TheMummy Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 I have a question about a strange item that I recently found at a flea market. The item consists of a wooden box with 17 Atari 2600 game cards (they all work on the Atari 2600). The wooden box has little slots cut into the sides to allow the cards to slide into place for storage. The chip boards/cards are very strange and do not look like any chip boards that I have ever seen before. Usually the chip boards that are inside a standard game cart which were released for sale by Atari are small, usually have a green coating, and do not have the two additional prongs on either side of the card. All of the games have been tested and each of the games does in fact work and operate on an Atari 2600. The game Stampede has the Activision logo at the bottom of the screen when played. The Stampede game seems to freeze up during gameplay however the other games seem ok when playing them. The game titles are as follows: Stampede, Space Jockey, Maze Craze, Canyon Bomber, Flag Capture, Golf, Casino, Hangman, Night Driver, Circus, Missile Command, Adventure, Haunted House, Slot Racer, Space War, Warlords, and Star ship. My question is what exactly are these things? Are they prototypes of the original games? Are they strange copies of the games? Are they bootleg or pirated games? How can I tell a prototype game card from a copy or bootleg card? Do these games have any value? Is it common to find these cards in a wooden carrying box like this one? I appreciate your feedback on this issue. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moycon Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 I'm no expert but it looks like someones personal copies of the games. I'd compare it to someone burning a Dreamcast disk these days. I'd say they definately aren't common, but doubt you could retire if you sold them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Very cool find whether or not they turn out to be prototypes. The boards you pictured do not look like they would fit into a 2600, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Wow, Someone did a custom run of home-made pcbs with hex inverters just to play 2600 games, interesting... I have a lot of stock Atari 2600 cart boards with ziff sockets for using 2532's (27xx's need a 7404 to make them look like proms) usually accomanied by a box of eproms with various games burned onto them... Yeah, it is like a old-school rendition of CDR's :-) Curt I have a question about a strange item that I recently found at a flea market. The item consists of a wooden box with 17 Atari 2600 game cards (they all work on the Atari 2600). The wooden box has little slots cut into the sides to allow the cards to slide into place for storage. The chip boards/cards are very strange and do not look like any chip boards that I have ever seen before. Usually the chip boards that are inside a standard game cart which were released for sale by Atari are small, usually have a green coating, and do not have the two additional prongs on either side of the card. All of the games have been tested and each of the games does in fact work and operate on an Atari 2600. The game Stampede has the Activision logo at the bottom of the screen when played. The Stampede game seems to freeze up during gameplay however the other games seem ok when playing them. The game titles are as follows: Stampede, Space Jockey, Maze Craze, Canyon Bomber, Flag Capture, Golf, Casino, Hangman, Night Driver, Circus, Missile Command, Adventure, Haunted House, Slot Racer, Space War, Warlords, and Star ship. My question is what exactly are these things? Are they prototypes of the original games? Are they strange copies of the games? Are they bootleg or pirated games? How can I tell a prototype game card from a copy or bootleg card? Do these games have any value? Is it common to find these cards in a wooden carrying box like this one? I appreciate your feedback on this issue. Thanks! 900617[/snapback] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mb7241 Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 A most interesting bundle you have there. In the 2nd pic, though, it looks an awful lot like there may have been an additional 3 such games. My personal take on the issue also seems to be the consensus here, that though rare, they are most likely copies (I'd estimate from the early or mid-'80s), and probably not worth a ton. About how much did you pay for these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Rescue Group Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Very cool find whether or not they turn out to be prototypes. The boards you pictured do not look like they would fit into a 2600, though. 900653[/snapback] Yup, those boards look odd. Maybe they were some sort of copies and were used on a console with no cover to allow them to fit. Naked cards for a naked console... I figure prototypes would be more usuable when travelling around an office or on loan. If these were prototypes then every user would still have to dismantle their consoles to get them to work. How likely is that unless they were only used in one room? If all from one company then maybe a prototype scenario is possible. Whoever put them together knew what they were doing. Likely they got the chips and knew enough what to do with them with available parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Franzman Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 (edited) Yup, those boards look odd. Maybe they were some sort of copies and were used on a console with no cover to allow them to fit. Naked cards for a naked console... 900717[/snapback] Those boards will work just fine on a normal console - the 2 tabs custom cut into the boards take the place of the plastic ones in cart cases to open the door in the console's cart port. The boards will stick out far enough to grip for removal. Also, since these are a bunch of near-identical boards with a custom-made case to hold them all together, but the games on them are by several different companies, there is no way that these are legitimate prototypes. My guess would be some cheapskate who already had access to the facilities to make these just borrowed games from friends and made these pirate copies for his own collection. Edited July 29, 2005 by A.J. Franzman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimefighter Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Why would they go thru all the trouble to make these though? It seemed to be quite difficult to be building custom carts like that 20 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l3ushwig Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 i have something like it.... ill go take some pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tomlin Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Wow, that's beautiful. I like how the squareness of the boards let the guy make a storage box by just cutting a few slots into the side boards. It's hard to tell, but it looks like the copper on the whole board may have been gold plated. If not, maybe the guy even etched them himself. But the use of Augat sockets makes me thing that this guy may have been in the electronics industry, and was able to slip his board design into a panel or two of a production run. The date code on the 7404 means that the boards were probably from early '82. Still, that's 1970's tech for board layout, using tape strips and stuff. A ceramic package 74LS04? That implies that the guy probably had access to mil-spec grade chips where he worked. And the jumper is probably to connect A11 for 4K games. Best. Copy-cart boards. Ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l3ushwig Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Mine have plastic cases.... And Video Vision Makes the bords. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tomlin Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Mine have plastic cases.... And Video Vision Makes the bords. Those are different boards. For one thing, the 7404 is on the other side. For another thing, these boards have FREAKING LONG card edge pads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l3ushwig Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 (edited) Mine have plastic cases.... And Video Vision Makes the bords. Those are different boards. For one thing, the 7404 is on the other side. For another thing, these boards have FREAKING LONG card edge pads. 900892[/snapback] I never said they were the exact same.... Edited July 29, 2005 by l3ushwig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMummy Posted July 29, 2005 Author Share Posted July 29, 2005 I paid $30 for the entire box of 17 games. The guy I bought it from didn't have any additional pcb games so I am not sure if there were 20 games originally or if there were only 17 games plus space enough to hold 20 games. Anyway, I have never seen anything like these before so I thought that $30 was a decent price to take a risk, hoping to get double my investment back if I sold them. However, now that they are most likely copies, I am not sure where they can be sold. I am sure if I tried listing them on eBay that they would be kicked off of there. Does anyone know of another outlet where these games could be sold? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurking Horror Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 They're very interesting but I guess they'd be more valuable with some backhistory. This guy certainly gave himself a lot of trouble just to have some personal copies of common games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tomlin Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 I paid $30 for the entire box of 17 games. The guy I bought it from didn't have any additional pcb games so I am not sure if there were 20 games originally or if there were only 17 games plus space enough to hold 20 games. Anyway, I have never seen anything like these before so I thought that $30 was a decent price to take a risk, hoping to get double my investment back if I sold them. However, now that they are most likely copies, I am not sure where they can be sold. I am sure if I tried listing them on eBay that they would be kicked off of there. Does anyone know of another outlet where these games could be sold? Why not the Marketplace forum? Anyhow, they're all socketed, so they can be used as proto boards for demoing homebrews. Hardware-wise, I'd say the set is worth $30-ish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainCaputo Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 wow thos are pretty cool looking i have yet to come across a prototype and given where i live i prolly will never find one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted August 27, 2005 Share Posted August 27, 2005 wow thos are pretty cool looking i have yet to come across a prototype and given where i live i prolly will never find one 918872[/snapback] They are not prototypes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uosipa llamxew Posted August 27, 2005 Share Posted August 27, 2005 They're very interesting but I guess they'd be more valuable with some backhistory. This guy certainly gave himself a lot of trouble just to have some personal copies of common games. 901157[/snapback] This gets my vote... they are pretty neat... I wonder if the guy who sold them to you is the original owner/maker? Maybe you could go back for more information? Anyways, 30 bucks for 17 games... that's not bad anyways. If it were me, I'd just keep 'em because they're just so odd! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMummy Posted August 28, 2005 Author Share Posted August 28, 2005 Yes, I did go back to the guy who sold them to me but he was not the original owner. He said that he bought them from some guy at a yard sale who DID claim to be the original owner and that he said that the guys job was in the field of computers and electronics. Sadly he didn't get any additional information or history about the games from the previous owner. They're very interesting but I guess they'd be more valuable with some backhistory. This guy certainly gave himself a lot of trouble just to have some personal copies of common games. 901157[/snapback] This gets my vote... they are pretty neat... I wonder if the guy who sold them to you is the original owner/maker? Maybe you could go back for more information? Anyways, 30 bucks for 17 games... that's not bad anyways. If it were me, I'd just keep 'em because they're just so odd! 919825[/snapback] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yuppicide Posted September 2, 2005 Share Posted September 2, 2005 I would keep them if I were you. Did you try them out?! Any rare games or all common stuff?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gulag picture radio Posted September 2, 2005 Share Posted September 2, 2005 I love those boards. They're just so odd. I have to doff my hat to a gentleman who was undoubtedly some kind of super nerd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
storm36969 Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I have a warlords prototype with a pic of the inside of the cartridge and board showing a blue jumper wire the rom chip and the yellow sticker on the rom chip stating that it is war lords B217 is wrote on it... How rare is this anyone?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickeycolumbus Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I have a warlords prototype with a pic of the inside of the cartridge and board showing a blue jumper wire the rom chip and the yellow sticker on the rom chip stating that it is war lords B217 is wrote on it... How rare is this anyone?? Pretty rare, since that is a Probe 2000 case and PCB. Looks like it's a pirate copy they made at Probe 2000/NAP. You should post a new thread with pictures of all your prototypes, I'm really interested to see the others How did you come across them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 What a stupid board design for a 4K game (3 TTL chips), certainly not something I have seen before. Most likely a pirate copy. The B217 is probably the checksum of the 4K ROM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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