Unusual 2600 adapter

[ApolloBoy]

I picked up a 2600 adapter for my 5200 today and I noticed something really odd about it. Instead of having a textured surface, the plastic on the adapter is totally smooth. Even stranger, there's absolutely no markings on it whatsoever. There's no Atari logo and "VCS Cartridge Adaptor" on the front, and there's no trace of a serial number sticker on the back. Is this a prototype of some kind? I'll put up some pics of it later today.

[ApolloBoy]

Here are the pics...

[Curt Vendel]

Looks like a "1st Article" sample... a run is done, usually anywhere 1 to as many as 10 first run, or first article samples... it was a way to test the dies, make sure the fit was correct, everything lined up, all pieces went together, ports had proper alignment and clearance.

 

If it passed the 1st article review (also referred to sometimes as "Hogouts") then the dies would be sent to have the innards textured to the required grading, a process that was timely and very expensive.

 

So looks like you got your hands on a 1st article sample - congrats! :-)

 

 

 

Curt

 

Here are the pics...

[ApolloBoy]

Looks like a "1st Article" sample... a run is done, usually anywhere 1 to as many as 10 first run, or first article samples... it was a way to test the dies, make sure the fit was correct, everything lined up, all pieces went together, ports had proper alignment and clearance.

 

If it passed the 1st article review (also referred to sometimes as "Hogouts") then the dies would be sent to have the innards textured to the required grading, a process that was timely and very expensive.

 

So looks like you got your hands on a 1st article sample - congrats! :-)

 

 

 

Curt

Just as I suspected! How valuable do you think this is? I'd like to have a 2600 adapter, but I really don't want to use a rare sample adapter to play games on.

[Curt Vendel]

I really hate when that kind of question comes up...

 

Its as valuable as the market is willing to pay for it. You could post it up for sale at $100 and get no takers, you could post it at $100 and 5-6 people are interested and battle it out to $400, 20 people may be interested and it sells for $1500, who knows...

 

Its what it is when you decide if you want to sell it and enough people have enough disposable income to plop on the table and go for it.

 

 

 

Curt

 

Looks like a "1st Article" sample... a run is done, usually anywhere 1 to as many as 10 first run, or first article samples... it was a way to test the dies, make sure the fit was correct, everything lined up, all pieces went together, ports had proper alignment and clearance.

 

If it passed the 1st article review (also referred to sometimes as "Hogouts") then the dies would be sent to have the innards textured to the required grading, a process that was timely and very expensive.

 

So looks like you got your hands on a 1st article sample - congrats! :-)

 

 

 

Curt

Just as I suspected! How valuable do you think this is? I'd like to have a 2600 adapter, but I really don't want to use a rare sample adapter to play games on.

[ApolloBoy]

I really hate when that kind of question comes up...

 

Its as valuable as the market is willing to pay for it. You could post it up for sale at $100 and get no takers, you could post it at $100 and 5-6 people are interested and battle it out to $400, 20 people may be interested and it sells for $1500, who knows...

 

Its what it is when you decide if you want to sell it and enough people have enough disposable income to plop on the table and go for it.

Alrighty then. Like I said, I really don't want to use a rare piece of hardware like this, so I'll go ahead and put it up an interest check thread on the marketplace.