So I've embarked on a time consuming, likely pointless mission. I'm not sure how willing people will be to help out, but I figured I'd give it a shot.
BACKSTORY: I grew up with an Intellivision. We weren't allowed to get a Nintendo, because we already had two "Nintendos" (an Intellivision 1 and 2). We had a decent library of games that were eventually sold in a garage sale for a whopping $5 for everything (thanks mom...). Fast forward about 20 years, and I decided to start collecting the entire Intellivision library since it isn't terribly large. At first I got drawn into the boxes and how awesomely 80s they were, but then started to check out the manuals. Come to find out, so many of the games we had growing up weren't "fun" because we either didn't have the manual, or never bothered to read them. I've been working more on collecting the games than playing them, but a large portion of games sound fantastic based on the manuals and their instructions. I also started looking around for overlays, and it seemed like most people were using the same set of scans that were fairly outdated and low resolution. They work just fine, but for whatever reason, I felt that they weren't good enough for life in 2019.
THE PROJECT: I have invested in a decent scanner and have been scanning as many overlays and manuals as I can find. Overlays are being scanned in at an absurd 4800dpi, and manuals are being scanned in at 1200dpi. To take it one step further, I'm cleaning things up as I'm going, and in the case of the overlays, I'm actually "rebuilding" them. I noticed a ton were off-center, crooked, etc. and figured with modern technology I could fix these things. I've attached a couple examples of some 'corrected' overlays. I meant to grab an example of one of the manuals, but neglected to grab the drive on my way out the door this evening. I can post one tomorrow if people are curious. I'm not rebuilding the manuals, but I am cleaning them up. They look nice.
MY REQUEST: I have a good portion of the library scanned completely. Touching things up is going to take some time, and 'correcting' the overlays is going to take a very good chunk of time. Though I do have a few common games that I'm missing either a manual or overlay for, most of what I'm missing are the obvious ones. Things that aren't terribly inexpensive... Games like Congo Bongo, Stadium Mud Buggies, and other games that aren't cheap, especially with manuals. Thankfully, most of the expensive games don't have overlays, so that makes this a bit easier. I don't know if anyone would be willing to do it, but would anyone be interested in mailing missing manuals or overlays so that I could get them scanned in and then sent back? I want to make everything publicly available once I'm done, and have considered handing over the entire thing to a game preservation organization. I have no reasons to hoard such things. I certainly understand the concern of mailing something valuable off to someone you don't know, so I may not find any takers, but I figure even if I get a few of these checked off the list, I can save myself the hassle of buying them only to turn right around and sell them once I have them scanned.
MY CONCERNS: Thankfully, most of the Intellivision library isn't rare or expensive, but I am mildly concerned with people using the scans and passing things off as legit manuals and overlays (mostly manuals since overlays are pretty tough to fake). I'm not sure if it is worth putting some sort of watermark on there. Opinions are welcome.
Anyway, I figure I'll finish the project regardless of any assistance. I just have no need for collecting manuals and overlays in physical form. I do want a cartridge for everything (a Spiker repro will suffice), but a digital manual and printed overlay will work for me, personally.
As mentioned, I have attached a couple examples of the two Dungeons & Dragons games, and also included a link to a Google Sheet of the current status of each game. Feel free to get at me with any questions, concerns, thoughts, suggestions, etc.
Google Sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_I32OhJaOwqnsKMicRm7z578IbU1UJRCX_qT9e1zO0k/edit#gid=0