location question

[Atari5200]

Are finding protos limited to basically west coast locations or can they be found in other places. I don't know where all the software developers were located and I live around Pittsburgh and was wondering the chances of finding a proto outside of California.

[+Wonder007]

Protos have been found all over the US (actually world technically). Sometimes there is a connection between where the company was located and where the proto(s) was/were found. On the other side of the coin, protos have been found in a completely different location (like the 2600 Charile Brown- instead of Sunnyvale, CA, it was found in Kenosha, Wisconsin). So, to answer your question, protos are not limited to location of company of origin.

 

I am sure Tempest can shed some more light to this subject.....I only know less than 1% of what Tempest knows about protos.

[82atari5200]

I found 4, years ago at a used video game store here in Orlando. One had a German label under the lab loaner label that was for the PAL version of Galaxian.

[else]

And remember, Coleco was based on the east coast -- Connecticut and upstate New York to be exact. Of course, Coleco protos have almost never turned up -- but I keep the faith that someday a huge stash will be found

[krypton85]

I found 4 CV protos at a flea in Schenectady, NY. It's right near Amsterdam, NY. Unfortunately I sold them on ebay for about $60 a piece 10 years ago..

 

Man I wish I hung onto those...

[+Wonder007]

And remember, Coleco was based on the east coast -- Connecticut and upstate New York to be exact. Of course, Coleco protos have almost never turned up -- but I keep the faith that someday a huge stash will be found

 

Hey, the Atari 2600 Turbo was located in Florida.

[shadow460]

I'd imagine that some of the programmers could have moved while the protos were in their possession. This might have occurred after they had a reason to legally keep the prototypes at home. It would certainly explain why some of them are found in odd places far away from where they were developed.

[Tempest]

Generally protos are either found where the company was located, or where the programmers were located. Generally these are one and the same, but sometimes programmers or other employees took their protos with them when the company closed down and put them in storage for several years. If the programmer then took a job in another state, the protos went with them until they were either sold off or thrown out. This explains why protos are sometimes found in odd places (such as Florida, Wisconsin, New York, etc.). The bulk of protos however are found in California because that's where most of the game companies were.

 

Tempest