craiglist 2600 score with mystery item

[Lincoln]

so, i randomly check craiglist tonight and much to my surprise find this

 

http://sd.craigslist.org/ele/1085604311.html

 

the few ataris i've seen listed always have high prices. this is definitely counter to the trend. plus, we have mention of a prototype?

 

within 2 hours i'm picking up my loot. to top it off, we realize the tv switchbox is missing, so he offers to knock it down to $10. deal, buddy. i don't have a working original atari, and even if nothing works, i'll take it for parts. here's what i got.

 

(ignore random junk in upper left unless you want to buy tecmo super bowl iii for snes)

 

heavy sixer

 

kmart branded ac adapter for 2600, model no 18-18-95. is the right connector type? i don't want to fry anything. i don't have an oem adapter for reference.

 

two sticks missing the boots, i set of sears paddles(?), two driving controllers and a video touch pad

 

common stuff, but there's a tron deadly discs in the upper left. the case is pretty cool too.

edit: so the unit below pac man with red tape is a sears cannon man cart R6 according to the db here. and it's apparently been gutted and replaced with some form of "bowling." duh.

 

these are claimed prototype boards. top 2 rows unlabeled. bottom two rows have handwritten labels.

3d tic tac toe, dodge em, checkers, othello

chess, baseball, backgammon

some of the blank boards might be out of the carts with red tape labels, which are maze and (text)cannon man

 

and here's our mystery item

 

 

 

here's a closeup of the board revision number, i guess

 

 

this is told to be a prototype 2600 unit. the guy says his uncle worked r&d in sunnyvale, although i don't think he said atari directly. i'll have to get clarification again. i think the most interesting this is the switches rock back and forth, instead of slide. can anyone identify this as a prototype or just a transplanted retail board?

Edited March 24, 2009 by Lincoln

[STICH666]

Wow. That would be awesome. It looks like a prototype of the Atari Junior as it's much smaller than the 2600.

[keilbaca]

That is definitely a prototype 2600. Its interesting how they used different colored controller ports, ports that bolt in instead of creating the plastic snaps yet.

 

Its also interesting of the case size and placement. Its almost like a 4 switch atari board with a custom case, switches and controller ports. Interesting indeed.

[Nukey Shay]

About the power adapter...DC9v, 500ma, center pin positive (so the power output is correct). It's obviously designed to be compatable with the system - it's stenciled right on the wall wart.

 

BTW that stock 2600 looks to be a "heavy sixer". There's nothing to suggest that the cartridge PCB's are prototypes (they look like they came right out of retail carts), but that other console looks interesting.

Edited March 24, 2009 by Nukey Shay

[Ian Primus]

I don't really think that other 2600 is a prototype. It's more than likely just a scavenged 4 switch board mounted in a generic/homemade metal frame. The plastic controller connectors have been replaced with standard panel mount sockets - either to better fit the enclosure or to replace broken/damaged/missing ports. And the top switches resemble the kind used in hi-fi equipment in the 70's - probably easily obtained surplus. Something tells me that this particular board "escaped" at some point in the assembly line before it's controller ports and switches were added... Same with those bare boards you have - those are production PCB's that likely grew feet from the factory floor and wound up with an employee...

 

Still, quite cool.

 

-Ian

[Lincoln]

about the power supply: do all 2600's use the same type of plug? i'm used to connectors with a hollow pin, like a nes unit. does the "ball" on the pin fit for all models?

 

about the game pcb's: i think nukey is at least partially right. i spent some more time looking over everything in the storage case after the initial post. i found an additional board labeled "cannon man" and found most of the carts have been opened. i'm guessing most of the loose boards came out of the carts in the box, and the carts have different game boards in them-the cannon man cart in the box has the red label with "bowling" written on it and a board inside. i'll have to spend some time cataloging boards and carts, and i have some spare pac man carts to put the loose boards in.

 

about the console: it's actually a plastic shell, and is semi-transparent. one of the controller ports is a molded atari-style piece soldered to the board where it's supposed to be, as are the switches on the back. i still don't know what to make of the top switches. am i right in remembering that all 4-switchers have sliding switches, rather than tilting ones? it seems odd that everything else would be the same as retail units except those switches. i have some broken 4-switch consoles in a box somewhere. i'll have to dig them out to compare tonight.

[Ian Primus]

about the power supply: do all 2600's use the same type of plug? i'm used to connectors with a hollow pin, like a nes unit. does the "ball" on the pin fit for all models?

 

Yes. This is the standard 2600 power connector. It's just an 1/8" mono headphone plug. It's the same on all models.

 

about the console: it's actually a plastic shell, and is semi-transparent. one of the controller ports is a molded atari-style piece soldered to the board where it's supposed to be, as are the switches on the back. i still don't know what to make of the top switches. am i right in remembering that all 4-switchers have sliding switches, rather than tilting ones? it seems odd that everything else would be the same as retail units except those switches. i have some broken 4-switch consoles in a box somewhere. i'll have to dig them out to compare tonight.

 

All Atari consoles have sliding switches, not toggles. Those switches are just a standard part... for something else. Very easy to obtain and solder on. They would have been more expensive than the slide switches though.

 

Remember that the Atari is mostly made of industry standard parts. 9 pin dsub connectors were cheap and easy to get - and still are. The slide swithces the Atari used wasn't even unique to Atari - they were standard parts. The fact that the board looks totally production - with silkscreened revision numbers and production RF shielding says that this was a regular production board that just got "salvaged" or "hacked" at some point in it's life. Fitting toggle switches and new controller ports is a trivial task, and would take all of half an hour.

 

An interesting unit, for sure - but I'm betting this was owned by an employee that walked off with extra bits - not a prototype.

 

-Ian