Collecting Atari Games

Steve Engelhardt's random thoughts and keys to success

I’m sure everyone has collected something at some time in his or her life. Maybe you collected baseball cards as a child, or Matchbox cars, or maybe even cool looking rocks from your backyard. But nothing is quite as difficult as collecting every game ever made for the Atari 2600. This article is about what got me started on my collecting obsession, and what has made me successful in obtaining many of my games for the minimum amount of cash.

How it all began
I loved my Atari as a child. I got one as a Christmas present when I was 10 years old, way back in 1980. Like most of you, I spent countless hours trying to beat my high scores on all my favorite games. In my mind, Atari games are just as much fun to play now, as the games focused much more on game play than modern games do.

I always wanted more games as a child than my parents were willing to purchase for me, and I figured now would be a great time to go back and collect all of the titles that I couldn’t have as a child (now that I'm an adult with a career and some expendable income). I know I could just play them on an PC emulator, but it’s not the same as the real thing.

I began my research on the internet and discovered an incredible on-line community dedicated to this vintage machine. In particular, the AtariAge web site really opened my eyes. For the first time, I saw a list of every game ever produced for the Atari 2600. I was hooked. The collecting bug bit me, and thus began my search.

Profile of a gamer - Who am I?
I’m a 32 year old kid, who now is the network administrator of a large global WAN. I’m married with two kids who are not old enough to play video games yet. I’ve owned an Atari since December 1980. My favorite games are Kaboom!, Pitfall, Enduro, Yar's Revenge, Video Pinball, Asteroids, and Adventure. My least favorite games are Star Ship, Sorcerer, Sky Diver, and Hangman.

I own five Atari video game consoles; a 6-switch woody, 4-switch woody, 4-switch “Darth Vader”, an Atari 5200 and 7800. I own about 400 Atari 2600 cartridges, 300 of which are unique. I once tried to integrate an Atari driving controller to steer my Chevrolet, but failed miserably.

What exactly is a “complete” collection?
This is another topic of discussion I’ve had with Atari enthusiasts. Does a complete collection include prototypes, NTSC, PAL and SECAM released games as well as games that were released in Europe or the US only, pirated games from Taiwan, South American and Australian released games, all label variations, and homebrew games? Or can the “ultimate” collector simply collect one label variation of games released in his or her home country?

I'm split somewhere in the middle on this one. I’m collecting NTSC games only, as I live in the USA, and I’m also collecting label variations. I don’t care about prototypes, homebrews, or foreign games. I’ll be extremely happy if I can some day complete my collection using those guidelines.

Hunting For Games
As many of you already know, eBay is a great place to pick up used Atari 2600 games. Occasionally, you can pick up some great deals, especially on common games. But, as I soon discovered, many of the rare games fetch some seriously big money, which is going to make certain games nearly impossible to obtain for most people (including myself).

eBay is not the only way I’ve obtained cartridges, but it certainly is the easiest way. With a little patience, some very good luck, and a whole lot of persistence, you may find what you’re looking for is actually an achievable goal. I’d like to share with you some of the keys to my success, which will hopefully help you build your collection without spending too much money.

1. 32-in-1: Scrutinize those multi-cart lots on eBay
   Many of the Atari Games for sale on eBay are sold in “lots” of multiple games, usually by non-collectors who are just trying to make a few bucks. These types of auctions are the best for picking up a rare game cheaply. I just picked up a copy of the Xonox single-ender cartridge “Robin Hood”, a rarity 8 on AtariAge, in a lot with 37 other games for $30.
   
   It just happened to be in the lot, and it wasn’t in the title of the auction. A copy of Robin Hood alone just went for $50 on eBay. I got 36 other cartridges with my copy for $20 less. I always search game lots, as you never know what you’ll find.
   
   Patience always pays off, as you will almost always pay more for a game if it is up for auction as a single title than if you buy it in a lot. This works especially well in lots where there is a picture only, and no text listing of the games. If you can’t search for the title, it’s likely that a rare game in a picture-only lot will be overlooked by most people.
    
2. Kaboom!: On eBay, timing is everything!
   Search eBay as often as you can, and check the brand new listings first. Every once in a while, a non-collector will post a rare game with a buy-it-now option which is often substantially less than what the cartridge is worth. If you see it first, you get it cheap! I saw a copy of River Patrol go for $6.00 this way. That’s a rarity 9 game, and could easily have fetched hundreds of dollars. I wish I would have seen that first!
   
