SpriteCell Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 I put together a collection of every catalog and circular ad I could find that features video games, but I really wish I could find more for some of gaming's earliest systems. My earliest finds are from 1975, a few years after the Odyssey was released, so there must be some more ads for it out there, and others like the Coleco Telstar and Atari 2600. Does anyone here have know of some sources that I haven't come across yet, or own some old catalogs they would like to take pictures of or scan? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 Wow what a flash back, don't care much about all the hours of metric reading but that analysis looks from what I skimmed to be quite informative. But those ads, those lovely 1986-92(where I stopped so far) are just a flashback. It gives you an idea what retailers like to push over the MSRP on stuff, others who ran sales, were fair, etc. Also seeing how some ads were grabbed around the US you could also see variable pricing on games depending where you live that it could cost you another $5 or save you $5 or something of the sort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 That website has lots of catalog scans for 1972-74. My understanding was that initially, the Magnavox Odyssey was only sold through Magnavox television dealers. Interesting to see the Intellivision in the 1979 JC Penney catalog along with six cartridges. NFL Football being the pack-in made it seven, although I don't think Football made it as the pack-in. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpriteCell Posted July 24, 2020 Author Share Posted July 24, 2020 14 hours ago, mr_me said: That website has lots of catalog scans for 1972-74. My understanding was that initially, the Magnavox Odyssey was only sold through Magnavox television dealers. If you're referring to the Christmas Catalogs & Holiday Wishbooks site, none of the search results for "Odyssey" are relevant in that time frame, and I didn't see it browsing through. And yeah, it looks like you're right about them not being sold widely initially. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 You're missing page 638 from the 1982 Sears Christmas catalog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpriteCell Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 6 hours ago, mr_me said: You're missing page 638 from the 1982 Sears Christmas catalog. Wow, nice catch. I've updated it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted July 26, 2020 Share Posted July 26, 2020 Awesome work! Thank you so much for putting this together! ? I see there aren't many Radio Shack scans from the '70s-'80s. Radioshackcatalog.com is a great resource, if you're not familiar. ? (Interesting observation: the 1979 JC Penney ad calls Atari paddles "Conventional Remote Controls," as opposed to the joystick controllers; and that you could order two different Atari systems: one that works on Channel 2/3, and one that works on Channel 4!) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted July 26, 2020 Share Posted July 26, 2020 Also, I forgot I had these on my hard drive. I can't remember where I found them, but they're from a 1977 Spiegel catalog, covering the Bally Arcade, Studio II, Video Pinball, and some other indeterminate dedicated system. Please use them if you'd like! ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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