Pitfall III "proto" I acquired in 1997

[rbudrick]

Ok, so this one has always bugged the living crap out of me and I was digging through my protos because I have to sell them. My sob story and for sale post is on Nintendoage.com right now in the sellers forum, if anyone cares to buy non-Atari protos.

Anyway, I had just started really collecting back in 1997. I had disposable income (man do I miss that) for the first time, and like every newb, I yearned for that rare proto in the wild. I was about 21.

I drove by a yard sale on the way to work and ignored it. It was in the front lot of a trailer park and usually the same old couple manned the only yard sale that was always there. I stopped at this yard sale a couple of times in the past and there was nothing good. A friend of mine I worked with did not ignore the yard sale that day on the way to work. He came into work white as a ghost and could barely speak as he hand me his score, knowing I'm a collector and that I lived for this kind of oddball thing. Keep in mind, this kid was not that bright, and certainly knew nothing about games or collecting, other than what he saw at this yard sale was only 25 cents, very odd, and probably really important and significant to me. I nearly crapped myself:

<a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/user/rbudrick/media/IMG_20140715_003216_640_zps5084739b.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/rbudrick/IMG_20140715_003216_640_zps5084739b.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_20140715_003216_640_zps5084739b.jpg"/></a>

The label looks slightly better in person (is much more legible, but I'm a bad photographer) and reads:

 

ACTIVISION PRESENTS:

PITFALL III
"HARRY'S LAST ADVENTURE"

privet (sic) property Activision 1986
USE JOYSTICK CONTROLLERS
designed by Carol Shaw
PROTOTYPE AX-977

He said the old couple had some atari games out, and this was the only one that he knew was an oddball, so he bought it for 25 cents and gave it to me. Keep in mind, this kid was no hoaxer. He was a good friend, and knew very little about games, let alone collecting. Hell, no one collected back then. It was a very lonely hobby.

I couldn't wait to get home from work that day and see what was up with this cart. I popped it in (it fit very awkwardly, though it was indeed an Activision-style case), but I couldn't get jack from it. I tried for a couple hours and then very reluctantly used a hair dryer to ease the glue on the label and undo the screws to see the circuit board, which I immediately recognized as an Atari-brand board and not an Eprom. I examined it for a bit and noticed one trace on the board was deliberately cut. I crossed it with a piece of wire and Pac-Man booted up.

Holy shit, was I disappointed and bewildered.

So, this left three options:

1. The game was a fake meant to mess with collectors that didn't exist, me being the only one for easily half a million feet. That's 6 million inches! Oh, and it found the only collector around, maybe. I dunno.
2. The game was real and some jerk took the real board out and hoarded it, hoping to make a quick buck with some shmuck by selling the case with a dud in it and then disappearing. Then, the old folks selling it somehow inherited it. Hell, even if he didn't disappear, he may have figured, no one is gonna open this thing or figure out the board's a fake,
3, My friend got really smart, studied up on collecting Atari games, found out a good former Activision programmer's name, knew David Crane had left Activision by then, used Activision model number style, used an Activision case, somehow found Internet access to do all this (he had none at this time and I don't think he knew how to use it), but wasn't smart enough to use an Activision-shaped board and cut a trace on that instead. It's not like you acquire an Activision case with no Activision board already in it. Then, he saved it for years, anticipating he would one day meet me, to make sure the ink was appropriately faded.

I have NO CLUE. I wish I knew. It's one of life's mysteries I will never understand. If anyone has Carol Shaw's contact info, I would love to hear her thoughts on it, just so she and we can get a giggle, at the very least.

-Rob

Edited July 16, 2014 by rbudrick

[+Gemintronic]

That's a weird coincidence! My copy of Pac-Man looks like this:

[Andrew Davie]

"privet property"???

[BigO]

"privet property"???

A hedge against piracy?

[Andrew Davie]

privet

ˈprɪvɪt/

noun

1. 
   
   
   

   
   

   
   

   a shrub of the olive family, with small white heavily scented flowers and poisonous black berries.

   
   

   
   

   
   
   
   
   

[Andrew Davie]

A hedge against piracy?

 

Very good!

[Rom Hunter]

100% option 1.

 

[Rom Hunter]

Thanks for sharing, though.

 

Edited July 16, 2014 by Rom Hunter

[bkrownd]

Or....it was all just a crazy dream...

Edited July 16, 2014 by bkrownd

[san-d-2000]

Wasnt there a story about the Pitfall III Hoax in the DIgital Press Collectors guide?

[Rom Hunter]

Yes, there was IIRC.

 

[Rom Hunter]

Did some diggin'

 

Apparently someone made a few fake proto's back then and dumped them into thrift stores in his area.

 

Here's another one, called "Pitfall III - Harriet's Quest"

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!msg/rec.games.video.classic/EITZd0GSl9U/jwTJ2qA-fiQJ

 

It was a Lore entry in DP Guide 5.

