The best part is that this stupid glop-top board is... BROKEN!
Quote
but the chip is cracked so the game is not playable
Note that while it's not a typical "glop-top" because of that square on top, it's the same principle. Chip die mounted to circuit board, wired directly to board, then covered with a glop of epoxy. This is the farthest you can get from a prototype... these are for high quantity manufacturing.
I seem to recall there are a few unreleased games that made it to manufacturing but never got sold (Dukes of Hazzard?) and some of those may have been of glop-top boards. But they're still not prototypes, and they're basically worthless if broken.
EDIT: oh wow, and a 30-day auction with no BIN? Longer time to find a sucker, but long enough for them not to care.
Edited by Bruce Tomlin, Thu Dec 10, 2009 12:54 PM.