CX-26100 (and Atari model numbers in general)

[Room 34]

I got onto a tangent about Atari's game model numbers with liquid_sky in another thread, and it got me thinking about this.

 

I've tried to gather a list of all of the 2600 cartridge model numbers, and although the list breaks down by the 170s, it seems pretty full straight up into at least the 130s... except for CX-26100.

 

Does anyone know why CX-26100 was never used? (Or was it used, and I just don't know about it?)

 

Also, does anybody have any thoughts on what Atari was intending with the early game numbers? It appears to me they were creating series for the games...

 

00s - action/battle

10s - racing

20s - sports

30s - ???

40s - strategy/skill

50s - casino

60s - learning

 

Obviously before long this broke down and they just started filling in numbers.

 

To sum up, my two questions:

 

1. What of CX-26100?

 

2. Does anyone have any "hard facts" on Atari's initial game numbering strategy?

[liquid_sky]

ive never known about how the numbers work.. but your theory works well with the origional production run.. the 30's are all different kinds of games.. space invaders, night driver, golf, video checkers... im not sure at all about it.. nor am i for sure about the 26100, maybe someoen out there knows..

[Room 34]

It seems like at first they didn't use the 00 numbers. The first 9 games:

 

01 Combat

02 Air-Sea Battle

03 Star Ship

11 Indy 500

12 Street Racer

21 Video Olympics

41 Surround

51 Blackjack

61 Basic Math

 

I was looking at these, plus some of the other early games that came after these first ones, and for a SHORT time the pattern was maintained. The first game in the 30s was Superman (CX-2631) so it seemed like the 30s were going to be adventure games. But that was about the time the whole thing started to break down.

 

Now the big question: Am I a big dork for being interested in this or are there other people out there who find this fascinating, primarily because it's a glimpse of something that "might have been"?

 

In other words, I think Atari had a big strategy in mind for its library of games, but then marketing and/or management stepped in and started floundering. I guess it is my own bitterness at witnessing the stupidity around me at jobs I've had with large corporations that makes Atari an interesting case study for me.

[cx2k]

quote:

---

Originally posted by room34:

I got onto a tangent about Atari's game model numbers with liquid_sky in another thread, and it got me thinking about this.

 

I've tried to gather a list of all of the 2600 cartridge model numbers, and although the list breaks down by the 170s, it seems pretty full straight up into at least the 130s... except for CX-26100.

 

Does anyone know why CX-26100 was never used? (Or was it used, and I just don't know about it?)

---

 

Atari's complete part number master list for 2600, 5200, 7800, and XL/XE will be included in the new edition of the Digital Press Collector's Guide.

 

The 2600 list is complete up through 26195 (Rampage) although I'm not sure why they skipped 26100 (maybe they wanted a separation point?). Actually, I think atari2600.com used 26100 for Bugs Bunny so now there's no missing number.

 

John