 

[Greg2600]

Nice story regardless!

[BigO]

Knowing this crowd, I'm surprised nobody homebrewed a Pitfall III to de-hoaxify the hoax.

[+Gemintronic]

Knowing this crowd, I'm surprised nobody homebrewed a Pitfall III to de-hoaxify the hoax.

 

My copy of Pac-Man sure looks more and more like Pitfall III. I pieced together this game map. You can see the area in the screenshot towards the bottom right-hand side.

 

[Klove]

There's no way Carol would have been involved with this project. It's dated 1986 and Carol was way past her tenure at Activision by this time. Activision, tooo, would have been past their 2600 days. "Even for the 2600 Jr." Activision did go back into the 2600 pool back in '85, but the only way they knew it would work (make money), was for them to go after popular arcade licenses from that period. Hence Double Dragon, Kung-Fu Master and Commando. Atari too, knew that in order for the Jr. to stand a chance was to release arcade licenses for the platform.

[+Gemintronic]

In an alternate reality where Pitfall III was actually considered.. could Steve Bjork have been around to make this instead of Super Pitfall for computers?

[rbudrick]

@theloon, This looks suspiciously like Super Pitfall for NES. What's the story behind this one?

-Rob

[rjchamp3]

Vvery Interesting

 

Hope someone releases It ill BUY it

[rbudrick]

I do dig Klove's argument, but I would still love to hear Carol's take, if anyone could ask her. I know, longshot, and possibly a slight invasion of privacy, but then again, like I said, maybe she'll get a chuckle? I recall some folks had her contact info here, but I don't want to push the issue, of course.

 

-Rob

Side note: coulda sworn my post count was 127 last night, not that it matters. Just a curiosity I noticed.

Edited July 16, 2014 by rbudrick

[GrizzLee]

Did some diggin'

 

Apparently someone made a few fake proto's back then and dumped them into thrift stores in his area.

 

Here's another one, called "Pitfall III - Harriet's Quest"

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!msg/rec.games.video.classic/EITZd0GSl9U/jwTJ2qA-fiQJ

 

It was a Lore entry in DP Guide 5.

 

 

That was a hoax Ben Johnson and I perpetrated here in the PacNW. We made 3 of these up and dropped them off at various thrift stores across Puget Sound (Tacoma, Seattle, Bellingham). There are 2 more out there somewhere :-)

 

It was pretty funny that Brian found one as he always bragged how he had it good in Tacoma and never realized that we frequented the South Sound area often ourselves. Actiplaque and the mispelling were all precalculated. The penny mentioned was hot glued to give more pereptive weight (EPROM) validity to the cart (apparently it didn't stay put). That was along time ago.... I still get a chuckle about it. Awe the good times when things were plentiful in the thrift stores. I miss those days.

Edited July 16, 2014 by GrizzLee

[rjchamp3]

 

That was a hoax Ben Johnson and I perpetrated here in the PacNW. We made 3 of these up and dropped them off at various thrift stores across Puget Sound (Tacoma, Seattle, Bellingham). There are 2 more out there somewhere :-)

 

It was pretty funny that Brian found one as he always bragged how he had it good in Tacoma and never realized that we frequented the South Sound area often ourselves. Actiplaque and the mispelling were all precalculated. The penny mentioned was hot glued to give more pereptive weight (EPROM) validity to the cart (apparently it didn't stay put). That was along time ago.... I still get a chuckle about it. Awe the good times when things were plentiful in the thrift stores. I miss those days.

 

 

 

 

I knew Ben Johnson Iiused to buy and sell from him UNTIL everyone got greedy after the 90s lol

[GrizzLee]

 

 

That was a hoax Ben Johnson and I perpetrated here in the PacNW. We made 3 of these up and dropped them off at various thrift stores across Puget Sound (Tacoma, Seattle, Bellingham). There are 2 more out there somewhere :-)

 

It was pretty funny that Brian found one as he always bragged how he had it good in Tacoma and never realized that we frequented the South Sound area often ourselves. Actiplaque and the mispelling were all precalculated. The penny mentioned was hot glued to give more pereptive weight (EPROM) validity to the cart (apparently it didn't stay put). That was along time ago.... I still get a chuckle about it. Awe the good times when things were plentiful in the thrift stores. I miss those days.

 

 

 

 

I knew Ben Johnson Iiused to buy and sell from him UNTIL everyone got greedy after the 90s lol

 

 

Yes indeed, Ben and I had some great times together. His prices were awesome. We used to hike and snowshoe together. He's now married with 3 boys and just got his pilots license. Times have changed.

[+Gemintronic]

 

Actiplaque and the mispelling were all precalculated.

 

Nice try. My Pac-Man cart has the same misspellings any dedicated developer would make during release candidate phase! Notice the title screen says "Super Pitiful". YouTube proof!

 

[rbudrick]

But you didn't make my cart, right, Grizz? lol.
-Rob