You know your an atari 2600 collector when...

[Uzumaki]

... when the amount you spend on Atari collection greatly exceeds the GNP of some small countries.

 

... when your collection has its own area code and zip code.

 

... when a museum arranges a tour that passes through your place because your collection is better than the museum's.

 

... when your friends from AA (and DP forum) plans a party at your place so they could drool at your collection.

 

... when you move and you need to rent 2 full size trucks because your collection wouldn't fit one.

[PressureCooker2600]

- when you shiver at someone else even getting near your collection because you're afraid they're going to break something or get their oily fingers all over your carts

 

- when you obsess to much over how CLEAN your collection is and constantly re-alcohol everything and dust everything off

 

- when you spend almost thirty minutes marveling at your collection and get almost teary-eyed

 

- almost busting a nut staring at all your boxed activision and imagic games

 

- when you buy all the commons you find (if they're cheap) because you want them to go to a good home and save them from eternal damnation in a trash bin

[+Wonder007]

- when you have gone crazy to buy the stuff that I have and still be able to afford the mortgage note......

[Uzumaki]

... when you own a high quality microscope so you could verify if the "mint" cart's label is truly mint or if you'd have to pester the seller for refund because of a microscopic ding.

[PressureCooker2600]

- when you constantly re-organize your collection even though its alphabatized and all in correct order

 

- when you constantly re-verify that your FS games are REALLY factory sealed and not reseals

 

- when you can only move around your room by playing hopscotch because your floor is covered with controllers, systems, wires, and games

 

- when the only CLEAN part of your whole room is your collection of games

 

- when spring cleaning comes....that means just to re-organize your collection and forget the rest of the house

[shadow460]

...you know how to make Basic Programming actually do something.

 

...you know without being told that Wizard of Wor and Tac Scan use the right controller port

 

...your wife or girlfriend has ever told you "It's either me or that Atari tonight," and you said "I'll call you tomorrow, then."

 

...you buy a "birthday gift" for your collection every year

 

...you've made a birthday cake for your collection (score one bonus point if you threw a party)

 

...you've ever brought something rare like The Official Frogger into a store with no intent to sell it and every intent to brag about it (bonus point if it was rarer than Frogger)

 

...you own more than one gate fold box

 

...you've ever slept with your games (10 point bonus if your spouse slept on the couch)

 

...you've ever driven more than 200 miles one way to "check a store out" for rare games

 

...you've ever been pulled over for reading a 2600 game manual while driving (bonus point if you got a ticket)

 

...you have no idea why anyone would want a Colecovision

 

...you've ever bragged to your wife or girlfriend about completing a company (1 point bonus if it was 20th Century Fox, 10 point bonus if it was Mystique or Playaround)

 

...you've ever spent gas money on a rare game (10 point bonus if you ran out of gas on the way home)

 

...your morning workout is a game of Decathlon

 

...you've ever rigged a device that lets you shoot faster in Asteroids

 

...you bought another copy of any Starpath game because the cassette had a larger window than yours

 

...you don't understand why anyone would own a Sears game

 

...you don't understand why anyone would own an Atari game when there's a Sears version

 

...you refuse to own a game because that particular kind of label is ugly

[PressureCooker2600]

does it count if you sleep in the room with your games......

[Uzumaki]

... when the room storing your collection is the BIGGEST room in your house.

 

... when you need another room to store just the label variations

[homerwannabee]

When you can scan an Ebay auction of over 200 carts in less than a minute knowing the aproximate rarity of every single game.

[TimsterAA]

LOL - these are friggin' great - I see myself (and laugh hysterically) in way too many of these descriptions! Sorry to revive this somewhat old thread - but I had a couple more to add:

 

- you don't have a bookmark in your browser for AtariAge's homepage, but rather separate ones directly to the 2600 games page, the 2600 forum, etc...

 

- you want so badly to ask a question in the forums about an existing auction, but keep holding yourself back to prevent someone with deeper pockets at AA from potentially bidding against you.

 

- You continue to bid on and win auctions with countless duplicates to get a handful of carts you need, repeatedly assuring yourself you'll sell/trade off the dupes, while an ever-growing collection of boxed dupes keeps building in the corner(s) of your collection room.

 

- You rationalize buying youth-oriented games by reminding yourself "Hey - the kids/grandkids will enjoy them one day!"

 

- You play a simplistic java/flash based game on a website and think "Damn - this would be awesome on the Atari!"

 

- You've given serious consideration to figuring out a way to come up with an adapter to hook your CX-40 up to your modded next gen system so when you play games on the 2600-emulator, you can feel like you're playing "FOR REAL"!!!

 

- When playing these emulated games on your next gen system hooked up to your 65" WS HDTV, you actually think it's COOL that PacMan is the size of an orange and pixels have now become postage-stamp size!

