Atari 5200 Serial Numbers / Timeline

[Jdgreen]

Here is mine, I don't recall what controllers came with this unit but 2 of these did. I think it came with Jungle Hunt game or Joust. Think I bought 2 of 5200s and 2 controllers may have came with other one, or I may have bought 2 controllers by themselves as replacements. I never removed protective film from this 5200. I think I purchased it at Hills department store in Steubenville Ohio.

Edited February 28, 2022 by Jdgreen

[Jdgreen]

On 2/28/2022 at 12:35 PM, Jdgreen said:

Here is mine, I don't recall what controllers came with this unit but 2 of these did. I think it came with Jungle Hunt game or Joust. Think I bought 2 of 5200s and 2 controllers may have came with other one, or I may have bought 2 controllers by themselves as replacements. I never removed protective film from this 5200. I think I purchased it at Hills department store in Steubenville Ohio. 4 port

 

[windowspy]

I just came into possession of SN "A1 1058046 295".   Very, very new looking 2-port model in very good condition packaging.  The RF adapter was missing, as were all the papers and Breakout.   Controllers are stiff, but look like they have been been used!

 

Waiting on the post office to deliver a few games later today.  Oh, the anxiety....

Edited April 4, 2022 by windowspy

[+sramirez2008]

4 hours ago, windowspy said:

I just came into possession of SN "A1 1058046 295".   Very, very new looking 2-port model in very good condition packaging.  The RF adapter was missing, as were all the papers and Breakout.   Controllers are stiff, but look like they have been been used!

 

Waiting on the post office to deliver a few games later today.  Oh, the anxiety....

Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the club.  Just in case your considering a multicart.

[TrekMD]

Hmm, haven't taken pics of the SN's on mine.  I'll have to get to it.

[windowspy]

3 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the club.  Just in case your considering a multicart.

Thanks.  AtariMax SD is on the way, but I snagged a few real cartridges just to have some fun with while the rest of the bits arrive.

[+sramirez2008]

56 minutes ago, windowspy said:

Thanks.  AtariMax SD is on the way, but I snagged a few real cartridges just to have some fun with while the rest of the bits arrive.

Totally understand.  I have an AtariMax SD and several carts too (original and Homebrew). 

[windowspy]

On 4/4/2022 at 1:34 PM, windowspy said:

I just came into possession of SN "A1 1058046 295".   Very, very new looking 2-port model in very good condition packaging.  The RF adapter was missing, as were all the papers and Breakout.   Controllers are stiff, but look like they have been been used!

 

Waiting on the post office to deliver a few games later today.  Oh, the anxiety....

Ooops -- Make that NOT used.

Interesting thing about my purchase.  The controllers have white flex circits, which look like they are the upgrades from Best Electronics.  The potentiometers were misaligned in both of them, and neither stick actually worked.   A few minutes with Youtube and a screwdriver and things were fine.  Very excited.  Playing centipede with the original controllers is exactly as frustrating as I remember it being, and I can't wait for my Trak Ball to arrive in a few days.

[ymike673]

Bought this 4 port at Toys R US back in November of 1982. Still works.

Edited November 5, 2022 by ymike673

[duckodb]

I’ve got a Sunnyvale 4 port made in late 82 and a Taiwan 2 port

made in January 84.

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

If this is the new 5200 Serial Numbers Thread, then I guess I'll add mine. 🙂

 

Got a stellar deal ($115 shipped) on an "untested" CIB 5200 bundle on eBay. Works fine and everything overall is in nice shape. Super stoked! 🤙

 

2-Port:  Taiwan (Atari Inc.) 
A1 2016388 355

(Aug. 26 - Sep. 1, 1985)

 

 

Going to do the UAV S-video mod on it for now & see if it's good enough.. If not, I'll go the RGB route, eventually. Going to swap in a 4-port BIOS & recap it for sure. 👍

 

[ApolloBoy]

Picked up a 4-port Atari Corp. unit this morning. It has a power jack so I assume it's got the "universal" motherboard. I'll get pics of the board when it arrives.

 

[ApolloBoy]

The Atari Corp. 4-port came in today, it's got a regular 4-port board inside but with the factory power mod done to it.

