Thread by @PatTheNESpunk

As I discussed last week on the #CUPodcast, I made an attempt to get an unreleased Atari 2600 game prototype preserved for video game history -- a "brain game" named Intuition. (thread)

In Jan., I was emailed by a @halfpricebooks employee in Illinois who said that the Intuition Atari cartridge was traded into a Chicago area store. Intuition was developed by Tigervision, of parent company Tiger Toys (of LCD handheld game fame).

Tigervision published some oddball 2600 games in the past, from the more relatively known Miner 2049er to the very rare River Patrol. (image credit to @AtariMania).

There is almost no information online about Intuition or real discussion about what it is. It only was shown once in a Tigervision catalog along with their other Atari games and Scraper Caper, another unreleased 2600 cart. (scans from AtariAge.com)

The Intuition catalog game description: "Develop your creativity! This fun game uses forms and color to help enhance your intuitive reaction and creative thinking. Age range 3 years old to adult."

In their January email to me, @halfpricebooks had already done their homework, including a working theory that the game had come from a former employee of Tigervision itself since they were based in Illinois (the game was traded in by a widow of the person who had owned it).

But where did Half Price Books get their information? It was likely from @AtariSpot, who has posted about the game back in 2018 --

https://twitter.com/AtariSpot/status/1025503806895865859

According to a newer thread, @AtariSpot was contacted by HPB about Intuition back in Aug. 2021 (!). @AtariSpot made "reasonable offers" to purchase the cart and even offered to go to the store to preserve the ROM. HPB declined...

https://twitter.com/AtariSpot/status/1569897921616789504

... because HPB wanted to run an auction in *ding ding* January 2022! Hence, the email sent to this podcaster/bloviator that they were planning to run an auction from Jan. 20-24 since they likely wanted me to publicly discuss it to drum up more buyer interest.

After assessing the situation, I contacted a video game preservation authority about what should be done and the best approach, and I decided to call the @halfpricebooks employee for a conversation.

In that call with the HPB employee, I discussed preservation and even donation options with the idea that the story would go over very well with the retro/video game community and that the PR/marketing angle was worth a lot more than whatever cash they could garner at auction.

To their credit, after the conversation with me and as well as someone involved in game preservation, Half Price Books decided to halt the auction while they explored "the various options for how to proceed or possibly to archive the game."

I was told in January by the @halfpricebooks rep that I would be contacted "when we have our new plan finalized." However, nobody -- neither @AtariSpot, anyone in game preservation, nor I was contacted in the several months to follow.

On Sat., Sept. 3 (Labor Day Weekend), I was informed via my HPB contact that "We have been trying to figure out the best way to proceed with it and have decided to simply list it on our website." Unfortunately, I did not check my email for most of Labor Day weekend.

But even had I checked my email on Saturday and informed the community in a desperate attempt to acquire it, it would have been too late. Intuition was listed for sale for $10,000 (not as an auction as originally planned) *and it sold in hours.* hpb.com/products/intui…

A California collector somehow both somehow 1) learned about the game being listed for sale and 2) purchased (and paid?) for it on the same day. Keep in mind that this was during the middle of Labor Day weekend.

So not only were none of the folks involved on the side of game preservation who had spoken with @halfpricebooks given any sort of heads up that the sale was happening, but then the Intuition cartridge sold to a collector within hours for $10K.

There were clearly better ways that HPB could have handled this, whether it was working with a game preservation org., a tax-deductible donation, or selling to a community fund with folks like @AtariSpot leading the way to help preserve it. Some compromise was certainly possible.

Instead of garnering goodwill and a marketing/PR win with the game community and having stories run by video game outlets or YouTubers covering this cool Atari find with a happy ending, we had a corporation take the path of short-term gain for $10,000 (before taxes).

It's a very disappointing outcome, but at least we have verified the existence of Intuition and a little bit of how it may function. The collector who now has it is aware that there are individuals who could preserve it at any time. The question is just whether or not they will.