 

(More to come - that's what I could come up with for now... Let's keep this one going. It's sad and fun all at the same time!!! )

 

--Timster--

[Chris-in-NJ]

...when you brag to co-workers that you still have your original paddles from 1979 and they still work

 

...when you spend $100+ for games for systems that haven't been made for decades and think $40 for one PSP game is too expensive

 

...when you know you'll have to really ram those third-party games into the cartridge slot on your 7800 to make them play

 

...when you feel proud never to have owned an X-Box, PlayStation 1, 2 or 3, or any piece of hardware to have been made by Nintendo

[Omegamatrix]

...when you spend $100+ for games for systems that haven't been made for decades and think $40 for one PSP game is too expensive

 

 

 

Too true...

[rheffera]

lol..so funny.

[ewing92]

AA should really sell boxers in the AA store that says these things, like the "you know your a redneck if..." boxers that i see at wal-mart, they could make a killing, i know everyone on here would buy one

[darthkur]

- When playing these emulated games on your next gen system hooked up to your 65" WS HDTV, you actually think it's COOL that PacMan is the size of an orange and pixels have now become postage-stamp size!

 

 

 

For some reason I find the image of Pac-Man being the size of an orange extremely hilarious.

[Shawn]

$20 on eBay for lot of 30 ET carts...

 

OR

 

$30 for a nice homebrewn game at AA store?

 

... buy em on eBay, sell the cart case to AA store for recycling, get free game instead.

 

AA does not take silver lables

 

 

Nope but I do

[Jess Ragan]

When your car has a bumper sticker on it that says "Will Chase The Chuckwagon," then you trade your car FOR a copy of Chase The Chuckwagon, you might be a redneck. Er, Atari collector.

 

JR

[krypton85]

When you put a low bid into a BIN auction, just so someone can't get that R10 for $50...

 

When you dream about finding a hoard of unreleased games in the trash somewhere...

 

When you spend 4 hours trying to find the correct size plastic bags that have the white block on them so you can write down your label variation on the bag...

 

When you cross your fingers hoping that the R10 you just bid on is NTSC...

 

When you can spot wires coming out of a box as you're driving past a garage sale and _KNOW_ that it's an atari...

 

When you rip open any double that you have that feels heavier than the other one just to see if someone snuck in a prototype into a production case...

 

When you drop the bomb right before the extra guy in Kaboom and turn to your friends and say "I meant that"...

 

When you buy a game you already have just to upgrade the label...

 

When you dream of finding an ultra rare xonox quadruple ender that is shaped like a cross and you hang it above your bed...

 

When you post to the AA forums stating that "Someone should start a "you know your an atari noob when..." thread"...

[krypton85]

When you smoke everywhere in your house except your game room...

[Dragnerok X]

When you smoke everywhere in your house except your game room...

 

...and fill your Atari with some Armor All and dead roaches to cover up the smell.

 

*bonus points if you got the joke.

Edited March 27, 2007 by Dragnerok X

[Cassidy Nolen]

When you buy cheaper tires for a season because you spent all your money on a Quadrun box.....

 

When you think Joe Cody's Atari market report is THE BEST thing you get in the mail. EVER.

 

When you have a 1500 sq ft. house and one entire level is dedicated to your collection.

 

When you rearrange so that your Atari collection is what you see first when you come down stairs

 

When you go back in emails and correctly capitalize Atari because "atari" drives you nuts

 

When you see ANYTHING 2600 out and around, you get it (I actually found a light sixer box last fall lying on a curbside pile of trash....of course I got it. It had ALL the packing materials inside!).

 

Thats it. All I got today..

 

C

[TimsterAA]

For some reason I find the image of Pac-Man being the size of an orange extremely hilarious.

 

Here 'tis... maybe not an orange per se - more like a tangerine!

 

 

[ATARIPITBULL]

My wife still gets mad if I even spend $7.00 on a controller for my collection that I don't have. But what is funny is that when her friends come over, they want to see my Atari room and some of them have even brought there husbands or friends to see it because they heard I had Atari stuff and they all LOVE IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

 

[chuckwalla]

From past experience...

 

- all of your boxed activision carts are arranged in accordance with the color spectrum

- all of your boxed activision carts are arranged alphabetically

- you get lazy about replacing the PCB of a defective CX-40 joystick and feel guilty as sin for breaking open a new CX-40 joystick

- feeling guilty for even THINKING about trashing a ripped, wrinkled, stained, and taped-up 2600 game box

- using a flaky Colecovision console just so you can use the 2600 adapter because you don't want to 'strain' one of your mint 6-switchers

- double checking to make sure you don't tear any shrinkwrap off NEW SEALED boxes when you take periodic inventory of your collection (and when the shrinkwrap does tear it puts you in a pissed-off mood for weeks)

 

...too many more to list as well as embarassing