123 replies to this topic

[theloon]

I could never forgive myself if I started to collect things too expensive to handle and play. It's like buying all the coolest stuff you wanted from childhood and putting them in a safe whilst throwing out the key. If it's considered rare but not worth playing I steer clear. That being said, I crave for the Tandy CoCo3 version of Super Pitfall

[Dino]

theloon, on Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:28 PM, said:

I could never forgive myself if I started to collect things too expensive to handle and play. It's like buying all the coolest stuff you wanted from childhood and putting them in a safe whilst throwing out the key. If it's considered rare but not worth playing I steer clear. That being said, I crave for the Tandy CoCo3 version of Super Pitfall

Given you can buy a $50 Harmony cart, there reaqlly is no justification for buying ANY original carts, but we all still do.

The nice thing about really rare stuff is that for some reason a lot of them seem to be really cool items. Take for example the Air raid cart, or the other T handles, with the bizarre artwork. There are also heaps of really cool and bizarre PAL and PAL M rarities, like the Dactar suitcase. Granted some rare stuff is not visually interesting, like pepsi invaders or Atlantis 2, but there are plenty that are. I would personally love to hold an Air Raid cart in my hand one day.

[Pioneer4x4]

I consider a high value cart (to me) to be based on
1 - rare
2 - something I could have gotten when new if I was aware of it, but never did.
So things like the mail in order only like ChuckWagon and Survival Island are up there for me. Or the Atari Club exclusives...
Not things that were only made 10-50 of and nobody wanted it, and only released in one area.

[Inky]

Knight Rider 2600

[Zwackery]

theloon, on Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:28 PM, said:

I could never forgive myself if I started to collect things too expensive to handle and play. It's like buying all the coolest stuff you wanted from childhood and putting them in a safe whilst throwing out the key.

Pretty much everything I have is meant to be played (or read, or watched, or handled).¹ My collection isn't all "museum quality" but it is meant to be enjoyed. Is it still a game if it isn't played? I don't think so. I know some people like to preserve their collectibles, but I'm not one of those, and I don't care how rare and/or expensive something is.

¹ = I collect comics and action figures, too, and those all are accessible. I do take care of what I own so that it lasts, but I don't let my possessions possess me.

[boxpressed]

Atari2600Lives, on Thu Feb 9, 2012 8:48 PM, said:

I am lucky enough to own one of the few Air Raid cartirdges on earth but I gotta say Eli's ladder was the hardest one so far that I added to my collection. So my personal holy grail is probably Eli's ladder ...thanks Wonder!

Eli's Ladder just got listed tonight on eBay. $3K BIN.

[Atari2600Lives]

boxpressed, on Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:52 PM, said:

Atari2600Lives, on Thu Feb 9, 2012 8:48 PM, said:

I am lucky enough to own one of the few Air Raid cartirdges on earth but I gotta say Eli's ladder was the hardest one so far that I added to my collection. So my personal holy grail is probably Eli's ladder ...thanks Wonder!

Eli's Ladder just got listed tonight on eBay. $3K BIN.

Very cool! Luckily got mine a while back, the price sounds about right

[high voltage]

Another myth broken that a dumped cart is less worth.

[nofrills100]

high voltage, on Sun Feb 19, 2012 1:39 AM, said:

Another myth broken that a dumped cart is less worth.

How's that?

[high voltage]

Sherbet

[atari181]

high voltage, on Sun Feb 19, 2012 1:39 AM, said:

Another myth broken that a dumped cart is less worth.

What proof is that? 3k is a lot of money yeah, but it still could be more. Personally owning something that only I and select people could play is worth more(and measuring worth in$) to me

[high voltage]

But it also could be less.

[atari181]

Supply vs demand not rocket science!

[high voltage]

Speculation it being more or less is just that, speculation.

[atari181]

Speculation or common known business principles? I'll bet on the principles. We could have a tornado today in Ohio, but common sense says its not going to happen today in the middle of February. Most things in life are speculative, but common sense should prevail

[Cebus Capucinis]

Inky, on Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:40 AM, said:

Knight Rider 2600

That's the same one I have. I still can't figure out why they never made it. There had to have been, what, 10 million+ Knight Rider fans, and of them, at least 5-6 million+ had 2600s. They probably even goofed around with the joystick while watching the show, I wonder why inspiration never struck.....

[Inky]

Cebus Capucinis, on Sun Feb 19, 2012 11:47 AM, said:

Inky, on Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:40 AM, said:

Knight Rider 2600

That's the same one I have. I still can't figure out why they never made it. There had to have been, what, 10 million+ Knight Rider fans, and of them, at least 5-6 million+ had 2600s. They probably even goofed around with the joystick while watching the show, I wonder why inspiration never struck.....

Probably the implementation of the fisticuffs killed this one.

[Atari Smeghead]

Atari2600Lives, on Sat Feb 18, 2012 10:41 PM, said:

boxpressed, on Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:52 PM, said:

Atari2600Lives, on Thu Feb 9, 2012 8:48 PM, said:

I am lucky enough to own one of the few Air Raid cartirdges on earth but I gotta say Eli's ladder was the hardest one so far that I added to my collection. So my personal holy grail is probably Eli's ladder ...thanks Wonder!

Eli's Ladder just got listed tonight on eBay. $3K BIN.

Very cool! Luckily got mine a while back, the price sounds about right

Is it true what the seller is saying in the auction text? "There are only 10 or so known Eli's ladder Carts on the planet." That would put it in Holy Grail territory.

Or is he implying that there are some carts off-world? Should we worry about cheap Venusian knock-offs?

