Picked up a rga video game brain iv found on ebay.

[quetch]

How rare are these i was only able to find 2 on the whole entire ebay listing.  Iv never seen one on any market places in Australia.

Edited December 31, 2020 by quetch

[Wickeycolumbus]

Dont think they're common, but not rare either.  Have one myself but dont remember how I got it.  Theres another modlel that has all 8 cartridge ports populated too. I think they are called different things, not just game brain, and were branded with different names.  It's a cool thing to have!

[doubledown]

I believe there were at least 3 different cartridge changers for the 2600.  Two that sat next to the console, one that kind of mounted over the top back switch panel.  Somehow as a kid who grew up with a 2600, I had never heard of or saw any of these when I was a kid.  

[BassGuitari]

Game Brains aren't too hard to find. Got two of them at mom 'n' pop shop once years ago. I like them for the novelty, but I don't actually use them in practice because they cause a bit of noise in the RF signal and degrade the video. ?

 

However, there is a variant of the Game Brain that is quite rare, as it contains the only known "release" of the game Cat Trax*, built into the unit and selectable via one of the switches. (*A standalone cartridge is known to exist, but there was some debate as to whether it qualifies as a release.)

 

On 1/3/2021 at 12:06 AM, doubledown said:

I believe there were at least 3 different cartridge changers for the 2600.  Two that sat next to the console, one that kind of mounted over the top back switch panel.  Somehow as a kid who grew up with a 2600, I had never heard of or saw any of these when I was a kid.  

Videoplexer (by Compro):

 

Romscanner (by Marjac):

 

Compro also released a Videoplexer for Intellivision. Both versions seem to use the same case, as the Atari version still has the dongle for the Intellivision cart port sticking out of the side, only with an umbilical cable fed out of it. ?

[CPUWIZ]

 

I have all 4 of them CIB/NIB and the Imagic kiosk.  There is also a double decker Game SeleX, but I have never seen it for sale.

 

 

Pictures from Atarimania.

 

This is the Marjac box.

 

 

And the VideoPlexer.

 

[Video]

I've got a couple, as others have said, it's rare, but not super rare. I've never come across the other variants, leading me to believe the "game brain" is likely the most common version.

 

Nice idea, but also as said, due to non paired wiring and no internal shielding, it creates noise on screen. May be cart dependant, some games are tolerable while others seem nearly unusable.