Atari "Accepted" label what does it mean?

[jabbyjim]

has anyone heard of unlabeled carts that say Atari "Accepted"? Is this worth anything?

 

[fiddlepaddle]

What game is it? What else was it found with? How many did you find together? Where did you get it?

[jabbyjim]

sorry I just saw it in a sale and was curious. Found this thread that also came up as a dead end.

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/240193-help-mystery-atari-cart/

 

since its already too rich for my blood.. two hours left to snag it.

 

If anyone here gets it I would love to know more. https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/68280833

[Flojomojo]

Just a guess: "accepted" was placed there for testing or quality control purposes. Maybe it was a return, or a demo, or a review unit?

[Albert]

That's very interesting. Looking at the cart up for sale and the one from the thread four years ago, I'd say the handwriting is by the same person (the "3" in particular has a pretty unique style). I'd have to agree that it's a mask ROM test cartridge. "OKI" is a company that produced chips for Atari, so Atari probably received a batch of test boards and put them into cart shells with these labels for testing.

 

Would be interesting to know what game "038" is. The poster in the earlier thread apparently never tried the game in a real console, or if he did he never came back to post again.

 

..Al

[+groundtrooper]

I am pretty sure I know who ended up winning this. I am sure he will let me know what he got once he has it in his hands and I'll share it here.

He sent me the link as soon as he found it to ask me about it. We had a gentleman's agreement that I wouldn't bid against him.

[Kenjunior]

I sent CPUWIZ a message several days ago asking about that cart due to the seemingly dead ending from the 4 year ago thread. Yes I'm the one who ended winning the auction.

[Rom Hunter]

I sent CPUWIZ a message several days ago asking about that cart due to the seemingly dead ending from the 4 year ago thread. Yes I'm the one who ended winning the auction.

 

That cart is still a mystery to me:

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-unknown-cart-atari_31508.html

 

The Shopgoodwill link doesn't work for me, could you please post some pictures here?

 

What does it display onscreen?

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by Rom Hunter

[Kenjunior]

I obviously don't have the cart in my hands yet. I will definitely document the saga.....

 

Kenjunior

 

[jabbyjim]

I'm glad it was sold to someone in this thread, I'm so curious!

[Atari_Bill]

I'm glad it was sold to someone in this thread, I'm so curious!

I was too. I was the runner up bidder but just couldnt go any higher to find out. Glad someone else here is getting it.

[CPUWIZ]

I sent CPUWIZ a message several days ago asking about that cart due to the seemingly dead ending from the 4 year ago thread. Yes I'm the one who ended winning the auction.

 

I am sorry, I missed that, I am still 100% sure that this is a production sample.

[Albert]

I am sorry, I missed that, I am still 100% sure that this is a production sample.

 

I'm with you on this.

[Atari_Bill]

 

I am sorry, I missed that, I am still 100% sure that this is a production sample.

I also notice this was sold by Goodwill of Silicon Valley. Who knows what it may be?

[Albert]

I also notice this was sold by Goodwill of Silicon Valley. Who knows what it may be?

 

Imagine all the interesting and/or unique Atari-related items they've probably sold over the years.

 

..Al

[CPUWIZ]

We need to know the title, plug it in. The 38 is probably a CX end number or something like that.

 

Or maybe not, since we know that OKI was a PCB manufacturer at the least, that made boards for Atari. Could be a lot number.

[jaybird3rd]

We need to know the title, plug it in. The 38 is probably a CX end number or something like that.

If that's the case, then it's probably Missile Command. I'm pretty sure I've got a spare Missile Command PCB somewhere on my bench which has "038" stamped on the shield.

[Kenjunior]

OK folks - Shopgoodwill showed this shipped a week ago and USPS said they don't have it. UGH! Well, I get home late last night and there's this box waiting on me......

It appears to be Missile Command, I don't know if it's a different revision or final production run or ??????

 

 

 

Albert or CPUWIZ any additional thoughts? Just a production sample? Any guesses how many production samples would there be?

[Rom Hunter]

Thanks for solving this riddle.

It's most probably the final version, but the only way be 100% sure, is to dump the ROM.

Edited May 31, 2019 by Rom Hunter

[Albert]

Albert or CPUWIZ any additional thoughts? Just a production sample? Any guesses how many production samples would there be?

 

Thanks for the photos. I've seen that type of chip packaging before with Atari 2600 games. Not nearly as common as a typical DIP package, though. I'd put my money on this being a production sample sent to Atari for examination and testing. No idea how many of these might have been produced, but obviously more than one per game. Probably in the tens at most, they'd want to verify the games run in a variety of systems, and probably leave them running for an extended period of time. Given we haven't seen too many cartridges with that "ACCEPTED" label, I doubt there are many floating around out there. And it's very likely the final version of the game--you wouldn't really want to commit a "beta" version of a game to silicon like that.

 

..Al

[jabbyjim]

thanks for the generous followup! I think its quite a rare find, and I wonder indeed how many of those "ACCEPTED" carts are out there. What an interesting find!