Cheers,
Smeg

[SoulBlazer]

Inky, on Sun Feb 19, 2012 12:08 PM, said:

Cebus Capucinis, on Sun Feb 19, 2012 11:47 AM, said:

Inky, on Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:40 AM, said:

Knight Rider 2600

That's the same one I have. I still can't figure out why they never made it. There had to have been, what, 10 million+ Knight Rider fans, and of them, at least 5-6 million+ had 2600s. They probably even goofed around with the joystick while watching the show, I wonder why inspiration never struck.....

Probably the implementation of the fisticuffs killed this one.

They could still have made a decent game that had some fighting in it. I'm thinking like a three part game -- one part in the car, chasing down bad guys; the second part some kind of a maze game like where you're going around trying to get to the boss; and the third part a one on fight aganist him. Then it repeats and gets harder. Very doable with the tech of the time and similar to other games.

Knight Rider used video and computer games on a regular basis, also. There's at least three episodes I can think off where a video game company or a home computer or a hacker was the main part of the plot, and probaly double the episodes where a video game is shown.

[Dino]

high voltage, on Sun Feb 19, 2012 1:39 AM, said:

Another myth broken that a dumped cart is less worth.

Firstly, the ASKING price is $3k. I could put a $3k asking price on my pacman cart. It doesnt mean it will sell for that

Secondly, the price a cart sells for is determined by supply and demand. If supply goes up or demand goes down the price of the cart will fall.

Supply is determined purely on the number of copies of a game that are in existence.

Demand may be affected by a number of factors including (but not limited to):

* the number of copies in existence (people desire to own something others don't have),
* perceived supply (if a collector feels a game may flood the market, due to a find in Venezuela, demand drops),
* the place of the game's release (Nth American releases are more sought after by collectors)
* the "coolness" of the item (a blue T handle Air Raid cart is quite unique and therefore is in higher demand than carts that are more rare than it), and
* whether the ROM has been dumped (either because the buyer thinks they can make some money selling repros or because they like the feeling of being able to play a game that nobody else can. Some peole argue that dumping a game increases "awareness" for that game and can increase demand that way, but realistically, the kind of collectors who pay the mega bucks for a game know that the game exists from the time the first cart is found. That increase in awareness by those that find out about the game after its been dumped is of no consequence as those people are not the kind of people that will pay crazy money for a cart).

A change in any one of the "demand" factors will affect price. E.g. if we discover that a game is in fact an official Nth American release (like Air Raid), the price will shoot up (as it did for that title). Or, if one solitary copy appears in Venezuela, the price may take a tumble, as collectors may feel a whole case of the game may be discovered in the future and they demand the game less. Also, if the ROM is dumped and made freely available, again this is a turn off for a lot of collectors at the top end (for the reasons outlined above).

It may be that a game shoots up in value even after the rom is dumped. For example, whilst the game had been dumped (and the price adversely affected by this), a number of new collectors enter the market and bid up the prices of all games. The increase in demand from these new collectors may more than offset the decline in price of the game due to it being dumped. However, Ceteris Paribas (i.e if the only demand or supply factor that changes) is the fact that the game has been dumped, then the price of the game will fall, as dumping the game acts only as a drag on demand and thus price.

There are one-off examples that people give to argue that the price sometimes increases when the game has been dumped, but these people are only picking examples of where one of the other competing factors of supply and demand have kicked in and outweighed the adverse "rom dumping" factor.

[Atari2600Lives]

Atari Smeghead, on Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:03 AM, said:

Atari2600Lives, on Sat Feb 18, 2012 10:41 PM, said:

boxpressed, on Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:52 PM, said:

Atari2600Lives, on Thu Feb 9, 2012 8:48 PM, said:

I am lucky enough to own one of the few Air Raid cartirdges on earth but I gotta say Eli's ladder was the hardest one so far that I added to my collection. So my personal holy grail is probably Eli's ladder ...thanks Wonder!

Eli's Ladder just got listed tonight on eBay. $3K BIN.

Very cool! Luckily got mine a while back, the price sounds about right

Is it true what the seller is saying in the auction text? "There are only 10 or so known Eli's ladder Carts on the planet." That would put it in Holy Grail territory.

Or is he implying that there are some carts off-world? Should we worry about cheap Venusian knock-offs?

Cheers,
Smeg

Well there could be more but since this site is kind of ground zero for Atari 2600 carts, the registry for the game only list 10 known carts ( I'm nine on the list). So yeah it's pretty rare and why I said its probably my holy grail

Here is the registry link

http://www.atariage....adder-registry/

Edited by Atari2600Lives, Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:14 PM.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I wonder what will happen when Boulder Dash has sold out.

[Atari Smeghead]

Atari2600Lives, on Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:10 PM, said:

Atari Smeghead, on Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:03 AM, said:

Is it true what the seller is saying in the auction text? "There are only 10 or so known Eli's ladder Carts on the planet." That would put it in Holy Grail territory.

Well there could be more but since this site is kind of ground zero for Atari 2600 carts, the registry for the game only list 10 known carts ( I'm nine on the list). So yeah it's pretty rare and why I said its probably my holy grail

Here is the registry link

http://www.atariage....adder-registry/

Thank you for that link! Very cool to have that thread out there. That really does put it near the top of the Holy Grail category. Do you happen to know the most amount of money that was exchanged for this cart?

One thing that caught my eye...

Allhallowseve2000 is the seller on eBay, and in the registry thread, he said he bought the copy from Decypher. The next post was a new listing of the 10 cart owners, with:

8. School_girl_in_a_short_dress: cart, and instructions, got hers from allhallowseve(got his from Decypher)

I couldn't see where School_girl_in_a_short_dress was mentioned prior to that. I'm assuming Allhallowseve2000 is selling #8 on the list.

This has nothing to do with this thread... just thought I'd mention it.

Cheers,
Smeg

[high voltage]

If I buy it for that price, I want at least the instructions with it.