Cousin Vinnie Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 (edited) One of the weirdest (and nicest) presents I ever received, I just got this weekend in Chicago. Some of you know that I am a wrestler, and a pro wrestling fan that knows I'm into Atari purchased and gifted me this Atari Title belt. I like it a lot... but I'm not sure what I have nor why it exists. A few weird caveats here. Making pro wrestling belts for other competitions (hot dog eating contests and fantasy football leagues) are kinda a newish thing, so one existing in 1986 for an Atari gimmick is a bit odd to me. And the guy that sold it to the fan claimed it was from a guy that won the $50,000 Atari tournament in Chicago in 1986. I can't find that there was even an Atari championship in 1986 online, and I find that odd that a competition like that existed since the video game crash and Atari was focusing on computers mainly at that point. Also, the side plates feature a Pac-Man plate (Namco- not Atari) AND an Alien Brigade plate (cool), but AB is only for the 7800 and came out in 1990. Also, for a belt that is nearing 40 years of age, it is in prestige condition. I'd like to get your thoughts on whether or not this belt is or could be a legit prize from a 1986 Atari World Championship competition in Chicago. Any help is appreciated. Funk Edited April 13, 2021 by Cousin Vinnie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 I don’t really have anything to contribute here, but I did notice that the Asteroids art in one of the belts windows is upside down. See if you can correct that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 (edited) well...I'm pretty sure Alien Brigade wasn't released until (1989? 1990?) so...somethings a little off... Cool belt though! *edit - that's what I get for skimming the post, seems you already mentioned this!! haha Edited April 13, 2021 by Crazy Climber I was too lazy to read it all 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 (edited) This is an area about which I know next to nothing, but some light poking around turned up this belt, which looks to be more or less the same basic belt as you've received. Checking that company's 'About Us' page, the following stands out: "Any belt can be customized to suit your needs or we can design one from scratch, just for you!" Looking at their range of replica championship belts, I'd say that one made to order would be well within their capabilities. Just my $0.02, but between that and everything already noted above, I'm going to charitably describe it as someone's what-if fantasy belt and not a poor attempt at palming off a bit of bogus memorabilia to someone on eBay. Edited April 13, 2021 by x=usr(1536) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 The story is BS about coming from some $50k winner in Chicago. That belt is new. Perhaps they had it made to commemorate that event many years later. Myself I would guess that belt is no more than 5 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 (edited) And they sure as shit didn't play Alien Brigade in '86 cause it didn't even exist until a couple years after that (as you mentioned) so the whole background of it all is not believable. Still a really cool belt though. Edited April 14, 2021 by Shawn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 Cool belt, maybe whoever made it shoulda used 1986 Atari Corp artwork instead. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMaddog Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 16 hours ago, Shawn said: And they sure as shit didn't play Alien Brigade in '86 cause it didn't even exist until a couple years after that (as you mentioned) so the whole background of it all is not believable. Still a really cool belt though. Not to mention that the Pac-Man pic came from the more recent Pac-Man Collection homebrew cart (on 7800) instead of the official Atari cart. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted April 15, 2021 Share Posted April 15, 2021 Overall it sounds like someone made something very nice to gift to Vinnie but they added a bullshit story to try and make it cooler when it was already super cool to begin with. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted April 15, 2021 Share Posted April 15, 2021 11 hours ago, Shawn said: Overall it sounds like someone made something very nice to gift to Vinnie but they added a bullshit story to try and make it cooler when it was already super cool to begin with. Atariboy2600 can be proud, since his artwork was used on the belt. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cousin Vinnie Posted April 15, 2021 Author Share Posted April 15, 2021 More importantly, there's no record of an Atari 4 day world championship in Chicago 1986, right? Since the one in 1981 was such a disaster, I can't believe there would be another 5 years later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 Still a very cool belt that you can wear with pride! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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