More Production Numbers Found

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Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Thanks for posting that Scott, it's a good read. It's interesting to
compare those numbers to what's seen "in the wild" in warehouses and
auctions.

Mike Doyle
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I tell you what I'd love to see come out of your treasure trove Scott,
is a document detailing the logic behind the serial numbers used for
arcade machines. I have been tracking all the old 1971 Computer Space
machines (check my site) and the serial numbers make no sense to me.
Out of 1500 machines built, it appears that the serial numbers for
them range from around 9000 to 10500. And then for the 2 Player
machines, the serial numbers jump up to the 30000 range. I'd love to
know why.

computerspacefan@hotmail.com
http://www.computerspacefan.com
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I would take those non-Atari productions numbers with a grain of salt.
There is *no way* Atari would have had accurate production numbers of a
competitor(s) back in 1983. Most likely an aggregate of Atari's
distributors estimates.



tm
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I think that serial numbering is a pretty arbitrary process. They
probably chose those numbers to give the impression that they were
making thousads of the units while they were actually only making 1500.
I have a pal that has a business with two vans in his "fleet". They're
numbered 11 and 12 to give the impression of a much larger business
than the reality.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Wow, Bagman very good and Zookeeper not so good.

tim (NH)

<info@atarigames.com> wrote in message
news:1113978829.694953.92690@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>I just stumbled upon a document that details some Atari production
> numbers, but.... it also has some other numbers for non-Atari products
> like Stargate, Pengo, Bagman, Robotron.
>
> http://www.atarigames.com
>
> Scott
>
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I think the rating are for 'earnings potential and longevity' for the
operator. The numbers come from distributor sales totals/estimates.
Atari had good inside contacts to get this information, but it should
not be taken as 100% accurate. They are only estimates.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I haven't seen anything in my pile of documents. I think alot of the
numbering scheme was designed to throw off the competition. You could
never tell how well something was selling, via the serial numbers.
Maybe you can email Nolan. I think you can find his email address at
the Uwink site.

Scott
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I think I saw the reason for the Computer Space serial numbers on the
Icons television show with Nolan?
Maybe someone else seen this also?
It seems like he said that it was to throw off the competition.
Or, I could just be imagining the whole thing?
-Tim
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

It's interesting how Millipede with 8,600 only has a "good" while bagman
with 3,200 has a "very good". Did Millipede have a higher expectation? Was
it more expensive to produce and hence require a greater volume. To bad
they didn't include pricing information with the totals... that would have
made the numbers a whole lot clearer (of course the fact that they didn't
think to do such things is probably why the industry crashed... not enough
MBA's).

<info@atarigames.com> wrote in message
news:1113978829.694953.92690@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>I just stumbled upon a document that details some Atari production
> numbers, but.... it also has some other numbers for non-Atari products
> like Stargate, Pengo, Bagman, Robotron.
>
> http://www.atarigames.com
>
> Scott
>
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

scott@hyperspacearcade.com wrote:
> Note that very few of the numbers on the document are "final production
> runs"....only the ones with a * on them are totals, and they don't gel
> totally with numbers I've collected over the years (which are a lot
> from all manufacturers)
>
> http://www.HyperspaceArcade.com
>
Are your numbers posted somewhere? I'd be interested in Williams production
numbers.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

They are not posted but now that I think of it, I could probably add
them as a nice little feature to my new website.

I scoured trade magazines, books, etc for years and years before the
internet became popular.....I got 20 years of production numbers for
tons of games saved up.

I should prob pop that list out here....

http://www.hyperspacearcade.com
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

"mudmantim" <mudmantim@gmail.com> wrote in message news:<1114025839.460511.145030@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>...
> I think I saw the reason for the Computer Space serial numbers on the
> Icons television show with Nolan?
> Maybe someone else seen this also?
> It seems like he said that it was to throw off the competition.
> Or, I could just be imagining the whole thing?
> -Tim

Hey I don't suppose anyone has that Icons series do they? I missed the
early episodes that mentioned Computer Space (now all I ever see is
later stuff like SNK, Street Fighter II, etc. no old school stuff). I
would LOVE to add that video clip of Nolan talking about Computer
Space. I have one little clip of him on my site in the media section
but I would love to add more.
Can anyone capture that segment?

And I have actually emailed Nolan at Uwink. The lady who reads his
email there has assured me she is going to heavily encourage him to
check out my site but so far I've had no response from him.

computerspacefan@hotmail.com
http://www.computerspacefan.com
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

"ComputerSpaceFan" <computerspacefan@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:29b8983f.0504200756.16c9986b@posting.google.com...
> I tell you what I'd love to see come out of your treasure trove Scott,
> is a document detailing the logic behind the serial numbers used for
> arcade machines.[...]

