jlew715 Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 Hey folks, Stumbled across a post on Reddit about an unidentified game in the 1981 Atari catalog. The game in question is the pink/magenta box to the right of Dodge ‘Em on the bottom row on the left. Redditor /u/HKT-3020 skewed the image from a higher resolution source giving us this image. The layout of the art is similar to Slot Racer, with an arc in the bottom left and some sort of sphere or orb in the upper left, but definitely not Slot Racer. The letters themselves are impossible to read but it almost looks like a hyphenated title. Does anyone have any ideas? I checked the box scans for all the games in the catalog and nothing matches up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirlynxalot Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 Jeez I'm squinting at it but it's so hard to make out any details. For the title, I can sort of imagine that I'm seeing any of the following (in order from most to less serious): HOT-ICE HOHO! ICEHO ICK-ICK Lol-lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlew715 Posted October 16, 2022 Author Share Posted October 16, 2022 18 minutes ago, sirlynxalot said: HOT-ICE My initial thought was ICE-ICE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirlynxalot Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 I read through the list of games that atari itself released for the 2600 and none of them looked like any of these. The only one that seemed to be a similar number of letters was Dig Dug, which wasn't even released in arcades in 1981, and in any rate had a very different style of box than this. There's also tic tac toe, but that would be quite an abbreviation on this box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlew715 Posted October 16, 2022 Author Share Posted October 16, 2022 11 minutes ago, sirlynxalot said: I read through the list of games that atari itself released for the 2600 and none of them looked like any of these. Agreed, my best guess is that it’s an unreleased game, or a game that got released with different box art and/or title. Another possibility is that it’s a made-up box to fill space in the image, but unlikely because they had 49 games at this point and there are only ~40 in the image. I also though of Tic-Tac-Toe but it’s in the upper left corner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 Ack-Ack? That was a game on a handful of computers around that time, and would be on par with the VCS in terms of graphics etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirlynxalot Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 Now also can imagine seeing HOT-BOX and HOT-ROD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlew715 Posted October 17, 2022 Author Share Posted October 17, 2022 33 minutes ago, sirlynxalot said: Now also can imagine seeing HOT-BOX and HOT-ROD I like Hot Rod, could make sense if the arc in the box art is a roadway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bcombee Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 Hot Rox was a prototype name for Demons to Diamonds, IIRC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, bcombee said: Hot Rox was a prototype name for Demons to Diamonds, IIRC. That's correct. It's Demons to Diamonds, allright. Every once in a while this 'mystery' pops up. Edited October 17, 2022 by Rom Hunter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayAre Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 (edited) I scanned the image on the highest resolution that my scanner could muster, and I also tweaked the color and adjusted the sharpness. This is what I came up with. I don't know if it's any clearer than what you guys are seeing, but here it is, in case it helps. You can click on the pic, and it'll zoom in a bit. I also noticed that the number of game variations is not indicated; perhaps because it was an unreleased game, as some of you have suggested. Edited October 17, 2022 by JayAre 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techy2600 Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 Thank you! The OP on reddit here, I was very confused about this, It seems that the Atari catalogs were inconsistent on box art before games were released. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkarner Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 An unreleased Hockey? The box art could be two hockey players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 These photos I took on both my Catalogs from 45 Games and 49 Games as closes I could get 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 Also yes according to the Art Of Atari book on one page Demons To Diamonds they did say it was originally title Hot Rox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 Trying to see how the Hammer texts would look on the box and trying to match the color I also added a space line in the middle of the title as I think there's one on the blur photo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 I removed the line also found more info on Hot Rox as a Atari 2600 VCS catalog - Atari Canada - 1981 as talk about Hot Rox coming soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 As I said, this 'mystery' has been solved several times in the past: Atari simply changed the game's title at the last moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibstov Posted October 19, 2022 Share Posted October 19, 2022 On 10/16/2022 at 7:27 PM, jlew715 said: My initial thought was ICE-ICE Stop. Collaborate. And listen. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted October 19, 2022 Share Posted October 19, 2022 This thread isn't complete, because I don't see a picture of Roxanne, the inspiration for the game title. 🤪 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roots.genoa Posted October 19, 2022 Share Posted October 19, 2022 On 10/17/2022 at 8:35 AM, JayAre said: I scanned the image on the highest resolution that my scanner could muster, and I also tweaked the color and adjusted the sharpness. This is what I came up with. I don't know if it's any clearer than what you guys are seeing, but here it is, in case it helps. You can click on the pic, and it'll zoom in a bit. I also noticed that the number of game variations is not indicated; perhaps because it was an unreleased game, as some of you have suggested. On this picture it's ACK-ACK to me, but not on the one from the OP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4ever2600 Posted October 21, 2022 Share Posted October 21, 2022 I see HOT ICE every way I look at it. I also see what looks like some Shrek looking creature and a Frosty the Snowman looking thing. Just my 2 cents. I believe everything said here about Hot Rox, but completely don't believe that what this box says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electric-Dreams Posted October 22, 2022 Share Posted October 22, 2022 Well, sorry, but something is still wrong here. Even if the pic is very blurry, there is no way that "Hot Rox" or "Hot-Rox" is written on the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted October 22, 2022 Share Posted October 22, 2022 I think that sometimes our eyes see what they want us to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted October 22, 2022 Share Posted October 22, 2022 Gotta be HOT ROX 🔥 Just makes the most sense.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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