decoding the little numbers

[StanJr]

I think we covered this a while back in another topic, but I can't find the post, so could someone briefly explain what the little numbers mean that are stamped into the end label of my Atari carts? Or at least hook me up to the topic where this was explained?

 

I'd appreciate it.

 

Number jumbled Stan

[Tempest]

It's the date on which the cartridge was made. It's the week number followed by the last digit of the year. For example 14 04 would be the 14th week of 1984.

 

Tempest

[Ze_ro]

Close, but actually it's only three numbers long. The first two are the month, and the last one is the year (they're all from the 1980's, only one digit per year... they never hit the Y1.99K bug since they stopped doing this at some point)

 

However, we were never able to figure out what the letters mean that are stamped into some of them.

 

--Zero

[StanJr]

I thought I remembered it having to do with the date, but the letters threw me.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Gracious Stan

[Ze_ro]

The guesses that were made was that the letter may have reffered to what plant it was manufactured in... or it might have indicated which production run it was in (That is, more than one of them per week). But it's all just guesses unless we get a hold of someone who worked at the plant(s) themselves

 

--Zero