vinegar or isopropyl alcohol inside would be a very good idea... So what do I do?

[WolfAmongWolves]

You have to give the dryer sheets/baking soda/kitty litter a little more time to work. My personal favorite is baking soda, since it removes odors without adding perfume. As Necron said, seal the games in a closed container with the odor remover of your choice for a few days. Check again towards the end of next week and you'll likely have better results.

[Necron99]

I got the smell off the case and label but it still smell disgusting inside... I don't think putting soapy water, vinegar or isopropyl alcohol inside would be a very good idea... So what do I do?

do you mean the insides of the cartridge? Use a q-tip and alcohol to clean in there. with 48 games that came from the garbage, you might need a whole box.

 

If you mean inside your house, it will take at the very least 48 hours for the dryer sheets/baking soda/kitty litter method to work. If yours are extra smelly like I assume they are, leave them there for a week or so.

 

Some of the rarer titles you got.

 

Fathom (R4)

Cosmic Creeps (R4)

Spacemaster X-7 (R6)

Demolition Herby (R6 or R7, depending on which variant)

Coconuts (R4)

[Mellotron]

So alcohol and q-tips could clean and remove the smell?

 

And is this a good idea to remove the smell inside the cartridges?

 

http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=791715DSC01723.jpg

 

[karokoenig]

I found that alcohol does sometimes react in an unpleasant way with the plastic. It does get off some nasty smell, but... I can't describe it. Smells like the plastic gets dissolved slightly and mixes with the alcohol to leave a weird odour. I use alcohol only for the connector pins these days, and for some extremely nasty grime on the cart. The rest gets cleaned with a slightly scented disinfectant like Sagrotan Spray or something similar.

 

In rare cases (very sticky permanent marker for example), I even use aceton-free nail polish remover. But be very very careful with that stuff and always wipe the area with a wet towel immediately, or you might end up with whitish stains where the nail polish remover had its business with the plastic.

[+LS650]

That's quite a haul of decent games for free - I hope you can de-smellify them!

 

I think you just need to be patient and let the baking soda / dryer sheets do their trick. Those carts were likely in that smelly bag for a long time; it's going to take a while for the stink to go away...

[Mellotron]

unfortunately the last three games I found "swordquest fireworld, pitall and battlezone" were hidden in extremely disgusting paper towels and had unidentified substance on them. I had to throw them away because they were impossible to clean and Pitfall didn't even work. I already had 2x missile command, jungle hunt, star raider, yars revenge, combat, journey escape and realsport football.

 

But really it sucks that people are throwing away their old stuff. Who knows what gems could be hidden in those disgusting black bags? It makes me want to check every thrash bags I find... No that's disgusting... But could someone check the picture I uploaded on hostingpics and tell me if that's the right way to do it?

[Necron99]

unfortunately the last three games I found "swordquest fireworld, pitall and battlezone" were hidden in extremely disgusting paper towels and had unidentified substance on them. I had to throw them away because they were impossible to clean and Pitfall didn't even work. I already had 2x missile command, jungle hunt, star raider, yars revenge, combat, journey escape and realsport football.

 

But really it sucks that people are throwing away their old stuff. Who knows what gems could be hidden in those disgusting black bags? It makes me want to check every thrash bags I find... No that's disgusting... But could someone check the picture I uploaded on hostingpics and tell me if that's the right way to do it?

looks like you did it right. I would've cut the sheets up to use less sheets but it's perfectly fine this way. make sure you put a lid on the box because that will help the dryer sheets do their work on the games instead of wherever you are storing the box.

[fiddlepaddle]

...just to add more detail about removing the smell: in cutting up sheets of deoderizer, or adding a bowl of vinegar, or setting the carts in kitty litter, you just want to do what you can to permeate the air in the closed box with odor-obsorbing molecules, and leave the box closed for a substantial period of time.

 

Even then, closed carts MIGHT still have residual smell inside them because of lack of circulation of the air inside the cart. It might also help to open up the box and move the deoderizer sheets around or stir the baking soda or kitty litter every 12 hours or so.

 

The absolutely best way would be to take the shells apart first, and clean the circuit boards with electronic cleaner and the inside of the shell with alcohol or goo gone, but that is a lot of work. In lieu of that, you could spray aerosol quick drying electronic cleaner into the inside of the carts through the open connector end and let it drip out, which might do the job.

 

The easiest way would probably be to set those carts out open to the air in the garage for a year (assuming your garage doesn't smell).

[Jinks]

Why not spray contact cleaner in the ends of all of them and use compressed air to blow them dry. 90psi or so from a blow nozzle should be enough. Or how about wd 40. Just take a rubber band and a sandwich bag (plastic small) on the outside to protect the labels. Done and done.