+Karl G Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 Plus, it's a cool conversation piece. ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 1 hour ago, Philflound said: My guess is that there are many of us out there who would pay that and more. It's one thing to get a rare item that few people have. It's better to get an item probably no one has. My guess is that there are no more than 10 in existence and that may be a generous number. It may not be a game, but I find paper items and books to be very collectible anywhere I go. I work with a guy who has many unique items related to comics, some signed by Stan Lee back while he was alive. You never know the price of items until you throw it up in an auction and watch the collectors fight over it. Great find and I congratulate you for it. @Philflound Thanks a lot, I was going to offer him $75 in a PM, now that won't work. j/k. ? @JayAre As you can already tell, this is a really neat find and I'm glad that I didn't see it, otherwise it might have turned into a bidding war. I think its safe to say that if you decide to put it up for auction, there may be several of us bidding on it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 If they don't already exist, be nice to get hi-res scans of that stuff for AA and AtariMania's site. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 1 minute ago, save2600 said: If they don't already exist, be nice to get hi-res scans of that stuff for AA and AtariMania's site. Good call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xefned Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 Very cool item. I'll bet you'll never see another one like it. As for the value, $2 bought lunch in 1979, so I would've cashed it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 Just now, xefned said: Very cool item. I'll bet you'll never see another one like it. As for the value, $2 bought lunch in 1979, so I would've cashed it. Well, the consumer couldn't directly cash it, you had to bring it to an Atari dealer and would simply get $2 off your next Atari purchase. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xefned Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 2 minutes ago, Albert said: Well, the consumer couldn't directly cash it, you had to bring it to an Atari dealer and would simply get $2 off your next Atari purchase. Ah yes, I see it says (Authorized Atari Retailer) under the "Pay to the order of" line. I wonder if anyone was tempted to write "cash" in the line, or their own name on that line. It looks like a legit banking instrument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 1 minute ago, xefned said: Ah yes, I see it says (Authorized Atari Retailer) under the "Pay to the order of" line. I wonder if anyone was tempted to write "cash" in the line, or their own name on that line. It looks like a legit banking instrument. Given how many units Atari was selling at the time, you can bet that that more than one person tried this. Probably even succeeded. It's definitely a valid check, and I'm not sure the "Authorized Atari Retailer" text could legally prevent anyone from cashing it. ..Al 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 5 minutes ago, Albert said: Given how many units Atari was selling at the time, you can bet that that more than one person tried this. Probably even succeeded. It's definitely a valid check, and I'm not sure the "Authorized Atari Retailer" text could legally prevent anyone from cashing it. ..Al Hmm...this may be the real reason for the crash. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 Nevermind, looks like they squished the routing and account numbers together. lol -edit- yeah, I see that's a legit routing number from their Minneapolis office! https://www.usbanklocations.com/routing-number-121000248.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 21 minutes ago, save2600 said: ...except routing numbers are 9 digits, and the account number is usually 10. Kind of looks like a real check at first blush, but it's definitely not. Real bank checks also don't expire within a year either. Looks valid to me, the routing number is 9 digits and the account number is 9 digits. There's no standard for how long the account number has to be, just that it can be up to 17 digits. The first four digits of the routing number, "1210" is a valid Federal Reserve Routing Symbol. And I've received plenty of legitimate checks that have an expiration date on them. Also, most checks generally are only good for six months after the date on the check, although some banks may cash a check beyond that. Usually the check number comes after the account number, but I have seen it placed before the routing number, book-ended with those same characters. This would allow them to reuse the check number as they did here for your unique "sweepstakes number". ..Al 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayAre Posted August 20, 2019 Author Share Posted August 20, 2019 54 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said: @JayAre As you can already tell, this is a really neat find and I'm glad that I didn't see it, otherwise it might have turned into a bidding war. I think its safe to say that if you decide to put it up for auction, there may be several of us bidding on it. This one's a keeper, but that's nice to know. Thanks. 41 minutes ago, save2600 said: If they don't already exist, be nice to get hi-res scans of that stuff for AA and AtariMania's site. Al, I'll send you and Rom scans of everything. By the way, here's a pic of the back of the check with the instructions for the retailer on how to process it. Sorry you have to tilt your head to read it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onemoretime Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 Wonder how many of these where attempted to be used on Activision carts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayAre Posted August 21, 2019 Author Share Posted August 21, 2019 (edited) 22 minutes ago, onemoretime said: Wonder how many of these where attempted to be used on Activision carts? There were bound to be some. And on the flip side, there were probably some retailers that unknowingly accepted them. Edited August 21, 2019 by JayAre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 For some reason the images on the first page are broken for me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 23 hours ago, JayAre said: Al, I'll send you and Rom scans of everything. Thank you! ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 7 hours ago, Inky said: For some reason the images on the first page are broken for me... They are still loading fine for me, can you try again? In particular, please try doing a hard page refresh. In Chrome and Firefox that would be Shift-Cmd-R on a Mac and Ctrl-F5 in Windows. Thanks, ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 14 hours ago, Albert said: They are still loading fine for me, can you try again? In particular, please try doing a hard page refresh. In Chrome and Firefox that would be Shift-Cmd-R on a Mac and Ctrl-F5 in Windows. Thanks, ..Al Huh. I can see them fine on my phone. Work must have them blocked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayAre Posted August 22, 2019 Author Share Posted August 22, 2019 14 hours ago, Albert said: Thank you! ..Al You're very welcome, Al. Anytime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari-dna Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 This is really interesting, thank you for posting. I wonder if I can get that $2 rebate on Night Driver? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jettgogaming Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 On 8/19/2019 at 3:15 PM, save2600 said: Love it! $2 off a cartridge was decent at the time - remember, candy bars were $.25. Two years later, Atari's Real Sports Baseball had a similar promotion, where you sent in a coupon... (coupon image courtesy of Atarimania) I just found a Real Sports Baseball with the Promotional insert in it today! Was going to post it here but you beat me to it! ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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