What early Atari game is this part from?

andrewb

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(Ok, so in the process of writing this up, I ended up finding the answer. But not until after I'd written the post, so I figured I'd post it anyway, just for fun. Someone here will probably just recognize what it is. But I'll hold off posting the answer for a bit, just in case anyone wants to try to figure it out. It ended up being a fun puzzle, because you can't just google it.)

Was on ebay a while ago. Obviously bronze age.

Part number 001001, Rev A? Ok, gotta be something extremely early.

It also has patent number 3,793,483 on it, which is available here. But the patent doesn't directly identify the game. It just seems like a generic marquee light board, or something similarly simple, which doesn't seem to relate to what's in the patent (which talks about video stuff). So maybe this board was just part of a game that incorporated the patent, but isn't directly part of the patent(?)

Manuals from this early back also aren't quite as thorough as the later ones we're all used to. The Qwak! manual lists some parts in the 001xxx range, but not this one.




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Its 8 lights, i wonder if it might be from Orbit, it happens to have 8 volcano buttons on the control panel evenly spaced.
 
Grand Trak. :)


GTrak_Marquee.jpg
 
Tomato, tomatoe. :)
I know little of the Bronze Age.
But I do like a random KLOV arcade quiz now and then. (laughs)
 
What are you? Some kind of Atari Ninja? 😊

The Patent was from 1972.
Use Museum of the Game to search Atari.
Sort by date.
Lowest range started at 1972.
Guessed game would be from '72 to '75.
Guessed it might be a driving game which seemed more prevalent back then.
Was lucky to find the manual for 1974's Grand Trak 10 and there it was.
Ta dum. LOL
Didn't bother to see if it was also used in other games of that era.
Glad it was not used in Missile Command. We don't need more 2025 threads on MC.

Credit again to Atari for their excellent documentation.
 
Yep, Gran Trak 10.

This actually took me a few tries, but I eventually noticed the Qwak manual is TM-008, which is super low, and has part numbers in the 001xxx format. So I figured it had to be older than that, which leads to the question of what games/manuals have lower numbers than TM-008.

Turns out I actually have a text file with a list of Atari manual numbers that I saved locally long ago (with no notes indicating where I got it from, and the info doesn't seem to be findable anymore because Google sucks, so I don't know its origin), but see below for the beginning of the list. Also see attached for the full file, it's worth saving a copy.

Interestingly, the file is actually wrong (as it has Qwak listed as TM-009, when it's actually TM-008). But that didn't leave many options before it, and I got lucky and found part 001001 in the Gran Trak 10 manual on the first try. (I also did not check to see if it was used on more than one game, which may still be the case.)


""
NOTE: An alphabetically sorted version of this list
is available on request.
TM-001 REBOUND, Computer Service Manual Video

TM-002 TOUCH-ME, Operating and Maintenance Manual Video

TM-003 GRAN TRAK 10, Operating and Maintenance Video
Manual

TM-004 GRAN TRAK 20/TRAK 20, Operating and Video
Maintenance Manual

TM-005 GRAN TRAK 10/TRAK 10, Service Information Video
(PCB Logic)

TM-006 WORLD CUP, PCB Service Manual Video

TM-007 PIN PONG, Service Information Video
PIN PONG, Operation and Maintenance Manual

TM-008 SPACE RACE, Service Manual Video

TM-009 QWAK, Service Information (PCB Logic) Video

TM-010 TANK, Operation and Service Manual Video
""
 

Attachments

  • atari doc numbers list.txt
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Glad it was not used in Missile Command. We don't need more 2025 threads on MC
Damn, will be starting a Missile Command u/r cab soon. Guess I'll have to wait until 2026 to ask any questions. I do know why (I've seen the threads) and will hold all questions. LOL
 
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