PICS of Activision promotional items

[Captain_Combat]

4 minutes ago, cvga said:

I'll keep that in mind. My wife will probably give it to Goodwill when I pass. It's mostly an eyesore to her

Or worse they will just throw it out 

[JayAre]

This is perhaps the most expensive Activision promo item ever.  When Enduro was released, Activision held the "Race for Riches" sweepstakes.  Several prizes were awarded, and part of the grand prize was a Datsun 280ZX pace car.  Attached is the ad for the sweepstakes.  Here's also a pic of a car that is very similar to the one in the ad, except that it doesn't say "Activision" or "Enduro" on it.  I don't know if this is the car that was actually awarded, but it's pretty close.

 

 

[+cvga]

1 minute ago, Captain_Combat said:

Or worse they will just throw it out 

I could see that. Luckily my 14 year old is very interested and has an idea of what's valuable. I'd like my stuff to at least be enjoyed by someone else (and my family to get some value out of it).

[Captain_Combat]

1 minute ago, cvga said:

I could see that. Luckily my 14 year old is very interested and has an idea of what's valuable. I'd like my stuff to at least be enjoyed by someone else (and my family to get some value out of it).

Good because women will just give your stuff away in a yard sale lol

[+cvga]

My last item for the day. Here's an unscratched "Katch the Krook" card that came with Keystone Kapers...

 

[Machine]

10 minutes ago, JayAre said:

This is perhaps the most expensive Activision promo item ever.  When Enduro was released, Activision held the "Race for Riches" sweepstakes.  Several prizes were awarded, and part of the grand prize was a Datsun 280ZX pace car.  Attached is the ad for the sweepstakes.  Here's also a pic of a car that is very similar to the one in the ad, except that it doesn't say "Activision" or "Enduro" on it.  I don't know if this is the car that was actually awarded, but it's pretty close.

 

 

 

I wonder if anyone actually has this car still???  Makes me want to hunt down a 280z, get it decaled up like this.  I actually test drove a 280z back in the 80s, nice little cars.

 

[JayAre]

12 minutes ago, Machine said:

I wonder if anyone actually has this car still???  Makes me want to hunt down a 280z, get it decaled up like this.  I actually test drove a 280z back in the 80s, nice little cars.

I would imagine it's in a landfill somewhere, but you never know.  And you're right about the 280ZX.  It was a blast to drive.  And it had a cool look to it.

Edited August 15, 2020 by JayAre

[+sramirez2008]

1 hour ago, JayAre said:

This is perhaps the most expensive Activision promo item ever.  When Enduro was released, Activision held the "Race for Riches" sweepstakes.  Several prizes were awarded, and part of the grand prize was a Datsun 280ZX pace car.  Attached is the ad for the sweepstakes.  Here's also a pic of a car that is very similar to the one in the ad, except that it doesn't say "Activision" or "Enduro" on it.  I don't know if this is the car that was actually awarded, but it's pretty close.

 

 

That ad and car are awesome. One of my best friends had a couple of Datsun Z’s. during our ‘Teen years. His first was a 240Z (I had a ‘68 Camaro then). Unfortunately these cars did rust easily, so the original is most likely gone.
Wow! Great memories. Thanks for sharing.

[JayAre]

I wanted to submit this just to document what I believe to be a complete set of documentation that you would receive when sending away for an Activision high-score patch.  I could be wrong, but I don't think Activision sent any other documents, aside from the ones in the picture.  Does anyone know if any additional documentation was sent?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2020 by JayAre

[Machine]

20 hours ago, cvga said:

Very good points. I especially agree with your observation of the word "presents" and that they would have somehow indicated that it was a championship patch if so.

 

It doesn't look or feel like an item that was mass produced given it has more of a homemade look to it. I was hoping maybe your contact would remember something about it.

 

It is an embroidered patch, something Activision did not usually use for mass production. I am guessing it was embroidered as sample, or promo, or special event.  Tooo  Coool!!!!  

