Vic-20 experts, what was so rare in this ebay lot?

[zemmix]

I sold my lot of random loose vic-20 carts I had picked up over the years on ebay. 26 carts in total ended at $78! I wasn't even expecting to get $20 to be honest since they're Vic-20 games. Was there something in the lot thats pretty rare?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=220205836467

Here's the list:


Avenger Vic-1901
Slot Vic-1904
Road Race Vic-1909
The Sky is Falling Vic-1911
Mole Attack Vic-1912
Raid on Fort Knox Vic-1913
Voodoo Castle Vic-1918
Pin Ball Vic-1920
Gorf Vic-1923
Omega Race Vic-1924
Clowns Vic-1931
Speed math / Bingo Math Vic-1933

8k Ram Cartridge Vic-1110
16k Ram Cartridge Vic-1111
Super Expander w/ 3k Ram Cartridge Vic-1211A
Machine Language Monitor Cartridge Vic-1213

Atarisoft:

Jungle Hunt
Pac Man
Defender
Battlezone
Donkey Kong
Robotron: 2084

Independents:

Atlantis - Imagic
Bandits - Sirius
Choplifter - Creative Software
Protector - HES

[OldSchoolGamer]

First of all Congrats! Of course maybe you just got lucky? Hell as it's
been said "It's only worth what someone is willing to pay!"
I am no expert and can't give you a real answer as to rarity etc, BUT on
the other hand considering the age of the Vic20 platform I guess all
the carts are getting somewhat rare? Who knows, posted another time you might of only gotten $20,
it was a nice collection and decent looking shape so maybe someone with deep pockets who is just eager
to start off a good VIC20 cart collection just figured screw it...................

[Mayhem]

I share your curiousity... Robotron can be tricky to find (especially complete) and Bandits and Protector are uncommon. But indeed, there is nothing rare or extremely valuable in that bundle. Guess you got two fighting bidders!

[Ed Oscuro]

That comes to about $3/game...these aren't really easy to find, even if they aren't all that popular with mainstream collectors. Hell, I'd pay $3 for a VIC-20 cart in the wild because I've never seen one out there.

[PapaStu]

Moving to what's it worth

**Swhoosh!!!**

[Buyatari]

I almost never see vic-20 games in the wild. I've never had one Vic-20 game traded into my store. I think the big lot attracted buyers. They rather buy them in a lot than one at a time. $3 a game isn't too crazy for people who just want to play those old games again.

If all else fails ask the buyer.

[Nitrosport]

Some people are to impatient to collect piece by piece. They prefer to spend a little more and get multiple carts at once. I've done that a few times but only to a certain extent.

[zektor]

I collected the Vic for a long while, and have been a fan since it's release :) I can say that nothing there is rare, but I do notice that the Atarisoft titles sold in groups like that tend to drive the price up. Even still, that is a fraction of the price that they were all together new :)

[swlovinist]

That lot has some good plays. Heck, although the Donkey Kong cart looks graphically bad, it has all four levels and is very playable. I would vouch for the atarisoft lot.

[zemmix]

I guess if you think about it as $3 per cart thats not so bad afterall. I just didn't think there was this much of a following still for the Vic.

[zektor]

I guess if you think about it as $3 per cart thats not so bad afterall. I just didn't think there was this much of a following still for the Vic.

It's a great system to collect for. There aren't THAT many collectors (certainly not as many as say NES), but there is most certainly a following. You can get a good collection going for much less than you would pay collecting some other systems, and the games for the most part are really good! The Vic-20 was my very first home computer, and still my favorite next to the C64. There was also a rip off of Pac-Man called "Jelly Monsters" by Commodore, which actually commands some cash when it is up for sale. It never came over to the USA because of a legal dispute of course. Great game...one of the better Pac-Man ports :)

[Mayhem]

There was also a rip off of Pac-Man called "Jelly Monsters" by Commodore, which actually commands some cash when it is up for sale. It never came over to the USA because of a legal dispute of course. Great game...one of the better Pac-Man ports :)

This should be clarified in the next guide... actually it might already be present in the current online version. Jelly Monsters IS Pac-man. Confused? Commodore had the license to convert Pac-man (along with Galaxian and Rally-X) but only in Japan. Original Japanese cartridges of all three games have been discovered with their proper labels.

But once they tried to release them outside Japan, things came unstuck despite the name changes. Bally threatened action against Star Battle but managed to ignore Radar Rat Race which had its graphics altered. To appease Bally, looks like Commodore struck their conversion deal for other coin-ops.

However Atari went the whole hog and actually went to court. The difference being that while Bally had the arcade rights to Pac-man in the West, Atari had the home rights. So it was their call. Strange that the action took place in the UK though...

For the record, Jelly Monsters is no longer the rare and valuable cart people once though it was. It turns up quite often, usually in the UK, so evidently it must have sold quite a bit.