Insane catalog question

[Dolt]

Has anyone ever kept track of what catalogs came with what boxes?

 

I've been reconstructing stuff to try and make my boxes CIB, with the manual, pack-ins, etc., but I have no idea which catalogs would go in to which boxes. Some, I'm sure, could have a variety of catalogs--long-running games like Space Invaders and Pac-Man surely carried a number of different catalogs through out their long runs.

 

But does anyone actually KNOW this kind of info?

[Video]

I got lots of cataloges but never thought of keeping track of the box they come out of. Useually I put them back in the box I got them out of after looking at them, so any boxes I have with cataloges are probably in the right ones, I'll look sometime.

 

Any particular reason your wanting to know what boxes certain catalogs come out of? I'm sure as time went on, the same box may have different catalogs in them.

[CincYnoTi]

that question has multiple answers. some of it depends on the overlap between the duration of distribution of the box style and the duration of the catalog distribution. activision changed box styles several times, but the longest run for most boxes looked like this:

 

http://www.atariage.com/box_page.html?Soft...20&BoxStyleID=9

 

no black stripe (the original style), no "*Atari, Inc. is not related to Activision, Inc" at the bottom (second style).

 

this box style was used from 1982 through 1984, and longer for some titles. grand prix had a slightly different box style when the blue text labels were released. during this time period activision had about seven different catalog styles. so any one of those catalogs could have been packed into the same style box.

 

the same story is true for atari box styles and atari catalogs. atari started out with the gatefold box style and the original catalog style. they came out with a second box style in 1978, a third one in 1979 (solid warranty box on back), another in 1981 (white warranty box), another in 1982 (like defender), then switched to the silver boxes in late 1982. during that time, they had about ten different catalogs. so any catalog that matches the time period of when a box style was used would make sense.

[CincYnoTi]

oh, forgot to mention. most of the warranty cards for activision and atari are also dated. so if you want "complete in box", you will need matching warranty cards.

 

at some point, atari started stamping the month and year on the back of their instructions...sometime after 1984. so if you want to get really picky, you will want to have matching box, cartridge, docs, warranty card dates...1988 box, may 1988 instructions, may 1988 warranty card. unfortunately, atari did not always pack matching stuff together in the same package. i have opened several shrinkwrapped boxes that do not have matching copyright dates on box, cart, docs, warranty card.

 

the fun never ends.

[Buck]

Two words....

 

Good Luck. (and I do mean that non-sarcastically)

 

Buck

[Room 34]

I think you MAY want to reassess your perceived need to complete this task.

[Dolt]

Oh, I don't want to do it at all--that's why I labeled this topic INSANE Catalog Question. It's one of those ideas that cross your mind and you know it'd be feasible but it'd also be totally not worth the time.

[Room 34]

Ah, I see... well don't worry... I've had plenty of insane ideas of my own (particularly related to my video game collection). Unfortunately, I've come to realize the limitations of my own patience and commitment to these ideas, so now I don't even try!

[CincYnoTi]

gee, i didn't think it was insane. challenging, definitely, but not necessarily insane.