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The Atari thread 👾


Strange

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I figured I would start a thread to discuss or show off anything and everything Atari. Individual threads for systems are cool too (like captmorgandrinker’s 7800 thread) but I figured we could have an all encompassing thread to discuss and post pictures of all systems, games, and accessories in the Atari family.

2600, 5200, 7800, Jaguar, Lynx, 8-bit computers: to quote Cole Porter, anything goes.

So I found these Atari posters at an antique mall and I have no clue if they’re original or worth the price, but I’m intrigued:

 

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7 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

That Haunted House display is sweet. Basic Programming will forever be my favorite Atari art. It looks so "basic".

 

Ah man. I love that classic Atari art. They had these elaborate or exiting paintings for even the most "basic" games / software they did. If you get a chance, check out the "Art of Atari" book.

Image result for atari 400 states and capitalsRelated image

Edited by acromite53
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It amazes me that we’re still finding 2600 games. This isn’t the case in the linked post, but some guy cooking up a game in his garage and then selling them exclusively in a local classifieds ad is a totally real possibility. It sucks for set collectors, but it’s cool for nerds like me that are into those types of stories.

At the risk of turning this into a pickups thread, it looks like someone in my local area got out of the Atari game and I was able to pickup a few desirable carts recently. I’ve been looking for Pengo for awhile, and H.E.R.O. is a top ten 2600 game.

 

 

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12 hours ago, The Strangest said:

It amazes me that we’re still finding 2600 games. This isn’t the case in the linked post, but some guy cooking up a game in his garage and then selling them exclusively in a local classifieds ad is a totally real possibility. It sucks for set collectors, but it’s cool for nerds like me that are into those types of stories.

At the risk of turning this into a pickups thread, it looks like someone in my local area got out of the Atari game and I was able to pickup a few desirable carts recently. I’ve been looking for Pengo for awhile, and H.E.R.O. is a top ten 2600 game.

 

 

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Killer snag!

You're correct about 2600 gems having the ability to pop up anywhere; those are the most likely I think to be seen in dollar bins at flea markets.   

That's also the nice thing about selling at shows- vendors get first crack at the goods, so if somebody has said aforementioned not-yet-picked-over bin...

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1 hour ago, captmorgandrinker said:

 

Killer snag!

You're correct about 2600 gems having the ability to pop up anywhere; those are the most likely I think to be seen in dollar bins at flea markets.   

That's also the nice thing about selling at shows- vendors get first crack at the goods, so if somebody has said aforementioned not-yet-picked-over bin...

See that's the interesting thing. We may be seeing a lot more Atari pickups soon. Atari collecting was big in the 90s and 2000s when guys were getting nostalgic. Same thing happened as NES collecting hit its peak around 2013(yall can correct me on dates). A lot of these Atari guys are older now and may be passing away or looking to pass on their collection. 

This summer I went to a garage sale where a deceased man's brother was selling his possessions. Turns out he was a big Atari collector back in the day. He had literally hundreds of Atari cartridges and dozens of 7800 systems. I got ~100 games for $1 each. Could have gotten a ton more. So my point is, we'll probably see a lot more Atari pickups soon as older collections start resurfacing again.

 

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Edited by acromite53
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55 minutes ago, acromite53 said:

See that's the interesting thing. We may be seeing a lot more Atari pickups soon. Atari collecting was big in the 90s and 2000s when guys were getting nostalgic. Same thing happened as NES collecting hit its peak around 2013(yall can correct me on dates). A lot of these Atari guys are older now and may be passing away or looking to pass on their collection. 

This summer I went to a garage sale where a deceased man's brother was selling his possessions. Turns out he was a big Atari collector back in the day. He had literally hundreds of Atari cartridges and dozens of 7800 systems. I got ~100 games for $1 each. Could have gotten a ton more. So my point is, we'll probably see a lot more Atari pickups soon as older collections start resurfacing again.

 

 

 

Thanks for the reminder.  😞

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1 hour ago, acromite53 said:

See that's the interesting thing. We may be seeing a lot more Atari pickups soon. Atari collecting was big in the 90s and 2000s when guys were getting nostalgic. Same thing happened as NES collecting hit its peak around 2013(yall can correct me on dates). A lot of these Atari guys are older now and may be passing away or looking to pass on their collection. 

