The scarcity of Commodore 64s in the wild

[nildem]

Sadly, most of the thrifts near me either no longer accept or "recycle" all of the older computers they receive. Most of the ones that aren't accepted probably end up trashed by the owner, I'd imagine. I do still see Commodore stuff sporadically at garage sales and swap meets and the like, but I used to see them all the time 10-15 years ago.

[bobotech]

I used to trip over c64s about 10 years ago. They seem to be everywhere. The last big c64 score I got was about 4 years ago when a neighbor said "come over and haul this trunk away before I toss it" and it had 3 c64s, a fast load card, and a few games, and a couple of drives. Ironically the c64 is one system that I don't care at all about, I never had one growing up, I was an Atari 8 bit guy. So in my storage unit, I have at least 15 or more c64s in various states of repair and maybe 8 floppy drives. I don't have many carts for it, probably only about 15 carts. It was one system that I never actively collected for but just kept falling in my lap until a few years ago with that last trunk score. Someday I'm going to pull all the commie stuff I have and start selling it but that is a ways off.

Always had a hard time finding the Atari 8 bit stuff that I wanted.

[wizardofwor1975]

Always had a hard time finding the Atari 8 bit stuff that I wanted.

Agreed, I've been very tempted to buy an Atari XEGS or an Atari 800 for our gameroom. But many of the Atari 800's carts are so uncommon or rare. Ork Attack and Into the Eagle's Nest come to mind.

[Steve W]

Agreed, I've been very tempted to buy an Atari XEGS or an Atari 800 for our gameroom. But many of the Atari 800's carts are so uncommon or rare. Ork Attack and Into the Eagle's Nest come to mind.

That was always my problem, Atari 8-bit games are so damn hard to find around here. Years back I found a bunch of good games including a lot of third-party cartridges, and I excitedly posted about it online, only to have people basically say "so?" To them it was no big deal, finding Atari XE carts must be easy where they're from. Around my area it's next to impossible. That bunch of games I ended up getting around maybe 2005 or 2006, I only found more third-party cartridges about a month or so ago. Usually on the off-chance I ever find 8-bit carts, they're usually BASIC or Pac-Man or something dirt common. I would totally love to get a good selection of XEGS games, they just aren't out there in the wild. Or at least my area.

[wizardofwor1975]

That was always my problem, Atari 8-bit games are so damn hard to find around here. Years back I found a bunch of good games including a lot of third-party cartridges, and I excitedly posted about it online, only to have people basically say "so?" To them it was no big deal, finding Atari XE carts must be easy where they're from. Around my area it's next to impossible. That bunch of games I ended up getting around maybe 2005 or 2006, I only found more third-party cartridges about a month or so ago. Usually on the off-chance I ever find 8-bit carts, they're usually BASIC or Pac-Man or something dirt common. I would totally love to get a good selection of XEGS games, they just aren't out there in the wild. Or at least my area.

That's definitely been my hesitation with pulling the trigger on an XEGS. I love the games on the A8/XEGS but the availability of reasonably priced carts is kinda disappointing. If you just want Donkey Kong, Missile Command, Star Raiders, Pole Position, and Congo Bongo your golden but if your looking for games like H.E.R.O., Karateka, Choplifter!, or Pitfall II be prepared to spend some cash. Even Orc Attack is going for nearly fifty bucks not including shipping. I love Orc Attack but not for $50 bucks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATARI-Orc-At...item27ef3ce7c6

On the upside Blue Max & Star Trek SOS are going for less than $20 though. Until I pick up a reasonably priced XEGS I guess I'll go on collecting C64 carts. Recently I added Choplifter and Buck Rogers to my 64 cart collection.

[Atarileaf]

That's definitely been my hesitation with pulling the trigger on an XEGS. I love the games on the A8/XEGS but the availability of reasonably priced carts is kinda disappointing. If you just want Donkey Kong, Missile Command, Star Raiders, Pole Position, and Congo Bongo your golden but if your looking for games like H.E.R.O., Karateka, Choplifter!, or Pitfall II be prepared to spend some cash. Even Orc Attack is going for nearly fifty bucks not including shipping. I love Orc Attack but not for $50 bucks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATARI-Orc-At...item27ef3ce7c6

On the upside Blue Max & Star Trek SOS are going for less than $20 though. Until I pick up a reasonably priced XEGS I guess I'll go on collecting C64 carts. Recently I added Choplifter and Buck Rogers to my 64 cart collection.

Try posting a wanted ad on Atariage for 8-bit carts. I've purchased a few through users there over the years. Ebay can still net good deals. I recently got 8 carts for $34 plus shipping. I bought it mainly for 3 - beamrider, dreadnaught factor, and bc quest for tires. Each of those games are worth around $15 so it wasn't a bad deal.

[wizardofwor1975]

Try posting a wanted ad on Atariage for 8-bit carts. I've purchased a few through users there over the years. Ebay can still net good deals. I recently got 8 carts for $34 plus shipping. I bought it mainly for 3 - beamrider, dreadnaught factor, and bc quest for tires. Each of those games are worth around $15 so it wasn't a bad deal.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give Atariage a shot. BTW nice pickup for $34 bucks. BC's quest for tires is a real gem.

[o.pwuaioc]

I used to trip over c64s about 10 years ago. They seem to be everywhere. The last big c64 score I got was about 4 years ago when a neighbor said "come over and haul this trunk away before I toss it" and it had 3 c64s, a fast load card, and a few games, and a couple of drives. Ironically the c64 is one system that I don't care at all about, I never had one growing up, I was an Atari 8 bit guy. So in my storage unit, I have at least 15 or more c64s in various states of repair and maybe 8 floppy drives. I don't have many carts for it, probably only about 15 carts. It was one system that I never actively collected for but just kept falling in my lap until a few years ago with that last trunk score. Someday I'm going to pull all the commie stuff I have and start selling it but that is a ways off.

Always had a hard time finding the Atari 8 bit stuff that I wanted.

Ever thought about sharing the wealth?

[MeTmKnice]

I think I still have a few C64's and maybe a couple of C128's in my collection. To my knowledge they all still work. Have a few disc drives and such as well. Also have a couple TI-99 Home Computers with Voice synth as well.