Pitfall Harry

I practically NEVER agree when people suggest something is more rare than its AtariAge rarity assignment. But in this case, after careful consideration, I have to agree with you. I say that Double Dragon ought to be a 5. Ben

I have a Miner 2049er cart and a 4-switch woody too, but I have no problem plugging this cartridge into my console. However, I have heard of the problem with Tigervision carts and older Atari consoles come up before. Apparently, the molding that surrounds the cartridge slot on some of the older Woody consoles is ever so slightly more narrow than that of others. And some batches of Tigervision cartridges are ever so thicker than others. If you're unlucky enough to get the skinny Woody and the fat Tigervisoin cart, then you'll be in for the tight squeeze which you describe. If you insist on playing your fat Miner 2049er cart in your narrow Woody, then you're just going to have to endure the wiggling it into place, or else modify either the cart or the console. None of these options appeals to me, and I'm sure they don't appeal to you either. But there is another option - insert some kind of adapter into the your Woody's cartridge slot, and then plug your Miner 2049er cart into the other end of the adapter. You could make your own, or you could use either the Video Game Brain (by RGA International) or the Romscanner (by Marjac) if you can find one. I had even less trouble getting my Miner 2049er to fit into one of the five selectable slots of the Video Game Brain, so I know that this solution would work for you, too. I can't say about the fit in a Romscanner, though. I don't have one of those babies. If you have exposed screw holes, then there's really no way of knowing whether the cart contains the actual circuit card it was born with. If you plug it in and it actually plays Miner 2049er, then that's the best you can hope for. The game itself is not all that rare, and scew holes through the label pretty much wipes out its monetary value to most other collectors. But as long as it works, play it. It's fun. Be happy. Ben

Here are scans of two different Explorer's Club Patches Does anyone know why one has a yellow star? I believe that both patches came from Activision as you see them. Ben

Whoever thinks these make good investments should read the Dickens classic, Great Expectorations. Ben

Yes, your green label Commando is most definitely a PAL release. There's one just as you described up for auction right now on eBay: HES release of Commando Ben

Try this one: Andrew Krieg's Atari 8-bit Cartridge List Ben

It disturbs me greatly that my email to bug90 went unanswered. It's especially disturbing that instead of answering me, he simply relisted the two games I won (Glib and Condor Attack) an hour after I sent him my email. For your reading amusement, here is a copy of my said email to bug90: ----------------------------------------- Hi Ryan, I am reluctant to send you payment. I have received several emails from concerned parties, all of whom strongly suggest that you are practicing fraudulent E-bay seller practices. After checking out their claims, I have to agree with them that your auctions look terribly suspicious. All of the pics of the games posted in your auction descriptions, which I purchased with Buy It Now, are indeed copied from established Atari collector websites (Digital Press, AtariAge, etc.). Additionally, compelling arguments have been raised which suggest that the eBay user ID you are using has been stolen or otherwise fraudulently acquired. I consider your use of pictures downloaded from collector sites a gross misrepresentation of your auction offerings. Nowhere in your auction description do you mention the fact that the pictures of your games are "only samples." I buy based on condition, and I can tell nothing about the condition of your games when you show me pictures of somebody else's games. If you could email me convincing photos of the ACTUAL games that I can expect of you when you recieve my payment, then I would be happy to send it. But because you have stablished what I and many others consider is a serious credibility problem, I don't think it unreasonable of me that I now require you to send me at least one high resolution, digitally unaltered picture of both games I won -- Condor Attack and Glib TOGETHER IN THE SAME PIC -- before I will be satisfied that you are a legitimate E-bay seller and that your auction items actually exist. Unless and until you can do that, please understand why I will not be sending you any money for the two games I won in your auctions. Feel free to take your time sending me the picture I request. I see that you currnetly have several mind-bendingly rare games up for auction simultaneously -- including duplicate auctions for both of the games which I "won," and I imagine that you may be quite busy addressing the concerns of more of your auction winner than just myself. However, I would like to remind you not to take more than 30 days to get back to me. That is the minimum wait time required for filing an online E-bay Fraud Complaint form. Ben on E-bay: atari2000 ----------------------------------------- Ben

YesSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My everlasting thanks go out to all who contributed to ending this heinous scammer's eBay run. I have never seen a group of people -- online or otherwise -- who pulled together as magnificently as all of you and the people at Digital Press have done in the last 36 hours. It makes me damned proud to be a member of this message board, of this community. High fives and a virtual beer to everyone. We all deserve it! Ben [ 04-10-2002: Message edited by: Pitfall Harry ]

I sent the dude the same warnings and also the link to this thread. Hopefully, he and everyone else who has been warned is getting the message. Ben

Of the still current bug90 auctions, some of his auction item description pages show an email reply-to address of kinman141@aol.com, while others show the reply-to address as kin2600@aol.com. I'm wondering why he maintains two different aol adresses, why he uses both of them in the same wave of auction lots, and whether he changes from one to the other after he relists or receives bid retractions. Ben

For those curious about the diappearance of Pitfall Harry' Lost Videogame Cavern Website: About a month ago, I discovered several of the files on my website (about 10 MB worth) had been deleted. Owing to an unfortunate coincidence of unpleasant emails I received at that same time, I had reason to believe that a spiteful someone who visits the AtariAge website had hacked my site and deleted my files. I lost over a hundred image scans and dozens of HTML pages, including my site's main index page. Admittedly, the unexpected losses put me in a foul mood. Without thinking things through all too clearly, I went over to AtariAge and deleted all of my message posts before the same spiteful hacker could log in with my password and get the satisfaction of doing the same thing himself. Only a few days ago did I find out what had really happened. A recent email from my web host provider, Tripod.com, clued me in that all subscribers of their FREE web accounts will have their allotted 25 MB of web space reduced to 20MB by the end of the month unless they start paying a small monthly fee for the extra space. For a little bit more per month they could get up to 50 MB of web space. Wait a minute. I HAD 50 MB of web space, and it had always been free for me. I signed on as a charter memeber of Tripod, and the handful of subscribers who signed on with me at that time were given 50 MB of free web space. Apparently, Tripod (who has been sold twice since I signed on) no longer honors the extra free space privilidge it once extended to its charter members. So about a month ago and without warning, Tripod indiscriminantly deleted files from my account until, lo and behold, I was scaled back to the 25 MB standard free web user's account limit. A few emails with Tripod later, and I now know what has happened. My charter member status had been "retired." And for my excessive storage abuses, I had been duly penalized. I am working on reconstructing my website. There is a considerable time investment involved and I am but a lone typist, so the going is slow. Slowing me further is this nasty unemployment thing I'm still struggling with. Understandably, my search for income is taking priority over re-establishing my website for the present. But from the ashes of Tripod, rest assured that one day soon Pitfall Harry's Lost Video Game Cavern shall rise again! And when it does, it will be bigger and better and just as overlooked as it has always been. And I promise that you will all be reading about it here first, from me, instead of from the rumor mill. I apologize for my absence. Ben

I have sent out email warnings to all who have made bids in the recent wave of bug90 video game auctions, alerting them to this message board thread and to the liklihood that they are dealing with a seller who has fraudulently misrepresented his auction offerings. I urge all of you to think thrice before placing a bid on any of the bug90 auctions or sending him payment. Ben

Sorry, CaliColts. The offer expired at midnight. You were 15 minutes too late in asking. Ben

It looks just like the unit Nukey Shay posted above. Hurry now. This offer is limited and will be withdrawn if I do not hear from you by midnight tonight. Email me within the next hour, and I'll throw in a free copy of Pitfall! and Pitfall II: Lost Caverns. Good luck! Ben benandvicky at earthlink.net

Blix, I can set you up with all of that - An Atari 2600 Jr console, two joysticks, power adapter, RF switchbox and all seven games you've listed. Price: $8.00 for postage. Email me if that price sounds fair. email address: benandvicky at earthlink.net (replace "at" with @) Ben [ 04-08-2002: Message edited by: Pitfall Harry ]

Thanks Alex and Albert for all your hard work. Ben