[0078265317]

I just found this listing.  When I blow it up it says 0005493.  Is that pretty low?  I ave never seen 3 zeros before.  Is that one of the very first / early systems.

 

5200

[+x=usr(1536)]

On 5/14/2023 at 9:02 PM, 0078265317 said:

I just found this listing.  When I blow it up it says 0005493.  Is that pretty low?  I ave never seen 3 zeros before.  Is that one of the very first / early systems.

 

5200

If I'm reading the date of manufacture correctly, it was made in the second week of 1983 and is a Sunnyvale machine.  That's pretty early considering that the 5200 went on sale in November of 1982, so would have been on the market for only a couple of months when this one was made.

[0078265317]

5 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

If I'm reading the date of manufacture correctly, it was made in the second week of 1983 and is a Sunnyvale machine.  That's pretty early considering that the 5200 went on sale in November of 1982, so would have been on the market for only a couple of months when this one was made.

So does that make it more rare and valuable?

[+x=usr(1536)]

6 hours ago, 0078265317 said:

So does that make it more rare and valuable?

Good question.  To me, not really.  To someone else, maybe.  It's neat that it's a Sunnyvale machine, but it's not something that particularly sways me one way or the other on it.

[Lazywiteboy]

I recently picked up a 4 switch 5200 with box and manual at a local flea market and after looking up some basic info was guided here. Happy to have found this forum as its already answered a lot of my questions just reading through. Anyways my 5200 has a SN of SV-103 but the warranty card it came with is from EP-363. Would be funny if that systems owner was here too

[Atari the Jedi]

I've owned this unit since like 1984 or 1985. Got get out of garage sale for 25 bucks it's on the second owner but the previous owner ( we were both kids less than 10 years old. So really our parents were the ones that did that deal). said it was fixed and then it was sent in; hence the Sears recondition sticker. Not sure which controllers came with it as over the years I bought different ones and as a kid I would Frankenstein them together. They said the controllers didn't work and when I opened up the 5200 I concluded that no work was done on the inside which meant that they probably just reconditioned the sticks and sent back the entire unit to the first owner. I also own a second 4-port unit I'll get the figures off that here I thought I sent these in already many years ago.

If I'm reading the charts right it looks like mine somehow escaped the El Paso dump and it looks like this would be the last known serial number on that list

2-port  EP 393.  SN  287114

Edited June 9, 2023 by Atari the Jedi
Sn edit

[PacManPlus]

Went back to my old home, Long Island, last week for a wedding, and picked up a VERY clean 2-port 5200 + 1 controller and about 15 games.

AT 024 0581310

 

I think I need to video mod it though.  I have to search the forums for the best video mod to use.

Edited September 12, 2023 by PacManPlus

[+x=usr(1536)]

3 hours ago, PacManPlus said:

I have to search the forums for the best video mod to use.

UAV.  Extremely happy with the one in my 2-port.

[Crazymoon67]

Hi im adding my CIB 4 port system to the list with my others its a 2nd week of October 1982 system,

[Crazymoon67]

On 5/26/2023 at 4:21 AM, Lazywiteboy said:

I recently picked up a 4 switch 5200 with box and manual at a local flea market and after looking up some basic info was guided here. Happy to have found this forum as its already answered a lot of my questions just reading through. Anyways my 5200 has a SN of SV-103 but the warranty card it came with is from EP-363. Would be funny if that systems owner was here too

Hi it looks like they added the box to there console wich is perfectly acceptable because there is no serial number on the boxes of 5200s

[Crazymoon67]

On 3/16/2023 at 4:51 PM, ApolloBoy said:

Picked up a 4-port Atari Corp. unit this morning. It has a power jack so I assume it's got the "universal" motherboard. I'll get pics of the board when it arrives.

 

 

If there doing the A1 serial numbers like the 7800 its May of 1987? thats a super late system those Pcb's are probably the ones Best Electronics has left over from Atari they sell now.

[+x=usr(1536)]

On 9/28/2023 at 5:07 AM, Crazymoon67 said:

If there doing the A1 serial numbers like the 7800 its May of 1987? thats a super late system those Pcb's are probably the ones Best Electronics has left over from Atari they sell now.

No 5200s were made in 1987.  IIRC, production was over in 1984.