   
3. Pole Posit’n: Misspellings on eBay
   I came really close to picking up a great game cheaply. A non-collector had a lot of 67 games up for auction and listed a game called Q*Bert’s Quest. There is no such game. I emailed him, and he confirmed that the game was in fact Q*Bert’s Qubes, a rarity 9 game.
   The lot ended up going for $81, a steal just for the one game I was interested in, much less 66 others. If he had spelled the name correctly in his description, he may have gotten hundreds more. My max bid was $70, so I just missed it. If I've had more money at the time, I would have bid more. If you intentionally search for misspellings of rare games, you might find a gem!
    
4. Battlezone: Sniping on eBay
   This can be a touchy subject with some folks, but I use this technique on any game that I really want. They allow you to bid on an item with only seconds remaining, which doesn’t leave time for anyone to outbid you. After being burnt a few times by snipers, I decided if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Sniping also prevents bidding wars as many people will drive up the price at the end of the auction. This technique can also save you money!
    
5. Tax Avoiders: Money, the cause of, and solution to all of life's problems
   Spend, spend, spend! If you are up for some extra work, you can also make some extra cash by buying multi-cart lots and selling them as individual carts on eBay. You’ll likely make more money on the individual carts than you paid for the lot. You can keep the games from the lot you don’t have, and the money you make on the duplicates can be used to buy, you guessed it, more games!
   
   Sometimes it takes money to make money. I admit that I have occasionally overpaid for a game I really wanted, although never more than $20 for one cartridge. If money is no object, you could collect about 50% of all the Atari cartridges ever made within a few weeks on eBay. If you see that mint in the box Quadrun on eBay with a buy it now price of $500, buy it, if you can afford it!
    
6. Maze Craze: Searching the thrifts
   This has been the most difficult way for me to find games, but if you're in the right place at the right time, you might find a great game at a thrift store. There are lots of independent thrift stores where I live, as well as the normal Salvation Army and Goodwill stores. Also check out your local flea markets, if you have any in your area. Most recently I found a box of Atari commons for $2.50 each, which was not such a great deal. You never know, though, one of those $2.50 carts could have been a Chase the Chuckwagon!
    
7. Jungle Hunt: Search garage sales and yard sales
   Most people advertise their sales in the classified section of the newspaper before their sales and give a phone number and an overview of what they’re selling. Call them! If they have old Atari stuff, be one of the first to arrive on the day of their sale. Usually garage sale items are ultra-cheap, as people are just trying to sell stuff they would otherwise have thrown in the trash or donated to charity.
    
8. Hunt and Score: Check your local used video game stores
   I picked up a few of my games at a local Used video game store. The owner of the store is an Atari collector, so he puts Atari 2600 games out on the shelves right next to used Nintendo 64 and PlayStation games! I bought a few games from him, but beware, this guy seemed to overvalue many of them, and that’s probably not uncommon if you buy used games from a retail store.
    
9. Fantastic Voyage: Search the internet and trade your duplicates!
   Search the internet for web sites that deal with used games. I found a web site using a random search on Google that had games for sale or trade. He had a used copy of Activision’s Private Eye for sale, which I had unsuccessfully bid on multiple times on eBay. He sold it to me for $8, which was less than what I had been bidding on eBay! AtariAge has a page of links (and a forum) dedicated to people who trade games at www.atariage.com/links/.
    
10. Brain Games: Do your homework
    If you’re a well informed collector, you’re less likely to get burned on a purchase. I’ve wasted quite a bit of time reading the rarity guides on AtariAge and I have a pretty good idea now of what the rare games are, and which companies released games that were generally uncommon or rare. I now know not to jump up and down if I run across a copy of Donkey Kong!
     
11. Sneak’n’Peek: Friends and family
    Search your Mom’s attic, maybe she stashed away your old box of Atari carts and never told you! Ask your friends if they have an old box of games in their basement that they don’t want anymore. You never know what you might find among your friends and family.
     
12. Time Pilot: New old stock
    Look up one of those old electronics or video game stores that have been around since the early 80s, like KayBee Toys (KB Toys now) in the US. Ask the manager if they have any new stock of old Atari games. This may sound like a shot in the dark, but I’ve heard stories of people walking into stores like this and picking up brand new Atari games that were never sold 20 years ago, and are collecting dust in the stock rooms of old toy stores... long forgotten. If they have any at all, they’ll probably be Atari Jaguar titles, but it doesn’t hurt to ask!
    

Final thoughts
I hope these hints help you on your quest for the “complete” collection of Atari games. These techniques have worked well for me, and I now have a large collection without going bankrupt in the process. There’s nothing like blowing off a little steam after work by playing a nostalgic Atari game, right? Until next time, keep your feet on the ground, your hands on your CX40, and keep reaching for the stars!

MyAtari magazine - Feature #3, November 2002