Interesting Activision contests from 1982

[JayAre]

I found the attached article on video game contests in a 1982 issue of a kids' magazine called SuperMag.  The article mentions contests for two 2600 games:  Chopper Command and Ice Hockey.  In case the text is too small to read, here's the information:

 

"Activision held their Chopper Command Challenge in a helicopter!"

 

"Activision's Ice Hockey finals featured New York Rangers' star Ron Duguay.  The challengers, who had to be 15 years old or under, played the pros to win the Activision Cup and $500."

 

I looked online for info. on these two contests, but I couldn't find anything on the Chopper Command Challenge.  There were a few articles regarding the Ice Hockey contest; I'm attaching one of those, along with a pic of Bryan Trottier during the contest.

 

 

[+cvga]

These are incredible. Love these types of stories and thanks for sharing!!

[JayAre]

1 hour ago, cvga said:

These are incredible. Love these types of stories and thanks for sharing!!

I'm glad you enjoyed the information.

 

I'd love to see what that helicopter looked like, with a retrofitted TV screen and 2600 console.  I imagine it was all set up in the cockpit, and the competitors were able to sit in the pilot's chair to play the game.  That must have been a pretty awesome experience.

[high voltage]

Wow, nice to read all about it

[Voxel]

On 8/5/2020 at 12:49 AM, cvga said:

These are incredible. Love these types of stories and thanks for sharing!!

Agreed 100%.

[Rom Hunter]

Now here's an Activision contest that still puzzles me:



I have no idea if this one was ever rewarded or if one of these Treasure Hunt carts were ever found or still exist (most probably not).

Edited August 19, 2020 by Rom Hunter

[JayAre]

25 minutes ago, Rom Hunter said:

Now here's an Activision contest that still puzzles me:
I have no idea if this one was ever rewarded or if one of these Treasure Hunt carts were ever found or still exist (most probably not).

Rom, thanks for posting this.  What an incredibly bizarre idea for a contest.  The heading on the ad was right:  "What a crazy idea!"

[hizzy]

Love the hockey tourney. I wish we could do one online!

[jhd]

2 hours ago, Rom Hunter said:

I have no idea if this one was ever rewarded or if one of these Treasure Hunt carts were ever found or still exist (most probably not).

 

I would assume that any contest carts returned to Activision would have been quickly destroyed to prevent them being "recycled" for additional contest entries.

 

The rules vaguely state that the drawing will occur once all of the entries have been received: "should be by early September". If all of the entries were not received by the deadline, what then was the plan?

 

Imagine some kid who gets a "special" Pitfall II cartridge for Christmas. The contest is long over, and he still does not even get to play the video game. 

 

Edited August 19, 2020 by jhd

[Rom Hunter]

10 hours ago, jhd said:

Imagine some kid who gets a "special" Pitfall II cartridge for Christmas. The contest is long over, and he still does not even get to play the video game. 

 

That would be a bummer indeed.

And what about the person who got one of these carts and didn't know about the contest?

Was there an inlay included?

We probably will never know.

[JayAre]

Some of you may have seen this, but here's a portion of an interview that Scott Stilphen did with David Crane, where they discuss the contest:

 

Q: There was a unique contest that Activision ran in the UK, through their CGL Activisions Fun Club News newsletter, where 10 specially-programmed Pitfall II cartridges were sold that displayed a message and phone number onscreen. Those who had the cartridge would call the phone number and be told where to return the cartridge.  In return, they'd get a real Pitfall II cartridge and a chance to win either 100£ or 1,000£!  I've never heard of this until now, and I don't know of anyone who has one of these special carts.  Do you recall anything about this?  I'm not even sure the contest was completed as there was only 1 more issue after this one that I'm aware of.

 

David Crane: I had never heard of that promotion either.  But it is definitely authorized.  The guy pictured in the center is Geoff Heath, the Managing Director of the Activision UK office.  And the Ray Hodges Agency did the PR for Activision in 1984.  I passed the scan by Jim Levy.  He didn't remember it either, but he wouldn't have been involved in a $2,000 promotion.  At the time Activision International was a separate division headed by Greg Fischbach, reporting to Jim.  Greg might remember but I don't see him these days (you may know Greg as the founder of Acclaim).  Since those games were returned to Activision in exchange for cash, I can see why there are no copies in the hands of collectors.

Q: The fact that Jim doesn't recall it is expected, since it appeared to be a UK-only promotion, but I'm somewhat surprised you weren't aware of it - my first guess would have been that you were involved with programming it, or someone at the main (West coast) office at the very least.  Perhaps the UK office didn't want to bother asking either of the U.S. offices to program it?  I wasn't aware that any Activsion VCS programming was done outside the U.S. - would PAL conversions have been done in the UK?  I know Action Graphics was also responsible for porting several Activision games to other platforms (Atari 8-bit, C-64, Colecovision, etc.) but I don't think they were involved with anything VCS-related.  I agree about why no custom carts have surfaced to date.  Given the circumstances, I'd be surprised if any existed at this point.

 

David Crane: I, too, wonder who did the programming.  No idea, though.  PAL conversions were a minor screen timer adjustment to the NTSC game, and were done in an hour as the US game was being finalized.

 

Q: I contacted Greg Fischbach via LinkedIn and he doesn't recall it either.  Here's his reply:  "I don't remember it, I've sent an email to Geoff Mulligan and Rod Cousens asking the same question.  It certainly looks like it has Rod's handprint all over it, but I'm not sure.  Hope all is well, Greg."

The search goes on.

[JayAre]

I came across this picture in an Activision publication from the U.K.  It's a picture from Activision's 1982 ICE HOCKEY tournament.

 

That's Ron Duguay (aka Jon Bon Jovi) of the New York Rangers playing against one of the contestants.  We can see Jim Levy in the background.

 

There's even a "referee" presiding over the action.  I wonder if that was an actual NHL ref.

 

[Goochman]

On 8/19/2020 at 2:12 PM, Rom Hunter said:

Now here's an Activision contest that still puzzles me:



I have no idea if this one was ever rewarded or if one of these Treasure Hunt carts were ever found or still exist (most probably not).

Basically a Willy Wonka type contest.  Im surprised more companies havent done something like this.  Think Disney providing 10 dream vacation "golden tickets" in some product.