Back when I was working in the computer industry we'd always start serial
numbers arbitrarily high to throw off any sell-through estimates the
competition would try to make by ordering directly from us a month or two
after launch. (The starting numbers were usually somebody's birthday--
April 4th, 1965 would be serial #40465, etc.) OTOH, I suppose they could
just buy one unit when it first came out and another a month later and get a
pretty good idea that way of what the line was running at... Mostly we just
liked using our birthdays for the serial numbers. 😛

When we were doing digital audio stuff we'd use random numbers for the
serial number (which also served as part of the encryption seed) and a
database at the factory was able to associate the particular build
date/line/tester/etc. back to the random number if they came back for
repair...

-Clay
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Due to the high number of requests, I posted the complete list of
production numbers. These are the documents that all the numbers
originally came from. Numbers for the late 80's and early 90's games
are now available.

Scott
http://www.atarigames.com
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Here is the list of shows, I think it is complete.

Directory of U:\Icons G4TV Show Season 1\Icons-G4TV
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
06/01/2003 08:33 PM 152,186,880 Icons-Episode101-Oddworld.avi
06/04/2003 07:43 PM 152,176,640 Icons-Episode102-Nolan_Bushnell.avi
08/13/2002 09:03 AM 156,286,976 Icons-Episode103-Pac-Man-old.avi
06/04/2003 08:43 PM 151,140,352 Icons-Episode103-Pac-Man.avi
06/16/2003 10:52 AM 152,506,368 Icons-Episode104-Lara_Croft.avi
06/15/2003 05:25 PM 152,340,480 Icons-Episode105-Activision.avi
04/24/2003 04:36 AM 152,164,352 Icons-Episode106-Miyamoto.avi
06/08/2003 07:51 PM 151,855,104 Icons-Episode107-Everquest.avi
06/11/2003 10:28 AM 152,160,256 Icons-Episode108-Bioware.avi
05/04/2003 08:51 PM 139,907,072 Icons-Episode109-Will_Wright.avi
04/19/2003 04:32 AM 139,976,704 Icons-Episode110-Women_In_Gaming.avi
05/12/2003 02:35 AM 139,984,896 Icons-Episode111-Insomniac_Games.avi
04/18/2003 06:38 PM 140,154,880 Icons-Episode112-Sid_Meier.avi
03/18/2004 05:19 AM 138,776,576 Icons-Episode113-Scary_Profits.avi
05/06/2003 08:47 PM 139,278,336 Icons-Episode114-Richard_Garriott.avi
05/07/2003 02:10 AM 139,982,848 Icons-Episode115-Bruce_Shelley.avi
04/21/2003 02:12 AM 139,558,912 Icons-Episode116-John_Madden_Football.avi
05/14/2003 08:58 PM 140,451,840 Icons-Episode117-Splinter_Cell.avi
05/08/2003 02:55 AM 137,320,448 Icons-Episode118-Lord_Of_The_Rings.avi



Directory of U:\Icons G4TV Show Season 2\Icons-G4TV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
04/23/2003 04:15 AM 139,622,400 Icons-Episode201-Atari.avi
04/23/2003 04:28 AM 139,685,888 Icons-Episode202-Music_Makers.avi
05/09/2003 07:27 PM 139,765,760 Icons-Episode203-Unreal.avi
05/20/2003 09:11 PM 138,846,208 Icons-Episode204-Yu_Suzuki.avi
04/16/2003 08:25 PM 139,399,168 Icons-Episode205-Intellivision.avi
04/17/2003 10:51 AM 139,755,520 Icons-Episode206-The_Legend_Of_Zelda.avi
05/04/2003 03:09 AM 139,626,496 Icons-Episode207-XBox.avi
04/29/2003 04:59 AM 139,751,424 Icons-Episode208-Arcade.avi
05/22/2003 06:49 PM 138,749,952 Icons-Episode209-History_Of_E3.avi
06/05/2003 10:55 PM 139,382,784 Icons-Episode210-LucasArts.avi
06/12/2003 08:56 PM 140,001,280 Icons-Episode211-Red_Storm.avi
06/19/2003 10:01 PM 125,093,888 Icons-Episode212-Warren_Spector.avi
07/11/2003 07:18 AM 138,774,528 Icons-Episode213-PC_Gaming.avi
07/24/2003 05:58 AM 139,329,536 Icons-Episode214-The_Crash.avi
08/07/2003 05:55 AM 139,587,584 Icons-Episode215-Military_Games.avi
09/25/2003 07:19 AM 139,284,480 Icons-Episode216-Naughty_Dog.avi
08/21/2003 06:24 AM 139,231,232 Icons-Episode217-Mario.avi
10/16/2003 06:07 PM 139,186,176 Icons-Episode218-Onimusha.avi
11/24/2003 11:40 AM 139,087,872 Icons-Episode219-Mega_Man.avi
12/12/2003 01:19 AM 138,770,432 Icons-Episode220-Yuji_Naka.avi
01/15/2004 10:29 PM 139,696,128 Icons-Episode221-Final_Fantasy.avi
01/31/2004 09:31 AM 139,954,176 Icons-Episode222-Dungeons_And_Dragons.avi


