14 replies to this topic

[Wonder007]

What do you guys think of these??? Inquiring minds want to know!!!

LINK:
http://cgi.ebay.com/...me=STRK:MEWA:IT

Edited by Wonder007, Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:44 PM.

[ATARIeric]

looks like the auction was taken off.

[CPUWIZ]

http://cgi.ebay.com/...item=8237964089

They are not protos, this guy has been selling these for years, they are left overs. Only Dukes Of Hazzard (which he sold many of), was an unreleased game (but on a real mask ROM).

[Wonder007]

ATARIeric, on Mon Nov 28, 2005 8:19 PM, said:

looks like the auction was taken off.

TRY IT AGAIN!!!

[Wonder007]

CPUWIZ, on Mon Nov 28, 2005 8:22 PM, said:

http://cgi.ebay.com/...item=8237964089

They are not protos, this guy has been selling these for years, they are left overs. Only Dukes Of Hazzard (which he sold many of), was an unreleased game (but on a real mask ROM). 

GOOD INFO!!! THANKS CPUWIZ!!!

[Tempest]

CPUWIZ, on Mon Nov 28, 2005 8:22 PM, said:

http://cgi.ebay.com/...item=8237964089

They are not protos, this guy has been selling these for years, they are left overs. Only Dukes Of Hazzard (which he sold many of), was an unreleased game (but on a real mask ROM). 

Uhh... What he said.

Beat me to it...

Tempest

[-^Cro§Bow^-]

These are listed as NOS...but then I noticed this at the bottom of the auction details:

"*** DISCLAIMER: Since this (these) item (s) may have been previously owned, the descriptions are made to the best of our ability, research and knowledge.. Any error (s) or omissions, is not made to deceive or mislead."

So how can they be "New"...and yet even be considered to be previously owned? Unless the seller means the packaged PCBs themselves? Oh well...doesn't interest me...as I would think Atari would have had some sort of official label on them if they were really packaged by Atari themselves.

[Rom Hunter]

Tempest,

Was 'Math Game' a WIP name for Basic Math?

[MattG/Snyper2099]

Well, they certainly aren't masked roms... I bought some and they are "blobbed gunk" roms. They are certainly interesting to me but aparently hold little value among collectors. I mean, two or three of mine have giant atari logos etched onto the back of them. That alone makes them cool!

[Tempest]

Rom Hunter, on Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:12 AM, said:

Tempest,

Was 'Math Game' a WIP name for Basic Math?

I don't know if it was a WIP name or not, but that may have been what they called it around the office. I know I have one of these for Codebreaker and it is labeled Numbers.

Tempest

[Bruce Tomlin]

MattG/Snyper2099, on Wed Dec 7, 2005 12:43 AM, said:

Well, they certainly aren't masked roms...  I bought some and they are "blobbed gunk" roms.  They are certainly interesting to me but aparently hold little value among collectors.  I mean, two or three of mine have giant atari logos etched onto the back of them.  That alone makes them cool!

Blob chips in a cartridge are absolutely definitely going to be masked roms. (actually, on NES and later carts a blob could be the mapper chip too) A "masked" rom is simply one that is pre-programmed as part of the manufacturing process, by putting the program into the "mask" that is used to make the chip. It has absolutely nothing to do with the mounting of the chip.

A blob chip is called a "die mount", where the actual bare chip is bonded and wired to the board and covered with epoxy, rather than being put into those familiar bug-like packages.

[Rom Hunter]

Tempest, on Wed Dec 7, 2005 9:40 AM, said:

Rom Hunter, on Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:12 AM, said:

Tempest,

Was 'Math Game' a WIP name for Basic Math?

I don't know if it was a WIP name or not, but that may have been what they called it around the office. I know I have one of these for Codebreaker and it is labeled Numbers.

Tempest

If it was a WIP name it probably was a WIP name for Math Gran Prix (1982), instead of Basic Math (1977).

[video game addict]

And the Sears version was known as simply Math only. I think maybe whomever packaged these just labeled in a way that someone looking at them would know it was a game? Use that term loosely as it's not really a game, but I could see Math Gran Prix as a candidate for Math Game, but I figured this was probably just basic math.

[MattG/Snyper2099]

Bruce Tomlin, on Wed Dec 7, 2005 9:58 PM, said:

MattG/Snyper2099, on Wed Dec 7, 2005 12:43 AM, said:

Well, they certainly aren't masked roms...  I bought some and they are "blobbed gunk" roms.  They are certainly interesting to me but aparently hold little value among collectors.  I mean, two or three of mine have giant atari logos etched onto the back of them.  That alone makes them cool!

Blob chips in a cartridge are absolutely definitely going to be masked roms. (actually, on NES and later carts a blob could be the mapper chip too) A "masked" rom is simply one that is pre-programmed as part of the manufacturing process, by putting the program into the "mask" that is used to make the chip. It has absolutely nothing to do with the mounting of the chip.

A blob chip is called a "die mount", where the actual bare chip is bonded and wired to the board and covered with epoxy, rather than being put into those familiar bug-like packages.

I should have phrased that better. "They are not your typical integrated circuit for sure." Thanks for pointing that out.

[Bruce Tomlin]

Also, any cartridge where someone went to the trouble of using die-mount manufacturing is definitely not a "prototype". It may be an unreleased game that got as far as the manufacturing stage before being cancelled, but it's still not a proto. Die-mount is the cheapest way to manufacture a cartridge, but only if you're going to make at least 10,000 or so. They don't make protos in quantity 10,000.