the1hatman

Definitely not one of mine as I cannot make gatefold sized boxes since I am limited by 11x17 inch stock. I really like the idea of someone producing gatefolds for all the post Mattel games though. I have made reproduction boxes for myself and have sold one so far on eBay, a Thunder Castle with original cart. I have no problem selling them since I believe every cart should have proper storage and nothing is better than a matching box. Carts will always outnumber boxes and manuals since they are made of stronger materials so I see reproductions as a necessity. I strongly agree that these should always be marked and listed as such so that no one can confuse them for the real thing. Even the ones I have made for myself have the LCC logo you see as my avatar here with REPRODUCTION BOX in the center. Mine are made from thinner stock than the original product and don't have the same cart retention setup so even the novice collector will know just from holding one that its not the real thing. I also use a lengthy listing description explaining what each reproduction part is and why/how it was made. I believe if you can't collect/trade/sell with integrity than you shouldn't be involved with the hobby at all.

I signed up as a Dust Level member of the 125 Club (106 CIB games, lol). In all seriousness, I did add my gear to the Serial Number Database so I hope that helps

That was extremely kind of you!

You laugh but if I ever get to print a box for this game I may very well create a Dum Dum retention system inside. BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I ordered only 1 set and received it within 2 months but was also missing an overlay. Was one Sub Hunt short. Luckily it wasn't one of the rare or orphan games. If they ever put these out again I will still chance it once more but I would be afraid of ordering more than 1 additional set after reading about all the trouble with this first release. Still was very pleased with the set I received though.

Wait, wait.... WAIT!!!! So are the bacon Dum Dums still available though? THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!

This begs the question though... If someone eats the bacon Dum Dum does that mean their copy is no longer factory complete?

And this whole time I thought the bacon Dum Dums were fake!

Is this what I think it is?!?

Yeah that isn't something I would mess with. It would take the kind of damage seen on this football box or worse to get me to try a repair on something that rare. Putting in a Coleco cart retainer would be easy enough but the missing top flap would require too much alteration to the original box. This kind of restoration only works when the balance is tipped towards doing more good than harm. The only possible thing I can suggest you try is maybe taking the cart retaining piece out of an easy to find box like Donkey Kong or Carnival and gluing it into the Turbo box in the correct spot. That way it's more of an original replacement part and no tape or laminate will affect any part of the box and artwork. I wouldn't mess with the missing flap though. My Donkey Kong Junior box is missing that piece too. Thank you for your kind words!

Good question. The lighting is making it look worse than it is but the seam exists mostly due to lack of skill on my part. I thought about cutting the patch to be flush but the cardstock I have to print to is not as thick as the original. Also, it would have made the already difficult task of lining up the patch to the original front pieces even harder and would have made it tough to keep the original tab at the top of the left side. I wanted to keep as much of the original as possible and use the least amount of tape and laminate as I could get away with As well. A cleaner splice with fewer seams and more level application is possible but would have meant more cutting and taping. It's something I might try on a future repair but I wanted to keep this first attempt as simple as I could.

I don't think I would try this on something so rare unless the box was just that far gone like this SP FB one was. If you'd like to post some pics here I can take a look and see what could possibly be done though. But I wouldn't try cutting and taping on it unless you were sure it was no longer viable enough to hold collectible value. Strangely enough my own copy of Turbo (US) is also an oddball find. I was able to get an inexpensive cart since the label was torn apart. So I recreated the US Turbo box using images from online, downloaded the manual and reprinted the label for the cart. mix in some extra Coleco documentation and you get a nice faux competed set!

Nice write up! Little sad to learn Slap Shot isn't so great though. I'll still get a copy when I have a chance but little bummed to hear the original is better. NHL was the sports game my dad and I played together the most so it holds a special place for me. Maybe some of the homebrew wizards out there will churn out a fixed version of Slap Shot or even their own better version? Would be cool to see a hockey game made for Intellivoice the way World Series is too!

