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atari 2600 beagle brothers cart on ebay...real?


CincYnoTi

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I have no problem adding a line that says rarity is not necessarily an indicator of value, and that a cart is only worth what someone is will to pay. I don't know if that will really make a difference, but it won't hurt anything.

 

One thing such a disclaimer will do is give AtariAge some ammunition against arguments that its ratings are responsible for inflated prices. If someone complains, you can point to the disclaimer and say, "See... we warned you not to judge the value of a cartridge based solely on our rarity ratings."

 

For people that overpay without knowing what they're buying, I don't have a whole lot of sympathy. There is only so far we can hold someone's hand. If anyone reads just a small bit of information regarding BB carts, they will see exactly what we know about them and they will be able to make an informed purchase.

 

I agree. I read everything AA says about the Beagle Brothers carts shortly after I started visiting the site, and based upon that, I made my own decision that I had no interest in ever acquiring any of them.

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One thing such a disclaimer <i>will</i> do is give AtariAge some ammunition against arguments that its ratings are responsible for inflated prices. If someone complains, you can point to the disclaimer and say, "See... we warned you not to judge the value of a cartridge based solely on our rarity ratings."

 

Fair enough. Never hurts to CYA.

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if i'm missing something can someone point it out to me... why do you think these people bid on this game ONLY because atariage had it listed as a "10"?

 

i know a few people that was interested in the cart and NOT because it's listed as a "10" on atariage!! personally i was a little interested in it! and i did not even know atariage had it on their rarity guide... (never check it) i have my own guide....

 

Take care,

 

Rick

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why do you think these people bid on this game ONLY because atariage had it listed as a "10"?

 

...

 

i know a few people that was interested in the cart and NOT because it's listed as a "10" on atariage!!

I should be a bit clearer... I don't necessarily think that the ONLY reason people were interested was because of the AtariAge guide. But I DO think the AtariAge guide's "10" rating was at least PARTIALLY what inspired the bids running up to $225. (Especially since the buyer has recently become an AtariAge member and has apparently been reading a lot of this information.)

 

But Rick, let me ask you... are you as interested in this particular auction now that we've fairly decisively identified the cartridge as a fake?

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This thread is amazing. I've been interested in the BB carts since I started visiting this site last summer. Do I think they're fakes? I do and I don't.

 

For instance, if they are indeed legit, where would you buy them? The $1 only stores? Since they say "Cartridge Club" on them, I believe they were intended to be some sort of mail order company, like those video or CD clubs. I simply cannot see a cart with a statement proclaiming "Cartridge Club" to be from anywhere else. Maybe they're from one of those bulk stores, like Sam's Club. Perhaps a small time software store? At least, these are the impressions I get, and I'm far from expert.

 

But, if they're pirates, which evidence seems to indicate, why so few? Someone wouldn't just create 3 copies just to make a few extra dollars. Wouldn't they make one big batch? It's possible the real Beagle Bros. discovered the scam and put a stop to this, but wouldn't there be some info on the incident? Indeed, getting info from an ex-employee does seem to support that they are pirates, but he worked there in the late-80's , when nobody cared about Atari anymore, perhaps Beagle Bros. did briefly attempt to branch out into 2600 distribution in the early 80's. It's also possible these were victims of the crash. I'm not seeing a date on any of these carts, so who can say when they were "released"?

 

Also, is it possible this could be a scam, like the Pitfall 3 proto? Just something to get Atari collectors excited? When were these carts found? Anyone know who found them? Is this the only person?

 

At any rate, the one on ebay is definitely a fake.

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It's possible the real Beagle Bros. discovered the scam and put a stop to this, but wouldn't there be some info on the incident? Indeed, getting info from an ex-employee does seem to support that they are pirates, but he worked there in the late-80's , when nobody cared about Atari anymore, perhaps Beagle Bros. did briefly attempt to branch out into 2600 distribution in the early 80's. It's also possible these were victims of the crash.

 

Well, since I've been checking this site daily for a week anyway, I thought I would register.

 

As you may recall, I am one of those ex-Beagle Bros employees who Alex contacted about all this. Though I was only there since the late 80's, I am a game collector (2600, Vectrex, and many full-size upright arcade games), and I'm quite certain that if there was any truth into Beagle Bros making 2600 carts, I would have heard about it.

 

Despite this, there are a few things that any objective person can consider that should indicate that Beagle Bros proper had nothing to do with these carts.

 

1. You will never find anything from Beagle Bros that says "Beagle Brothers." Ever. How is it actually written? Well, just look at how I do it an any of my posts. Do a search on Google in the newsgroups and see any any Beagle employee has done it for more than a decade.

 

2. Why would a professional software company, complete with programmers, not actually use any of those programmers and instead just relabel existing games?

 

3. Beagle Bros duplicated all their own disks in house. We had our own custom disk jackets (which were quite humorous) and disk labels. There were literally just rolls and rolls of "blank" labels with nothing but the Beagle Bros logo on them too, and I even have a few rolls myself. So, with that said, why would a company with its own logo-ed blank labels, and the ability to make their own professional-looking labels at any time, use what are so obviously homemade-looking labels in a font that was never used before and never used since in Beagle's history?

 

There are only a few people in the world that have collected the entire Beagle Bros software library on original media. I am one of them. If there were any more for the 2600, an platform that I contually use along with my Apple II (and both of the same vintage, I may add), I would want them myself.

