A Curiosity from B & C

LynxHandyCaster · February 4, 2021

I discovered an interesting item when I made a purchase from B & C ComputerVisions (via their eBay store) earlier this week.

I purchased two NIB Lynx games that I didn't already have: DinoLympics and Pac-Land. Both arrived very quickly, having completed the purchase on 1/29/21 and receiving them on 2/1/21, a mere three days later.

I opened both sealed cartons up. DinoLympics was as I expected, with a loose manual, loose cartridge and loose warrantee card inside as usual. But when I opened the Pac-Land carton, everything inside (cartridge, instruction poster, and warrantee card) had been shrink wrapped into a single plastic packet (see pics attached). Not something I had seen before. And what's more, on the outside of the shrink-wrapped packet was a purple Software, Etc. price sticker ($34.99). I was amazed, and at first, a little worried. Was this a returned or damaged game that Software, Etc. had sent back to Atari that then somehow ended up being boxed up by Atari back in the day (sorry, Ferg)? No, that wasn't the case; when I opened up the packet, the instruction poster was mint (although folded in a different manner than other Lynx posters I've pulled from NIB cartons). And when I plugged the Pac-Land cart into my Lynx, it worked and played fine.

I've since been in contact with Bruce at B & C ComputerVisions about this curiosity and he is unsure how it happened. He did state that his company had purchased 20 pallets of Lynx games from Atari and that perhaps the packet from Software, Etc. somehow ended up back in Atari's inventory and then got lost/repackaged in the frenzy of Atari shutting down.

The most curious thing about this, at least to me, is why would Software, Etc. be selling a Lynx game in this way? I can understand that they may have put the game on clearance, but that's not a clearance price; $34.99 was likely the price for the game at its release.

The only other explanation I can think of is that perhaps the carton of one of the copies of Pac-Land from the stock at Software, Etc. had gotten damaged, and rather than sending it back to Atari (Atari may indeed not have been allowing returns of any damaged or unsold product from retailers by that point), Software, Etc. decided to try and sell it as is (but apparently not at a reduced price). Perhaps the packet sat in a basket at the point of sale counter or inside a display case. In any case, the packet somehow ended up back at Atari, and B & C ComputerVisions ended up with it when they bought Atari's liquidated stock. And I have it now.

Are there any former Software, Etc. (or Atari) employees here that can flesh out the details on how or why this could happen? I'd love to know the story of this little packet.

Keep On Lynxing! ?

Edited February 4, 2021 by LynxHandyCaster

4ever2600 · February 4, 2021

Nadda to worry about... decades ago I worked for Software Etc part time and we would do that to all new titles. We would shrink the package contents so they would stay new then shrink the box and display it on the shelf. It was a big anti-theft thing.

Also B&C, great dealer btw, would buy palates of closeouts from stores going under, collections etc.