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the encouragement. I make reproduction boxes for my collection to house the rare carts that I have been lucky enough to come across but could never afford complete versions of, so I had a pretty good idea about how to approach this repair. It was really just a matter of printing a full repro and then splicing in the parts that were damaged instead of just putting together the whole box from scratch. I'd rather save as much original material as possible and my repro stuff is not as thick as the source packaging anyway so having the original back, flaps and 3 of the tabs was a nice bonus.

The new cart retainer and manual pocket make getting to the game and materials easier than the original center-bottom alignment. Keeps things from falling out of the bottom as well which I have always found annoying about the older boxes in my collection. i would never change a complete original box but since this one was so far gone I figured what the heck: And so the repair is complete. Not the prettiest thing in my collection but it beats having lose carts and instructions. Again, this is not something I would do to a mostly intact box or anything rare but since this had little to no collectible value left anyway I wanted to make it as complete as possible. It works for my meager collection and makes a nice placeholder until I can afford a better copy. One big happy family again:

The reassembled box is actually super sturdy from all the added cardstock support and laminate. It's almost as stiff as Parker Brothers style packaging and easily stands up on its own with all of the contents inside:

As there was no cart retention section left I had to make my own out of cardstock. I use the Coleco style since it is easier to create and mount. It also reinforces the side of the box it is mounted on and helps prevent crushing. I also added a manual pocket to keep the instructions and overlays from moving around or falling out of the bottom flap of the box. I use the same setup for the reproductions I make as well: As a bit of extra sentimental touch I mounted the pieces I had to cut away to the inside of the box. They won't really be visible once the box is complete but they will always remain a part of the original.

Again, I wanted to keep as much of the original box as possible even though cutting more away might have made for cleaner lines. I felt it was important to keep everything that did not absolutely have to go even though I was able to reprint the entire front and side. Sentimental about the product I guess. Closeup of the front seam: Closeup of the bottom seam: Closeup of the left side seam with some original box overlap:

Next I had to splice in the new section under the remaining original box sections: All of this is accomplished with a combination of double sided tape and press laminate cut into strips. Glue would not seal the edges and would not flex at the side seams properly without splitting. Doesn't look as clean but this box was destroyed anyway so the whole procedure is a bit of a Hail Mary anyway (lame football joke):

I next reinforced the crushed right side and bottom flap panels with fitted cardstock. This gives the original damaged areas new support: Closeup of the flap repair: I then printed out the new front and left side using complete images from online: I had to leave some overlap on the left edge as there is a gap in the original on that side.

So I picked up a cheap copy of Super Pro Football as I didn't have it (don't judge me, I'm poor) which was not in the greatest condition. I made the decision to try and repair it even before I hit buy it now. As you can see the front artwork and most of the left side of the box were damaged/missing and the cart retention section was completely gone: I started by cutting away and saving (more on that later) the damaged edges of the front and side. I tried to leave as much of the original box as possible but all of the artwork had to go as lining up the new print would have been beyond my skill:

The more I read about this the sadder I am that I lack the funds to go to Portland this year Game still sounds amazing though

That's another possibility. My copy was a US release with the USA marked G2 catalog. Cracked the shrinkwrap myself and never changed out the contents as they were all still mint with the small exception of the overlays leaving a slight impression on the front of the manual. You have to hold it up to the light at just the right angle to even notice it though. My guess is either there are US releases with both the G2 and G3 catalogs that changed from one to the next as time went on or a very limited run was produced with leftover G2 books at the very beginning of L'N'Cs release just to use them up. We will likely never know for sure. I really believe there is merit on keeping a checklist of newly opened games and their contents by serial number, when possible.

I have a belt sander and would a love copy after the Expo... What? I really do have a sander. STOP JUDGING ME!!!

Now you're talkin party time! Let me know if you need some more. I have some extra LV P&B shells laying around doing nothing :-)