what is this folks??

[imluvinvideogames]

hi ! i am new to this board and i am also very new to classic gaming. i have just recently started collecting and im luvin every min of it! anyhow, i recently purchased a bag of atari 2600 games from an estate sale,about 50 or so for $25.00 mostly common titles like gi joe, space invaders, etc. when i got to the bottom of the bag, i found this in a small plastic bag.. on the blocks of this (board?) it says pacman 1 and on the other pacman 2. the lady said that all the games worked and told me there was a pacman game in a plastic bag that worked also.. i just didn't expect to find this.what is it?? i have attached some pics.. any help would be great! oh, i opened a pacman game i had and it doesn't look anything like this on the inside..

[mindlesspunk77]

dunno what that is but it looks neat! welcome to the boards btw!

[Imstarryeyed]

Wow that sure is interesting, my first reaction is that it kinda looks like a homebrew Atari 7800 cart that has 2 versions of pacman?

It is kinda strange to see those long tabs on the board, it definitely looks like someones homebrew to work on a 7800 or a 2600?

Have you had a chance to try booting it up and seeing if it works? In any case nice and curious find!

[dcescott]

Welcome to the boards. Check www.atariage.com

They have a section of homebrews for sale there and hacks to download.
http://www.atariage.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=849

Also contact this dude, if you have something of intrest he would be able to tell you with detail

www.atariprotos.com

Not trying to steer you elsewhere, this site is my favorite.

[dcescott]

What about the casing? That's important too, did you buy it without the casing?
Maybe it could be for the Colecovision?

[AlanD]

Welcome to the board. That looks to be a pirate copy of Pac-Man that someone made. The small chip is the inverter that allows the 2 2716 eproms to work on the Atari instead of the normal chips Atari used. I'm sure if you were to plug it into your 2600 you will see the normal Pac-Man screens.

Not a prototype really since it is not 1st party produced, it is a very cool find - as well as one of the better homemade carts I have seen. Congrats on the find

[imluvinvideogames]

hi, thanks everyone for welcoming me to the board, and for trying to help me with this mystery.
there was no casing with this, it was exactly how you see it in a small plastic baggie.
i have not tried to play it yet, i wasn't sure if i could put (or try to put) it into my 2600. would that work to see what it is? i don't want to wreck it or wreck my system.. forgive me for my perhaps silly questions.. this is alll very new to me. what do you guys mean by homebrew?
thanks again for all of your help.

[bangtango]

hi, thanks everyone for welcoming me to the board, and for trying to help me with this mystery.
there was no casing with this, it was exactly how you see it in a small plastic baggie.
i have not tried to play it yet, i wasn't sure if i could put (or try to put) it into my 2600. would that work to see what it is? i don't want to wreck it or wreck my system.. forgive me for my perhaps silly questions.. this is alll very new to me. what do you guys mean by homebrew?
thanks again for all of your help.

This is the short answer and a very basic one.

Homebrew= "new" games being made by small developers for systems such as the Atari 2600, Colecovision, etc.

That is one "definition."