Directory of U:\Icons G4TV Show Season 3\Icons-G4TV
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
02/18/2004 07:50 PM 139,311,104 Icons-Episode301-Music_Games.avi
03/11/2004 07:08 AM 139,511,808 Icons-Episode302-Sega_Dreamcast.avi
04/14/2004 07:01 AM 139,761,664 Icons-Episode303-ESRB.avi
04/14/2004 05:46 AM 139,718,656 Icons-Episode304-Peter_Molymeux.avi
04/25/2004 05:14 AM 139,587,584 Icons-Episode305-Tetris.avi
05/11/2004 12:46 AM 139,079,680 Icons-Episode306-Electronic_Arts.avi
06/11/2004 04:55 AM 129,038,336 Icons-Episode307-Game_Boy.avi
07/12/2004 08:11 AM 129,232,896 Icons-Episode308-Donkey_Kong.avi
07/12/2004 08:25 AM 128,802,816 Icons-Episode309-Nobuo_Uematsu.avi
08/12/2004 06:36 AM 128,356,352 Icons-Episode310-The_Doom_Franchise.avi
08/12/2004 06:23 AM 128,475,136 Icons-Episode311-Dead_Or_Alive.avi
08/31/2004 01:29 AM 128,659,456 Icons-Episode312-SNK.avi
12/03/2004 06:36 AM 126,799,872 Icons-Episode313-Mortal_Kombat.avi
11/12/2004 10:18 AM 127,709,184 Icons-Episode314-Prince_Of_Persia.avi
12/03/2004 05:36 AM 128,378,880 Icons-Episode315-Mark_Cuban.avi
11/12/2004 10:03 AM 127,549,440 Icons-Episode316-Metal_Gear_Solid.avi
12/03/2004 10:35 AM 128,335,872 Icons-Episode317-Half_Life.avi
12/19/2004 01:39 PM 128,077,824 Icons-Episode318-Bungie.avi
01/16/2005 10:45 AM 127,768,576 Icons-Episode319-Apple_II.avi
01/21/2005 11:36 PM 125,874,176 Icons-Episode320-Fighting_Games.avi


Unsorted
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
03/10/2005 12:39 PM 138,029,056 Icons-Episode5001-Gran_Turismo.avi
03/10/2005 12:48 PM 139,937,792 Icons-Episode5002-Splinter_Cell.avi+++






On 21 Apr 2005 11:38:32 -0700, computerspacefan@hotmail.com (ComputerSpaceFan) wrote:

>"mudmantim" <mudmantim@gmail.com> wrote in message news:<1114025839.460511.145030@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>...
>> I think I saw the reason for the Computer Space serial numbers on the
>> Icons television show with Nolan?
>> Maybe someone else seen this also?
>> It seems like he said that it was to throw off the competition.
>> Or, I could just be imagining the whole thing?
>> -Tim
>
>Hey I don't suppose anyone has that Icons series do they? I missed the
>early episodes that mentioned Computer Space (now all I ever see is
>later stuff like SNK, Street Fighter II, etc. no old school stuff). I
>would LOVE to add that video clip of Nolan talking about Computer
>Space. I have one little clip of him on my site in the media section
>but I would love to add more.
>Can anyone capture that segment?
>
>And I have actually emailed Nolan at Uwink. The lady who reads his
>email there has assured me she is going to heavily encourage him to
>check out my site but so far I've had no response from him.
>
>computerspacefan@hotmail.com
>http://www.computerspacefan.com
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Check here:

http://arcarc.xmission.com/Videos%20and%20Sounds/

....for them a few icons episodes.
-Tim
 
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