Does anyone know the exact location of Atari Burial gounds?

[Atari Charles]

I am posting this message up to try and find out the exact lacation of the landfill that is filled with millions of ATARI games: ET and PAC-MAN. I do know the landfill is located in Alamogordo, New Mexico. But, the exact location is still a mystery. If anyone knows, email me and I post the exact location with map on: http://worldzone.net/computers/atari2600duds

 

This secret location has been a mystery for too long to not be discovered. There must be someone out there in the know who is willing to give us some inside information.

[incog]

I don't want to start a flamewar... but wasn't this a hoax?

 

I suppose you could use one of those free arial photograph sites and look around Alamogordo, New Mexico for a massive dark patch... then grab your spade

[Atari Charles]

It's funny. Some people think it is a hoax, but it isn't. There really is a pit jammed full of Atari stuff. I am pretty sure some of it is intact as there is no way Atari woudl have time to crush, bury and seal 14 truckloads of Atari items in one night with very poor visability(it's night).

 

We will find it. And once the exact location is known, Atari fans will know about it. I'm in Canada, so it's a bit far for me to travel with a shovel, but there are probably Atari fans out there who live in New Mexico. I'm sure of it.

 

Oh and the picture of E.T. Well, E.T. was a bit of a an evil creature always getting stuck in those pits, so don't help E.T., HELP US!

 

P.S. E.T. is still really ticked off about being locked in that bunker. And of course, he won't tell me where the landfill is.

[CPUWIZ]

A post by the original programmer.

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.p...p=422889#422889

 

[Atari Charles]

I do respect Howard Scott Warshaw's opinion as he made some pretty cool games, but I have to disagree. He is right in the fact Atari was destroying. burying lots of $$ worth of current Atari software, but they had a method to their madness. Basically it was a tax write off for Atari. When a business claims a tax write off on losses they have to prove it. Atari just storing all of these cartridges in a warehouse is not a financial loss is the TAX MAN's eyes has Atari can still potentially sell them, but if Atari destroys their excess product then it becomes a financial loss. Atari can claim a loss on either the saleable value of such items or their cost of manufacturing said items. Atari was still making money or other games and 2600 consoles, so they could use these burid Atari products as a calims under Business Loss.

 

Hopefully my response wasn't too muddled.

 

Also the dissappearnace of ET coincided with the burial of these Atari Cartridges(see my site to know what I am talking about), so there

 

I am really looking forward to my interview with Howard Scott Warshaw(spelling?) late next week. It will hopefully shed some more light on E.T. and the Atari Burial Grounds.

[Atari Charles]

my bad typing skills: doh!

 

Howard Scott Warshaw has a good point in stating that Atari wouldn't destroy so much Atari hardware, except for the fact that Atari could use this destroyed software as a tax write-off(They recouperated some if not all of their invested money in the over production of these carts).

 

I am going to find out more about this theorized Atari Burial Ground for you guys and gals.

 

But, if there is a pilgramage every year, on the anniversary of the burial, to the Atari Burial grounds in New Mexico then that would be a bonus.

 

I can almost picture people with shovels and jackhammers trying to get at the bounty

 

Again I do appreciate all the input on the input on the site. I'll do what I can to improve it and bring you the facts you want to know.

[bjk7382]

I have to agree with HSW and say this is a big hoax. I think anyone willing to go out trying to find it is pretty gullible

[Atari Charles]

I'll try and set this issue to rest one way or the other. It is possible that this could be a hoax, but what if it isn't. I think it is possible and probable. I don't know if Atari would have had the crew pour cement over the landfill site though. I'll present the evidence and info that I find out, and then offer my own opinion., You can deduce your own opinions from the date, etc.

[SteveW]

I thought they steamrolled the carts, then dumped concrete on top to keep looters away. That's the story i've always heard.

[Cootster]

They were never buried. The carts (which were actually several different titles, not just E. T.) were sold to someone in Colorado Springs, Colorado on the sly. However, that person, who we shall call "Snoopy" to avoid revealing their name, hasn't been much more forthcoming than that.

 

Yes, this is how Beagle Bros. got the empty genuine Atari parts necessary to pirate almost the entire 2600 library to date . . .

 

And, there are no E. T. Beagles because he sold them as is . . .

[Fellow Atari Man]

Does anyone know the exact location of Atari Burial gounds?

 

Yeah, they're right next to Jimmy Hoffa

[IBP]

I can predict where my burial ground will be when MrsIBP finds out I just spent another £25 on atari carts.

[shep]

would you really wanna dig those carts up though?

[CincYnoTi]

if atari did use this as a tax write-off, it should be noted in their financial documents for 1983. anyone have access to fiscal reports for atari for 1982 and 1983 for comparison?

[+Nathan Strum]

I've always thought the ET landfill was a great tale from the days of the video game crash, but I don't know if I believe it or not. I could see them dumping them into an existing landfill, but I don't know why they'd do that. If there was any money to be made in selling them (for resale or recycling the parts), it would be cheaper to do that than paying to have them buried, and Atari was bleeding money at the time.

