Atari Carts... how do you tell if they're fake?

[AB Positive]

I just completed a trade where i sent in addition to other items, a double ended Xonox cart that was labeled "Artillery Duel/Spike's Peak" that turns out to be a relabeled-reboarded "Ghost Manor/Spike's Peak", a much less rare cart.

How does one tell if a cart is legit or not? I tested both ends and found both games as labeled so I have no clue how both me and the person I traded it to got scammed. I feel bad about it since I didn't have a clue.


Any hints so I can avoid this in the future?

-AG

[Steve Woita]

Hi,

On game carts that you can open & check the PC board, you can look for funky inconsistant soldering. If it doesn't look like all of the solder joints that hold the IC/ROM(s) to the board are consistant, IE: Blobs of solder or just looks like it's been hand solder-ed, then you may have a bogus cart.

Hope that helps.

Steve Woita 8-)