Most Accurate Rarity Guide?

[Christophero Sly]

There are several TI-99 cartridge rarity guides online. Which one do you feel is the most accurate?

 

Thanks.

[+Ksarul]

Truthfully, none of them are really good, especially when you get beyond what is considered common. The people who made them either didn't have access to the full breadth of TI cartridges, or they limited their analysis to specific areas (the Video Game House took a deep dive into games, but the rarities for a lot of the cartridges don't really line up with reality). My personal list of what is out there is one of the more extensive ones in existence--but I don't even consider rarity, because it isn't a concern for me. I list the things I've encountered over the last 30+ years, broken out by case variants, label variants, and language. I haven't added all of the new homebrews to my list yet, but then, I'm also the primary person making those cartridges.

Edited January 5, 2016 by Ksarul

[Christophero Sly]

Yeah, the four or five lists I've found are quite divergent.

 

I have ~40 educational games I plan to part with, and I'm trying to determine which (if any) are worth selling individually and which should be sold in a lot. One list says game X is "Very Rare" while another says "Uncommon".

 

Confusing.

 

And what of all these label variants?

[+Schmitzi]

Hi,

 

I do not claim to be anything with my lists, but maybe you have a look at this one:

 

/ /

\ \ * 2016-01-05 01/05/16 - FULL Cartridge list

 

(I made an update today so that you can have a most actual look)

 

( It´s from the thread http://atariage.com/forums/topic/241978-ti-994a-resources-lists-updated-full-cartridge-list/ )

 

 

 

I did a lot of work in the rarities in the last months, also with comparing with all the lists you mentioned here,

plus taking my own and very small knowledge about, and counting my own assets

(a cartridge I have 25x cannot be "rare" like this ) haha or it is rare because I have them all :)

 

 

 

And here how I organized it:

 

 

 

If you are not sure about anything, I just would set it for 1 $ on eBay. The rest will happen automatically if really rare.

(BTW, if you set any part with a higher starting-price on eBay, this often fails, rare or not)

 

...but all without guaranty, of course

[+Ksarul]

Of all the educational cartridges, there are only a few that are relatively rare that were issued by TI: Computer Math Games I and computer Math Games IV immediately come to mind, and Computer Math Games III is hard to find. Computer Math Games II and Computer Math Games VI are both common. Test Trainer is ultra-rare. Word Invasion and Word Radar are both hard to find.

 

On the Scott Foresman cartridges (white labels with blue or red printing), the hardest one to find is Early Reading 1A. The same cartridge with a TI label (Black or Green label variants) is ultra-common. The only other educational ones that are rare are Module A, Module B, and Module C. Each of these contains two of the individual Scott Foresman Math Games cartridges in a single cartridge (Frog Jump/Picture Parts, Pyramid Puzzler/Star Maze, and Number Bowling/Space Journey). Any of the Scott Foresman releases in a color case (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, or Orange) is hard to find, as that variant was only sold to schools and most of them did not survive.

 

Scott Foresman also made a series of School Management modules (in Gray cases--not the same color as the later Beige TI cases, but similar until you see them side by side). These are very rare--especially with the manuals. No more than five or six copies of any of the management modules are in circulation.

 

I hope this helps.

[+Schmitzi]

entered. thanks But I see here I have a big lack where I have to work on.

[+Schmitzi]

a small inline-update for the SF--Carts:

 

SCOTT FORESMAN: TI-99-4A-MANU-FORESMAN-v1.00-beta.pdf

 

 

 

 

(but many color-variants still missing, I have to dig through my assets first to get a feeling for that )

[Christophero Sly]

@Ksarul & schmitzi

 

Thanks for the information. Very helpful.

 

I take it then that there is nothing in this lot that is worth parting out?

 

[Opry99er]

There are a few in there I would like to have in order to fill in some holes in my Edu cart collection... Reading Rainbows for one.

[+Schmitzi]

yes, think that is the only one I miss.

[+Ksarul]

The only ones that might make sense to try and sell individually are the three white label Scott Foresman carts (possibly as a group) and the Early Logo Learning Fun cart, as that one is uncommon enough that it might sell by itself. As a single lot, you could get unlucky and they'd go for $40 or so, but they'd more than likely hit the $75 to $100 range, possibly more if there was someone looking for educational carts right now. I often snag groups of cartridges like these for up to $3 each (shipped) as my upper bidding limit--and win often enough that I have a continuous stream of cartridge shells available for my projects.

[Christophero Sly]

Thanks again.

[Christophero Sly]

I've decided to see if there is any interest around here in these (and a few more) items. Whatever gets no takers here, will go to eBay.

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247616-fs-ti-99-4a-stuff-edu-carts-utilities-disks/

Edited January 7, 2016 by Christophero Sly