Brag, anti-brag, and book

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

I went to Value Village today. A couple months back, I bought about a dozen Intellivision carts with overlays & manuals (no boxes) in a bundle for $0.50 each (about $6 total). This seemed like a good deal, even though I only needed about half of them. Today I got in and they've got bundles of four Atari carts for $6.99! (About $1.75 each.)

I started to buy a package just for an Enduro manual, until I made out the price on it. Then I went up to the front and they had more bags behind the counter. Unfortunately, these had two rare carts I didn't have (in two separate packages, of course). I hated to encourage them by buying them, but for $1.75 I couldn't pass up (both for 2600):

• Frankenstein's monster (w/manual)
• Time Pilot (w/manual)

Hey, the Time Pilot seems to be a bit heavy. It's obviously not a prototype, though. Is this common for Time Pilots?

That's the brag. The anti-brag are the other six carts I had to buy:

• Combat
• Ice Hockey (w/manual)
• Missile Command (w/manual)
• Phoenix (w/manual)
• Vanguard (w/manual)
• Wizard of Wor (w/manual)

At least the Wizard of Wor is in better shape than my current copy. And I didn't have the manual for it.

Lastly, I picked up a book called The Home Computer Wars: An Insider's Account of Commodore and Jack Tramiel by Michael S. Tomczyk for $0.50. It should be interesting reading about the man who destroyed Atari. (There's a book title for you!) In fact, the book ends right after Tramiel's takeover. First I gotta read Hackers that I got back at Christmas, though.

I've already learned something from the back cover. Mr. Tramiel is a Holocaust survivor. Interesting.

[I later found out that the book was probably a better brag than the cartridges. It's apparently much sought, yet hard to find. — 18 June 2010]

My Best Brag Ever

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

The short version:

Today, out of the blue, I got a working Missile Command coin-op in good condition! For free!!!

The long version:

A friend of mine sent me e-mail saying a coworker of his was getting rid of a Missile Command arcade game. I just happened to be checking my personal e-mail when his note arrived. (Thank goodness!) The guy was going to trash it if no one wanted it. My friend works very close by, so he said I could drive over and take a look. His coworker had it in the back of his truck.

Upon arrival, I found the Missile Command to be in good shape. The owner, who had had it dumped on him by his mother-in-law, said it worked, so I quickly agreed to take it. We transferred it to my friend's truck. At lunch, he drove it to my house and helped me get it situated.

I turned it on and it came up just fine. Of course, the text was in French, but I knew from the quick research I had done that it was just a switch setting. It was already in free play mode, so I tried a game. Everything worked, except the sound was barely audible and the trackball squeaked.

I managed to open it despite not having keys. (Thank God for DejaNews!) There was a pair of keys inside. After going to the trouble of printing out the switch settings, I discovered upon putting the back cover back in place there was a sheet with the switch setting stapled to the inside. D'oh!

It also showed me where the volume control is. Cranking it up revealed one speaker doesn't work, but I'm sure I can fix that later. I still can't believe I finally get to join VAPS! 8)

[Sadly, I was forced to sell the Missile Command about six years later when money was tight. VAPS is the Video Arcade Preservation Society. It was a group of people owning arcade video games at home. They established a web site in the early days of the Internet. Being able to join it seemed like a big and unattainable honor at the time. —11 June 2009]

Atypical brag

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Why is this brag "atypical"? Because I'm bragging that I sold something rather than found something. My neighborhood had it's semi-annual yard sale this weekend and I decided to try to get rid of some OCs. I put out a labelless Frogger, three Combats, two SwordQuest Earthworlds, and a SwordQuest Fireworld (all for the 2600). I also put out an NES Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridge. When my wife finally let me go look while she tended to things, some old woman came by and bought them all! I thought I'd be lucky if I'd sell one or two of them.

BTW, while looking, I found a "Darth Vader" 2600 with Lost Luggage (needed that!) and Congo Bongo (traid bait), plus a few others. Unforutnately, the LL board is loose and CB apparently needs cleaning because neither worked. All the other cartridges that I didn't care about work fine. 8( What is it with Apollo cartridges and loose boards? This is the second time I've found one.

I've also got to learn to look things over more carefully. They claimed the system and games worked, and I trusted them. When I got home, I discovered the RCA plug was missing on the RF cable (easy fix) and the power supply was for a Black & Decker drill. It's 1.5V and 100mA less than an Atari power supply.

I also found a Timex/Sinclair 1000 with some software, the manual, and an additional paperback book. (No power supply. It's 9V DC, but does anyone know the amperage/polarity?) I haven't tested it yet but look forward to playing the T/S 1000 Frogger tape I've had for a few years now.

Re: Stop me before I buy again!!!!

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

In article <6qjhve$293@james.hwcn.org>, Chris Cracknell wrote:
>Arrrggg!!!!
>
>I got into this hobby to relive my childhood and fulfill of childhood fantasy
>of owning a shirt-load of atari 2600 carts. I didn't want to collect for
>other systems, just the 2600. It's what I had as a kid so why should I want
>to collect another system?

>I must curb this habbit. It all started out so innocently but now I'm
>running out of space. Stop me before I buy again!

It's not hopeless yet. You haven't bought any coin-ops. 8)

I started out like you: strictly 2600.

Then I found a 7800 and some games cheap, and justified it like you did.

Then my wife bought me a Gameboy for Christmas. The next year I got a SNES. Both get played very little, and luckily, I haven't bought very many cartridges for either...yet. I'm in trouble in a few years, though.

Someone gave me a Vectrex. Like you, I feel it's too cool not to keep.

I've had three friends give me Colecovisions. One included the Adam module, which I need to get rid of, but haven't yet. You wanna talk about a space hog?!?

I found an NES with a Power Pad and Short Order/Eggsplode and told myself it would be good exercise. And it was the six or so times I've played it since then. I told myself I would be very selective of the games I bought for it, but lately I've been getting this itch to buy NES games.

Then I bought an Intellivision because it was cheap and I was tired of not finding new 2600 games. So far I've succesfully kept myself from buying anything but complete, boxed games, so its' not out of control yet.

I bought a 5200 (w/ 2600 adapter) and a bunch of mint boxed 2600 & 5200 games a few months ago. I haven't even taken the time to test the thing yet! It's getting out of hand!

And this doesn't include the RCA Studio II, Microvision, one semi- and one non-working Channel F, and numerous dedicated consoles stored away in my room. And there's an original, non-working Atari Pong coin-op sitting in my garage waiting for me to fix it. Help!

Tip of the Moment (holes in walls)

Tip of the moment: Leave the holes in your walls alone.

In preparing a bedroom for our new baby, I needed to install a proper phone jack where the current one was simply hanging out of the wall on wires. In the process of fooling with it, I managed to make the hole bigger and bigger, so I had to replace a section of drywall before I could install the outlet.

[From my "Past Tips of the Moment and Past Thoughts" page. This was the seventh tip and 12th post overall. It refers to preparing what had been—up until that point—our guest bedroom/storeroom as a nursery for our first child. — 28 May 2009]