 

Another Atari legend (which I really doubt) is where 500 I, Robot machines were shipped off to Japan, and supposedly dumped overboard halfway across the Pacific because Atari couldn't sell them (I can't find the link for that page now).

 

Either one would be an interesting candidate for shows like Mythbusters.

[Inky]

Whoever had the idea for an adventure game with the goal of finding the ET Landfill had a great idea. I see it as sort of a Fallout type game.

[Spud]

Hi everyone, I found this thread, and wanted to clear up a little that I know about it. I used to live in Alamogordo for a couple of years (about 4 years back), I learned about the landfill after I moved away but on a visit back there I went to the landfill. It is 100% true that it did happen, they were steamrolled and buried from what I heard or read in the Alamogordo paper (there are pics, that I will try to scan them once I get another scanner I have bad copies from the library) they came back and cemented it after local kids dug up some carts and were trying to sell them to the local stores, (I guess some did survive the steam roller) I had spoken to a man that worked at the landfill by email who was very helpful, I wish I could remeber his name now, I'll do a google search maybe I posted it once) he said that he wasn't with the company that long ago but he had heard about it from other workers, and the big question was, was the burial at the city or the county landfill. One of them I forget which was which, I think it was the city landfill was at the location of the old Wal-mart, not the new supercenter they have now. Last time I was there it's vacant buildings. all fenced off. I went to the current landfill (county?) and asked some guys working there, they said it was this landfill and pointed over to an area of about 20 acres or so. The irony of this story is if this was the burial place where they pointed, they just finished a 6 or so lane by-pass right through that area. a couple years ago. The guys I spoke with were like 30 years old so they weren't working there but maybe remeber it from childhood, I didn't get much time to ask them more they were busy with customers. If I ever get back out there I'll try again to learn more, but it may be a year or better before that happens.

[+Random Terrain]

There's also this page at Snopes on the subject:

 

http://www.snopes.com/business/market/atari.asp

 

In this case the rumor was accurate, although it wasn't the first time Atari had destroyed cartridges, nor was E.T. the only game dumped in New Mexico. (Rumor had it that Atari's Borregas Street warehouse sat atop crushed and buried game cartridges as well.) Some other video game manufacturers attempted to rid themselves of excess inventory by selling it at sharply reduced prices, but Atari, stuck with millions of games and consoles that were largely unsellable at any price, sent fourteen truckloads of merchandise from their plant in El Paso, Texas, to be dumped in a city landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico in late September 1983. In order to keep the site from being looted, steamrollers crushed and flattened the games, and a concrete slab was poured over the remains.

[Kenwood]

Put Geraldo on the case....

[Spud]

I did some searching and located my old post with the email reply from the landfill director in Alamogodo, the landfill that is currently open is the city landfill and it opened in 1994. So maybe that wal-mart theory is the right one. If I can find my copies of the newspaper stories maybe I can track down the reporter and get an answer.

[mos6507]

They were never buried.  The carts (which were actually several different titles, not just E. T.) were sold to someone in Colorado Springs, Colorado on the sly.  However, that person, who we shall call "Snoopy" to avoid revealing their name, hasn't been much more forthcoming than that.

 

Yes, this is how Beagle Bros. got the empty genuine Atari parts necessary to pirate almost the entire 2600 library to date . . .

 

And, there are no E. T. Beagles because he sold them as is . . .

 

Do do you have anything besides circumstantial evidence to back this up?

[mos6507]

I've always thought the ET landfill was a great tale from the days of the video game crash, but I don't know if I believe it or not. I could see them dumping them into an existing landfill, but I don't know why they'd do that. If there was any money to be made in selling them (for resale or recycling the parts), it would be cheaper to do that than paying to have them buried, and Atari was bleeding money at the time.

 

Another Atari legend (which I really doubt) is where 500 I, Robot machines were shipped off to Japan, and supposedly dumped overboard halfway across the Pacific because Atari couldn't sell them (I can't find the link for that page now).

 

Either one would be an interesting candidate for shows like Mythbusters.

 

 

 

I also heard a landfill story about the wonderful but unreleased Atari 1400 series machines (1400XL, 1450XLD).

 

According to legend, these were crushed also, but in this case some of the engineers who helped to make them were there. Supposedly a few of these people risked life and limb to run into the pit last minute, grabbed some of these boards, and ran off with them.

 

In fact this might be the main source of 1400 boards that were put into trading circles. These may not have been true protos but were from a 1st run of mass-produced boards that never got their cases built. I have one board that is from that series, although it's not 100% mint anymore (I burned out the 300 baud modem daughtercard trying to hook it up to the wrong power supply to it).

[Crimefighter]

I'm wondering what the legality is for going into a landfill site and digging up stuff....

[Nukey Shay]

Trespassing, destruction of city property at least. Digging though all that concrete hoping that you picked a spot that contains flattened equipment would also be no fun chore.

[Nukey Shay]

if atari did use this as a tax write-off, it should be noted in their financial documents for 1983.  anyone have access to fiscal reports for atari for 1982 and 1983 for comparison?

 

Not a tax write-off...but a write-off from inventory. They aren't making money by not selling them...they are preventing dead inventory from costing them more. The figures would appear in the year-end inventory summary given to the shareholders.