I have two TRS 80 carts that are identical, why is 1 heavier

[swlovinist]

I have two CoCo carts that are identical. They are two Skiing carts. Both have labels. One has a copyright of 1980, the other of 1981. One is about twice the wieght as the other, and through the case(through a tiny opening), I can see that the green game board of one of them. Through the same opening on the other I cannot. Just curious if anyone knows anything about these, I know that they are often reguarded as the poo of the poo of vintage games. Is one a early release????? What the heck? What do I have? I know at this site, there is some game guru that can answer my off the wall quesitons. Any help on this one?

[sniperCCJVQ]

Any way to open it and look inside ?

[YoshiM]

Which one is heavier, the 1980 or the 1981 cart? I would think that if the 1980 cart was heavier chip technology improved so that it would take less/smaller chips to do put the game onto in 1981.

[christianscott27]

i've noticed that certain older games had a metal shield over the chip, that would be my guess.

[chadtower]

Open it up and look for dead roaches. Or maybe some 20 year old dime bag stash.

[Ed Oscuro]

Open it up and look for dead roaches. Or maybe some 20 year old dime bag stash.
Bump for rupturing my spleen with laughter :)

[RangerG]

I checked my CoCo carts and I also have the now famed "heavy" 1981 Skiing. I have taken CoCo carts apart and I believe this one just has a different/longer board. Skiing is one of the few carts (I believe maybe the only one of the early carts) that actually ran differently depending on if you had 4k or 16k, so this unique function may have required a different chip board. Well - I doubt anyone cares, but that is my theory.