I just purchased a big lot of gaming stuff, and this was in a SNES rental box. What the heck is it? Looks like an arcade type of thing, but what does it plug into? Any ideas on this?

this is the atari 2600 version of a powerpak cart.

Thank you! I noticed they were all Atari games and from that era, but I wasn't sure what the purpose of this device was. Basically its just for playing bootlegs? How likely is it that the rom chips still work?

yeah, home burned games. i'd think there's a good chance some of them should still work but that's a little over my head. if you ask some of the more technical minded guys over at atariage.com they could probably figure how to work it.

That thing is crazy! It looks like it has been around the block a few times... Any idea how old it is?

Most of the ROM chips say 1979 on them, so I am guessing within a few years of that date.

I've got five or six Ataris laying around, I am going to test this thing out. Lincoln, do you think it has any value?

it's not worth a lot as far as i know. pirate carts like this pop up every once in a while, usually with a bunch of the small, common games. i think it's fairly easy to build your own like this out of a regular atari cart.

it's definitely a cool piece, and probably worth a few bucks just for the "neat" factor of it.

Thanks for all the help Lincoln - yeah, I imagine it is pretty easy to make one of these from scratch. It looks totally home made and old school.

This is from 1982-82 and simply can't be from 1979, as the ICs all have nearly identical labels and writing (which means they were likely all encoded around the same time) and some of the games didn't come out until 1982. The 1979 copyright date applies to the date of design for the EPROM or PROM packaging, not the board or the data on the components.

It's completely homemade, and this sort of  device was somewhat common in the late 70s to early 80s for bootlegging. Atari never made anything that looks like this and they didn't develop Activision titles either...

That said, vintage pirate boards are worth some cash as a curiosity item, so it's a nice find no matter what anybody tells you.

The switch is for IC-type selection between 2532 and 2716 pin-configurations. I have no doubts that the cart works perfectly, as there is essentially nothing to break. The ICs however are a different matter.

EPROM chips that are exposed to intense sunlight or any direct UV-source are as good as toast. If they were stored properly, then they should be functional. (You use UV light to erase an EPROM, thus it destroys them.) If they are PROM chips, they are likely undamaged by time, although static discharges can also play havoc on them, so you can't tell until you try them.

To test, slide the switch to the number that corresponds to that marked on the IC before inserting it, then place it in the socket, insert the board and power-on the system. Just make sure that you orient the pins on the ICs correctly before applying power to the board.

-Xious