Atari 2600 UPCs

[StrigisGames]

Did Atari 2600 games have UPC codes, or were they just designated by serial numbers? (I'm guessing the answer is no they do not, but I want to make sure I'm not missing something obvious here.)

[Schitti]

if I am not mistaken, then Atari had assigned all UPC codes from the serial number. i would say they have begun to print the code on the backside the silver box series in 1982.

Later 1983 on the bottom flap at some silver and all red and grey series boxes.

 

many others have also their serialnumber at the end of the code. for example Imagic too.

 

Activision had parts of the serial in the upc codetoo, but their later releases had consecutive numbering at the end instead.

 

Other manufacturers had identical numbers on the backside of a standard box and a namesticker on the front. (Matra for example)

 

 

the manufacturer could still determine the last digits of the number itself? hmm, why not the serialnumebr. this seems obvious.

Whether the Taiwanese numbers have to mean something, I doubt it. hehe

In europe are also thirteen-digit numbers possible (EAN-13 barcodes)

Edited July 15, 2015 by Schitti

[Philflound]

From my experience, the silver, grey, and red boxes have UPC. Most if not all the color boxes did not, even those Atari, Corp released in 1985-1988. Foreign boxes for the most part later on did have UPC codes, but the 5 language releases from like 1978-1980 or so did not to my knowledge. There were some boxes released during the same year, silver boxes from 1982 and possibly 1983 that have Made in USA with multi languages on back that have a blank UPC area. Here is an example

 

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-realsports-football_18322.html

 

You can see the 1982 US release has UPC and the 3 language one with no UPC, though the box with the N sticker means it's also NTSC and not PAL. But most of the silver boxes should have the UPC.

 

I own the 1988 Pele's Soccer green box. The UPC code is on the bottom flap. So if you don't see a UPC on a later box, you may need to investigate further to see if the UPC is on the bottom flap. Thing is I'm not getting much support on helping me with information for my site, so I'm going on what I can see in a scan or physically hold. On most of my listings, I have not written anything about a UPC code, even if I did own it. It may be something to consider adding, though I would put that off a little while too so I can finish doing the current task I've been working on for the past couple of weeks.

 

Phil

Edited July 16, 2015 by Philflound