 

[+sramirez2008]

5 hours ago, Captain_Combat said:

Good because women will just give your stuff away in a yard sale lol

I need to start attending yard sales again.?

[JayAre]

23 hours ago, cvga said:

Very good points. I especially agree with your observation of the word "presents" and that they would have somehow indicated that it was a championship patch if so.

 

It doesn't look or feel like an item that was mass produced given it has more of a homemade look to it. I was hoping maybe your contact would remember something about it.

CVGA, last night, I emailed my friend, who is a former Activision employee, regarding your Starmaster patch; and she just got back to me on this.

 

Well, she told me that she remembers the patch very well.  She thinks she might have one but hasn't found it yet.  As she recalls, the patch was made with the purpose of introducing/promoting Starmaster when the game was released in 1982.

 

Based on this, CVGA, we can definitely arrive at the conclusion that the patch wasn't initially made to reward the world record holders.  This supports the theory that we were tossing around earlier.  Perhaps Activision never used the patch to promote the game and decided to use it to reward these players.  Or maybe they had patches left over and decided to use them for this purpose.

 

At least we now know a little bit more about it.

[Atari_Bill]

I don’t really have any of the cool promo stuff you guys show here.  I did however remember that I had this mail in item from my Commodore 64 days.  The flyer has a small type in program to make your own Pitfall Harry on the C 64.  This was actually mine from back in the day.  I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen it in another collection.  

 

 

[JayAre]

36 minutes ago, Atari_Bill said:

I don’t really have any of the cool promo stuff you guys show here.  I did however remember that I had this mail in item from my Commodore 64 days.  The flyer has a small type in program to make your own Pitfall Harry on the C 64.  This was actually mine from back in the day.  I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen it in another collection.  

That's interesting, Bill.  I'm willing to bet not many of those survived.  Thanks for sharing.

[JayAre]

This one looks to be pretty rare.  It's a Chopper Command promo cap.  It looks like a French foreign legion hat, with the flaps on the back.  I can't find any pictures of it online.  But I did spot it on two occasions in the pictures that I have of the Activision Family Vacation to Maui.  In the first picture below, you'll see Dan Kitchen wearing one; and in the second picture, there's someone on the left side of the pic with one as well.  Hopefully, a better picture of it will surface at some point.

 

 

[JayAre]

Ladies and gentleman, the Pitfall Party (aka the Rumble in the Jungle)!  In June of 1982, the summer CES was held in Chicago.  To coincide with this event, and on the evening of June 7 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Activision hosted the Pitfall Party to celebrate the release of the game.  It took place in the hotel's grand ballroom and multiple adjacent ballrooms.  There were three bands playing simultaneously, dozens of party-style midway games, several open bars, live animals in cages hanging from the ceiling and hundreds upon hundreds of attendees.  It was rumored that Activision spent in excess of $250,000 on the party.  Earlier in this thread, CPUWIZ posted a wonderful pic of the invitation package, which I'm reposting here.  Attendees were given a safari jacket and an explorer's hat.  Activision even printed Rumble in the Jungle matchbooks; attached is a picture of these three items.  Activision employees also received the "Survival Kit" zippered pouch (pic attached).  It contained a badge to get into the party, an Instamatic camera and coupons for the midway games.  Thanks to Dan Kitchen for providing much of this information.  By the way, Ken Uston, the infamous blackjack player, also attended the party.  He wrote several books relating to blackjack and video games.  I remember reading somewhere that he showed up with an exotic pet that he had.  If I remember correctly, it was a pet monkey!