My local game stores have said they noticed an uptick in Atari collecting too. I’m usually the one who peruses the “pre-NES” stuff the most, but I’ve been told more than once that they’ve seen a lot more people coming in for that stuff lately.

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2 minutes ago, The Strangest said:

My local game stores have said they noticed an uptick in Atari collecting too. I’m usually the one who peruses the “pre-NES” stuff the most, but I’ve been told more than once that they’ve seen a lot more people coming in for that stuff lately.

A local game store, who you really have to work at to get a deal from, had probably 200 Atari 2600 games. All junk commons in garbage shape, and unless you were ready to haggle, he'd tell you they were $5/each. Ridiculous. About a year ago, evidently someone came in and bought ALL of them. There were at least 20 copies of Combat in that lot.

I have no idea if it was an overly ambitious reseller or what, but I can tell you that he definitely overpaid for that lot even if he worked out a deal. Hope it worked out for him. Even at $1/game he would have been overpaying for what was there.

Said game store is finally rebuilding their stock and I've been finding a lot of solid 2600 and 5200 titles. Here's to hoping Atari collecting stabilizes once again and doesn't get wild like newer consoles.

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2 minutes ago, barrels said:

A local game store, who you really have to work at to get a deal from, had probably 200 Atari 2600 games. All junk commons in garbage shape, and unless you were ready to haggle, he'd tell you they were $5/each. Ridiculous. About a year ago, evidently someone came in and bought ALL of them. There were at least 20 copies of Combat in that lot.

I have no idea if it was an overly ambitious reseller or what, but I can tell you that he definitely overpaid for that lot even if he worked out a deal. Hope it worked out for him. Even at $1/game he would have been overpaying for what was there.

Said game store is finally rebuilding their stock and I've been finding a lot of solid 2600 and 5200 titles. Here's to hoping Atari collecting stabilizes once again and doesn't get wild like newer consoles.

There's a store here like that too.   But $5 a game came in handy when Adventure shot up to $20-30 briefly.

No real uptick here locally (local chain lots them up when they get them in), but I have noticed more interest over the last year or two at shows.   I sell commons for a buck each or 6/$5, and then the uncommons are reasonably priced, and I move a fair amount.

 

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7 minutes ago, barrels said:

A local game store, who you really have to work at to get a deal from, had probably 200 Atari 2600 games. All junk commons in garbage shape, and unless you were ready to haggle, he'd tell you they were $5/each. Ridiculous. About a year ago, evidently someone came in and bought ALL of them. There were at least 20 copies of Combat in that lot.

I have no idea if it was an overly ambitious reseller or what, but I can tell you that he definitely overpaid for that lot even if he worked out a deal. Hope it worked out for him. Even at $1/game he would have been overpaying for what was there.

Said game store is finally rebuilding their stock and I've been finding a lot of solid 2600 and 5200 titles. Here's to hoping Atari collecting stabilizes once again and doesn't get wild like newer consoles.

My local retro game store almost never gets in Atari games. They just never do. I dont know why. NES trade ins are way more common. What stock they do have, that they've built up, never moved. All common stuff. Mixed conditions. Recently, they clearanced all their 2600 stock for 50 cents each. They finally moved. But it was all bought by one guy buying the entire rack. 

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On 10/27/2019 at 2:37 PM, The Strangest said:

There’s a small subset of the population that believes all Atari stuff, even the dirt common carts, are worth gold. I’d bet the people who bought out those entire racks have the same line of thinking.

 

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I have a local antique mall with a booth that has a 4-Switch Woody and the usual smattering of common games for $125. It's been there over a year and I chuckle every time I see it. Oh and forgot to mention one of the switches is busted into the console.

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On 10/27/2019 at 2:37 PM, The Strangest said:

There’s a small subset of the population that believes all Atari stuff, even the dirt common carts, are worth gold. I’d bet the people who bought out those entire racks have the same line of thinking.

 

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Offer ten NES commons that are "valued well over 2000" in trade.

They must think their E.T. is one of the Alamagordo ones. 

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12 hours ago, The Strangest said:

No manual unfortunately, but I was really excited to find a boxed copy from this relatively obscure developer. Some of their cartridges were only made with end labels and missing the top labels like this one.

Wow really cool. That's part of why I love the 2600, you get weird and interesting publishers like this who quickly appeared then dissapeared. I heard those Panda end labels never hold up. I've never seen a box for it. Looks neat.

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