Weirdest place you've found Atari stuff?

[Room 34]

We all tend to rely on a few common places to get most of our games and Atari 2600 equipment... thrift stores, flea markets, rummage sales, eBay, etc. But what's the weirdest place you've ever found Atari stuff?

 

The weirdest for me is not that weird really, but the timing of it was.

 

I found a set of Gemini-brand paddles stuffed way back on a dark hidden shelf in a back corner of the electronics department of my local Kmart store in 1992. Not so weird, really, except for the fact that the store had just opened, so it was not like they had been sitting there unnoticed for years. My best guess is that they were in the inventory of the old store, made it over to the new store, and the employees, not being sure what to do with them, stuck them way in the back and hoped they would be forgotten. Then along comes me, and I buy them up!

 

It was pretty serendipitous. I was specifically out looking for paddles, because I needed a new set. I figured no place would actually have them, but what the heck, I'd look anyway. And this set of paddles was the only Atari-related item to be found anywhere in town!

[bcprs1]

This wasn't very weird, but more of a shock. In 1991, my parents drove me over to Lechmeres (an electronic store that is now out of business). I went over to the games section to look for something for my gameboy. I had not seen an Atari 2600 game in retail stores for about 2 years. As I got closer, my eyes caught the familiar red Atari 2600 box. I thought to myself that I was seeing things. I went over and there was one row of Atari 2600 Secret Quests. There were only 6 games left for only $6 each. I quickly grabbed a copy. My brother thought I was crazy to be buying a 2600 game when we had a Nintendo at home. I just knew that deep down the Atari bug was still with me (and still is)

[Joey Kay]

Back when I was in Grade 11 in 1993 our class was picking garbage out of highway ditches north of Shellbrook, Saskatchewan (about 90 miles north of Saskatoon... if that helps...) for the department of highways.

 

I stumbled across a shopping bag full of loose common carts in the ditch... wild!

 

(I never kept them, they were all wet and icky...)

 

Cheers!

 

Joey

[AtariDude]

Back when I was in Grade 11 in 1993 our class was picking garbage out of highway ditches north of Shellbrook, Saskatchewan (about 90 miles north of Saskatoon... if that helps...) for the department of highways.

 

I stumbled across a shopping bag full of loose common carts in the ditch... wild!

 

(I never kept them, they were all wet and icky...)

 

Cheers!

 

Joey

 

Too bad. It would have been an interesting way to find Atari cartridges.

[bcprs1]

That reminds me of something. My grandmother used to live next to a 3 family house. The people who rented there were really low class. One day they had a yard sale. The next week, I went to cut my grandma's lawn and found about 10 Atari games thrown under a bush. All the games except one were still in good condition. One on hand I was pissed off that they used my grandma's lawn as trash, but then again, that "trash" was my treasure.

PS- they threw a few more toys in her yard which "found" there way back where they came from.

[munkyxtc]

about 10 Atari games thrown under a bush

 

Damn, that's wierd...I thought I would be the only one telling of atari carts I found in bushes...Way back when I was working as a landscaper, I was trimming bushes, and I found 2 combat carts...I was completely dumbfounded...needless to say, I left the carts there...

[Ranthulfr]

We all tend to rely on a few common places to get most of our games and Atari 2600 equipment... thrift stores, flea markets, rummage sales, eBay, etc.  But what's the weirdest place you've ever found Atari stuff?

 

The place isn't that weird, but once at a flea market I found some Atari carts standing in a tray that had about 3/4" water in the bottom of it. I dunno, something about buying water-soaked electronic devices doesn't appeal to me.

[ROBOTRON2084]

I once found a couple of carts at Sunshine Thrift stores in 1996, but like an idiot I didn't buy them....

[ROOP]

I FOUND ONE IN A BARN COVERED IN STRAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tbfinley2]

I went to this estate sell and they had very expensive furinture and antiques. Sitting on a table was one atari cart for 4.00 dollars. I kept wondering how it got there. It was the only gaming thing they had. I don't even remember seeing any other electronics there.

[CrazyImpmon]

1996

 

Toys R Us

 

with a red 99 cents tag on

 

Star Trek for Vectrex. The box was well beyind crushed and worn but the cart inside managed to stay in and had a like new label on. The manual was long gone. The screen overlay was like a piece of Saran Wrap- crumbled. FWIW it was nested in between dozens of unsold Startropics and Zoda's Revenge at Ann Arbor store.

[Atari2600Lives]

I was out hunting for carts in a section of town that has a bunch of thrifts and dollar stores .I made my way in to a used furniture store beacuse I noticed they had some radios and telephones as I passed the window. This is stuff they normally do not carry .I rummaged through the radio and telephone junk and found a super mint Sears Tele Games II (rarity 8 in the DP guide). This thing was tie wrapped in a plastic bag and looked like it had never been played(it was the console only but it was crystal new mint). They thought it was an answering machine!

Atari2600Lives

[Brad2600]

I don't know about most of you, but the weirdest place I have found Ataris is a dumpster. I found 2 2600s and an Intellivision in the trash somewhere. They work fine(dunno about the Intellivision) and the games that came with the 2600s work great too. Strange.

 

I call it a lucky find as I still have all of that stuff now. Yay!

[Turnspike]

I know I've told this story before here, but I was at a Hamfest (radio swap meet) a few years ago with a friend and we split up. He found me about a half-hour later and told me that some guy had a large container of boxed 2600 carts, and he was selling them as 8-tracks! Long story short (too late), I bought all of his stuff, about 45 carts in all, for $25. I have to admit, a Hamfest is not a wierd place to find Atari finds. They are one of the better places to find them, but to find so many carts together being sold as 8-tracks...that's wierd.

[Goochman]

A retail store around where I live was going out of business around 1997. As such everything in the back room was put on the floor for sale. I went in looking for a CD player or VCR (They sold everything from lawn furniture to electronics) when lo and behold I saw 2 1050 disk drives mint in box (never opened) - 1010 Cassette Player in box as well, plus some common Atari 800 carts mint in boxes.

 

They were asking original retail prices at first ($179.99 for the disk drive). Came back a week later and most of the stuff was gone but 1 disk drive remained for $40 which I thought a fair price.

[atarifan49]

Office Max. Found a Portfolio 64k card on a clearance table. Pretty worn condition on the packaging.

 

But my best place to find Atari stuff was when Atari had the 390 Carribbean warehouse. Boy the stuff they used to throw away! And the 1196 Borregas was great to just dig through paperwork and find the occassional floppy or Syquest disk!! Miss those days!

[Room 34]

That reminds me of something.  My grandmother used to live next to a 3 family house.  The people who rented there were really low class.  One day they had a yard sale.  The next week, I went to cut my grandma's lawn and found about 10 Atari games thrown under a bush.  All the games except one were still in good condition.  One on hand I was pissed off that they used my grandma's lawn as trash, but then again, that "trash" was my treasure.  

PS- they threw a few more toys in her yard which "found" there way back where they came from.

This reminds me... it's not Atari related, but it's funny.

 

A buddy of mine used to live in a rental duplex in south Minneapolis. There was a McDonald's across the street. The McDonald's remodeled, and somehow a bunch of the trashed McDonald's chairs -- you know, those plastic ones on the big metal posts bolted to the floor -- ended up in my buddy's backyard! Then again, just about every business in the neighborhood seemed to be accounted for in the terrifying jungle of industrial trash in that house's backyard...