WTB Fairchild Checkers

[Sunnyvale CA]

Want to buy a fairchild checkers, just has to work so I can play it.

 

Thanks.

[Blazing Lazers]

Well, good luck. Truly, as this one game has seen a huge price spike in the past few years. A complete copy could easily run you around $800, and likely more. It would probably take around $1,000 to pry one out of collector's hands, as most of us who do have copies do not want to part with them and break up our sets. Tempting as such a sum would be, most of us wouldn't do it. We'd likely never get another copy, or if we did it would cost us far more in the future to replace. That would of course be for the illustrated box version in decent condition. There is a rarer but less desirable white-box version.

 

If you're just looking for a cart to play the game, well, it'll still be a wait. They seem to be turning up on Ebay far less often than they were even a few years ago.

 

What amazes me is that this one game is NOT actually the rarest retail release, as the Democart also was publicly sold, and was also produced with both box variants. But those turn up even less than annually, of late. If you're going for a full set you must have the Democart.

[Sunnyvale CA]

Thanks for the info, yea any loose cart is fine, I saw the last 2 loose on Ebay go for the ~$400 range. Just looking to complete the set. I read on the web it was short printed.

[Blazing Lazers]

Thanks for the info, yea any loose cart is fine, I saw the last 2 loose on Ebay go for the ~$400 range. Just looking to complete the set. I read on the web it was short printed.

Do you have all of the others, including the Democart?

 

Yeah, it wasn't sold for very long, only in two short batches, going by the documents over on FND's excellent site. That still leaves at least a few hundred copies that were made, and perhaps even a few thousand. Now, some of those could have been recycled into other carts or simply discarded, but there are enough copies out there to satisfy collector demand. It's just a matter of them turning up. There are far more copies out there in the wild than there are collectors looking for them.

[Sunnyvale CA]

I never went after the Democarts because I assumed there were store retail demos, which I wasn't interested in. Just wanted the standard releases.

[Blazing Lazers]

I never went after the Democarts because I assumed there were store retail demos, which I wasn't interested in. Just wanted the standard releases.

Democart 1 was a standard release- it has a box and was sold openly as part of bundles and individually, for at least as long as Checkers was. It's required for the full set.

 

Democart 2, that's a different story. No evidence that it was ever sold, and seems to have only been for sales presentation purposes.

[Tombstone]

Last one I had I listed on ebay for $350 and it sold within a day. Have a loose cart in my collection, which is where it will stay. Keep looking on ebay. One will show up eventually.

[Atari_Bill]

Last one I had I listed on ebay for $350 and it sold within a day. Have a loose cart in my collection, which is where it will stay. Keep looking on ebay. One will show up eventually.

I had to settle for a loose copy as well. That's fine. Beggers can't be choosers.

[Sunnyvale CA]

I'm surprised people still collect for this, my father had the system which is why I've been trying for the set. It is just on a shelf in our game room with his atari stuff. Everytime I try on Ebay for one I'm outbid, when I see the name of the winner it always looks like an overseas buyer from Ebay Germany etc. I believe they had a system clone to the Fairchild so I believe it reaches a bigger market when someone opens the Ebay listing to international shipping.

[Sunnyvale CA]

Anyone have a fairchild checkers? Just checking.....

 

 

[Sunnyvale CA]

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[Tombstone]

This little beauty?