 

That said, I have no desire to own any "Beagle Brothers" cartridge which I know to be a fake.

 

Virtually,

Warren Ernst

former Beagle Bros tech support,

Contributing Editor, PC Magazine

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Warren,

How may Beagle Bros carts (2600) do you have?  Do you only know of a couple that were made?

Jim

 

Jim,

 

The whole point of that little speech of mine was that there are NO real Beagle Bros cartridges as far as I'm concerned. "Real" in the sense that they came from Beagle Bros, the Apple II software company, that is. Therefore, not only do I not have any, I have no desire to bid for any on Ebay, regardless of their source.

 

That's not to say that there aren't a handful of very old carts from the "Beagle Brothers Cartidge Club," or that some schmuck apparently attempted to forge one of these rare and old carts for make a killing from collectors. After all, the cartridges exist.

 

I am just stating that there are some sensible reasons to conclude that Beagle Bros proper never made Atari carts, and that some goof-offs using the "Beagle Brothers" did instead.

 

People should feel free to covet these things because they are rare and tell an interesting story about pirates and the early industry. That's reason enough.

 

All I'm saying is that there are good reasons to believe that Beagle Bros never "tried to branch out into the 2600 cart business." I believe these reasons so strongly that I have no interest in trying to get some of these carts even though I have the entire "Beagle Bros" library of Apple II and Mac software myself.

 

-Warr

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I am the one that won the Beagle Brothers auction. I appreciate the information people emailed me to alert of a possible situation.

 

As of now, I have not yet bought the game because I share the concerns that it could be fake. The seller has been very cooperative and that he may have the orginal receipt and packing slip. I will wait to see if any further documents pictures can be produced.

 

If it turns out to fake and despite questions about the sellers past auctions mentioned in this post, I have reason to believe that the seller was not aware of this because of some information that I have about the game prior to purchase and also that the seller has been very understanding under the given circumstances not like some of the others that have been on Ebay.

 

 

 

I hope it turns out to be authentic pirate Beagle Bros. Cart like the others scanned on this website but right now the evidence does point to the game as being a homeade fake.

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NO but it is like value you see and it shouldn't be changed or anything, it's the same as any other frade theres really nothing you oculd do about it but catch it like this time

 

I'd like to say that was great sluthing guys you are promeomted form jr. sluth to gumshoe good job

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Warren,

 

Sorry If I sounded like I was tyring to prove you were wrong or anything, just voicing some opinions. I apologize if it came off like that. With that said, you gave excellent advice, I now believe that Beagle Bros. had nothing to do with them all (not that I believed that a whole lot in the first place). The point about "Beagle Brothers" and "Beagle Bros." made sense, so that leads me to believe that someone took the name of a well known software publisher, changed it a little to avoid lawsuit, and hoped to attract attention to it with the name, which was similar enough to be "Beagle Bros.", yet it wasn't.

 

I still wonder why there are so few, though. Other pirate carts are at least in some kind of quantity.

 

You've got to wonder what these carts came in (if they came in anything at all). A plain white cardboard box? A rip-off of the Atari box? Very mysterious stuff here.

 

I still hold to my scam, theory, though. Does anyone know when these carts were found?

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I don't think these carts are that mysterious at all.. and I think we're making the story much more complicated than it need be.

 

My bet is that they're just the work of some guy in his garage circa 1983 or 1984 who was just making his own home made pirates. He probably sold them at a flea market somewhere.. and since it was only one guy doing it, it explains why there are so few out there. He might have only made a few dozen, so it's not surprising that there may be only a couple of each game currently floating around.

 

KA

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No.....The mystery is just starting.

 

Yesterday, Alex and Albert came to my house

and I lent them my copy of BB Basketball.

Alex scanned it in about a year or two ago

for the board.

 

I believe that Albert or Alex is going to

put some new pictures of it on line...

 

Albert/Alex?

 

We decided that my copy is a legit release:

 

1. It's too light to have an e-prom

2. It has a real production label

3. The one for auction is obviously a copy.

 

I think I have the only Basketball

found, to this date.

 

Every cart has a story, so here's a short one about

the hunt and the find:

 

I found it at a Goodwill close to Colorado Springs.

(45 minutes away). I walk though the whole store

and it was empty not a cart in sight. Then I saw

a small wicker basket on the shelf in the electronic

section. Guess what was in it? The BB Basketball cart.

The only cart in the store.

 

I didn't think anything of it, until I got back in San Antonio.

That's when I talked to Alex and he came down to

use my scanner. At the time I thought that I had the

only BB cart.

 

I guess Alex or Albert can give more insight on this cart.

 

Cheers,

Smitty

 

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Not to veer off subject or anything but... *cough*

 

wernst: do you happen to know where, (or if available) the old Beagle Bros 'tips and tricks' sheet they used to give out could be found. I'm not sure if that's the name but I remember they were usually a folded sheet with print on the front and back and had AppleII tidbits and tip on there. If there are scans of them on the web somewhere that would be awesome! :)

 

I used to LOVE those things for all the nifty little Peeks and Pokes they'd show for use on the Apple II.. :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just thought everyone would like to know that I have not received any additional emails or any proof that this was legit. Supposedly there was an original receipt and packing list for which I would receive a picture.

 

Bottom line...

 

No emails, no pictures, no packing slip, no receipt.

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