 

 

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by JayAre

[+cvga]

26 minutes ago, JayAre said:

Ladies and gentleman, the Pitfall Party (aka the Rumble in the Jungle)!  In June of 1982, the summer CES was held in Chicago.  To coincide with this event, and on the evening of June 7 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Activision hosted the Pitfall Party to celebrate the release of the game.  It took place in the hotel's grand ballroom and multiple adjacent ballrooms.  There were three bands playing simultaneously, dozens of party-style midway games, several open bars, live animals in cages hanging from the ceiling and hundreds upon hundreds of attendees.  It was rumored that Activision spent in excess of $250,000 on the party.  Earlier in this thread, CPUWIZ posted a wonderful pic of the invitation package, which I'm reposting here.  Attendees were given a safari jacket and an explorer's hat.  Activision even printed Rumble in the Jungle matchbooks; attached is a picture of these three items.  Activision employees also received the "Survival Kit" zippered pouch (pic attached).  It contained a badge to get into the party, an Instamatic camera and coupons for the midway games.  Thanks to Dan Kitchen for providing much of this information.  By the way, Ken Uston, the infamous blackjack player, also attended the party.  He wrote several books relating to blackjack and video games.  I remember reading somewhere that he showed up with an exotic pet that he had.  If I remember correctly, it was a pet monkey!

 

Wow. This thread continues to amaze. I wonder if Ken Uston was there as a writer or because of his license with Coleco. Colecovision was released in 1982 and shortly after they released Ken Uston Blackjack and Poker. I have at least 3 video game related books that Ken Uston wrote.

[+cvga]

I don't have too much left to share but JayAre's Ice Hockey poster reminded me that I have a couple of them framed. I need to hang them but I'm out of wall space in my gameroom.

 

[Rogerpoco]

Nothing particular to add, I just wanted to mention that I was drooling pretty much the entire time I was reading through this thread.

 

Good Stuff, all, friggin wowsers!!!

[JayAre]

18 minutes ago, cvga said:

Wow. This thread continues to amaze. I wonder if Ken Uston was there as a writer or because of his license with Coleco. Colecovision was released in 1982 and shortly after they released Ken Uston Blackjack and Poker. I have at least 3 video game related books that Ken Uston wrote.

CVGA, thanks for the cool info. on Ken Uston.

 

14 minutes ago, cvga said:

I don't have too much left to share but JayAre's Ice Hockey poster reminded me that I have a couple of them framed. I need to hang them but I'm out of wall space in my gameroom.

Awesome posters.  Especially the Stampede one.  AND THAT'S NO BULL!

[+sramirez2008]

37 minutes ago, cvga said:

Wow. This thread continues to amaze.

This!

 

17 minutes ago, JayAre said:

Awesome posters.  Especially the Stampede one.  AND THAT'S NO BULL!

And This! Loving that Stampede poster.?

[+cvga]

1 hour ago, JayAre said:

CVGA, thanks for the cool info. on Ken Uston.

 

Off topic a little but I took a picture of my Ken Uston books. They came as a set...

 

   

 

   

 

 

 

[JayAre]

In keeping with the Pitfall theme...

 

In January of 1983, the Winter CES was held in Las Vegas.  If you visited the Activision booth, you were give a Pitfall Treasure Map.  It was a game you played, using the map and three clues that were given.  The winner received a prize of $1,000.  The map is really cool, and the info. on the back is an entertaining read.  This looks to be a pretty rare item, especially considering that you had to turn in the map to enter the contest.

 

I know this is a long shot, but does anyone know what the three clues were?

 

Here's a link to the Atarimania page where you can get a better look at the map (it's towards the bottom of the webpage):

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-pitfall-pitfall-harry-s-jungle-adventure_13995.html

 

 

[high voltage]

Cool stuff from Activision, to everyone.

 

I only got a nice letter from Activision once telling me I can get the Infocom games for PC/Mac. ( I wrote to them asking if they could release all Activision 2600 games on PC. And later, they did (Activision's Atari 2600 Action Pack))

 

[JayAre]

2 hours ago, JayAre said:

Here's a link to the Atarimania page where you can get a better look at the map (it's towards the bottom of the webpage):

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-pitfall-pitfall-harry-s-jungle-adventure_13995.html

 

Now this is really bizarre.  If you look at the map, you'll notice that there's a bat, a rat, and what appear to be some condors.  Doesn't that sound familiar?  All three of those creatures would later appear in Pitfall II.  But Pitfall II was still more than a year away.  Coincidence?