Has anyone here ever found a prototype at the local thrift store or flee market?
Come on let us know about it.
We need some hope here.
Adam
Has anyone here ever found a prototype at the local thrift store or flee market?
Come on let us know about it.
We need some hope here.
Adam
Oh yeah baby, there is still hope in the Bay Area.
"If a man is alone in a forest and says something, is he still wrong ?"
Are we talking recently, or ever?
i think buyatari ment ever
I found an ODY2 prototype once at a flee market for $2 other than that every proto I ever aquired has been over the internet.
Ahh I forgot once I found 2600 Polo at a game store for $20.00. It wasn't at a thrift store or a flee market so I don't know if that "counts" but it was a better score than the ody 2 proto thats for sure.
I think there is an unwritten law that you must find at least 1 proto in the wild to earn your "proto hunter status".
Adam
I found a Vic-20 Gorf proto once. That's about it.
Tempest
A few years back I found a NES Tag Team Wrestling proto in the bin at Funcoland of all places. Worked well for me, i'll take a NES prototype for $1.99 anyday of the week.
any pics of that Tag Team proto?
Unfortunately not, its been long sold.
As CPUWIZ said, living in the SF Bay Area is the best... during "prime time" (1994-1996), classic games were EVERYWHERE. Several flea markets located around Atari would produce interesting stuff every few weeks. I found my 5200 Battlezone, Sport Goofy, Xevious and Microgammon protos at a few of them (as well as a bunch of 5200 lab loaners of released games, about 20 or so total). Over time, I've also run across Activision 2600 protos, a couple of Data Age protos (Frankenstein's Monster and Journey Escape).
Of course, there are the infamous dumpster diving episodes that occurred right around the time Atari was closing up shop (late 1997 IIRC). I was a little too late, but I've heard stories about some pretty cool scores. I've also heard stories about people stopping to admire their score while still in the dumpster, only to have to leave it behind to avoid getting arrested :P
As far as finding stuff in the wild goes, I do suspect there's still stuff out there... but since a lot of the Bay Area collectors seem to be highly anti-social, who knows??
Wow! Do you still have those 5200 protos? Can you tell me what the dates are on them?
Tempest
I'll have to dig them out, but I'll send you the details via e-mail.
I too, live in the SF Bay Area (Pacifica). To date I own only one proto, and I got it at a Funco. It's Tecmo Cup Soccer Game. I think it was a review copy or something for a magazine. It cost me $3.
-deadtech
Also live in the Bay Area and over the years
I have found
2 2600 Proto's --- Garage sale
1 Nintendo Proto?1 Nintendo Review copy ( white label ) --Flea market
8 possible Coleco Proto\bootleg boards with EPROM's -- Answer to news paper add
a few (more than two) Atari 8-bit proto carts --- Garage sale Just missed the STORE display
Probably more but those are the ones that come to mind.
Drew
We had a prot genesis game traded in at the store 97 or 98 maybe
had the eproms and 2 stickers MKI and MKII on the chips... we knew it was unusual but Really no idea that stuff was of real interest to collectors. Just kinda got stashed away and years later still no luck finding it.
<@Carey85> I-75 is the second busiest freeway in the country behind I-95
<@NE146> u r
Man!!! Why cant I live in the Bay Area???
Protos found to date:
A big FAT zero
:cry:
-=Mr. NEStalgia=-
What makes you say that Bay Area collectors are anti-social ? Is it because people don't like spilling the beans on where these proto's were found ?Originally Posted by retrogmr
Talking about finding stuff in the wild, I went out to some places I know have stuff that they can't identify and in fact, I found a proto yesterday.
"If a man is alone in a forest and says something, is he still wrong ?"
@Drew...if you don't mind saying, what NES proto/demo did you find?
@CPUWIZ; I guess I wasn't specific about my statement... usually the collectors that are local talk amongst themselve about what they found, not necessarily where they found it. What I've observed is a higher number of people who are obviously hunting for classic games at the various thrifts/fleas than people that I've met during the time I've been collecting.
I mean, if you find a proto, what good does it do unless you can brag about it to someone who can appreciate what you've scored?
i live in southern oregon and have found no protos in the wild. i am planning on moving to sacramento in about a year though, maybe my luck will change.