Object Details
maker
Atari, Inc.
Description
An Atari 2600 (also known as VCS) cartridge with the game "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial." This cartridge was excavated from the landfill at Alamagordo, New Mexico on April 26, 2014. Atari buried millions of cartridges in 1983 in order to remove inventory from their warehouse in El Paso, Texas. Due to scant and obscure written records as well as the coincidence of being buried near where Roswell occurred, the burial became in the public consciousness a urban legend, but the excavation revealed many cartridges which was then collected. The commercial flop of E.T. was one of the factors that led to a video game crash that started in 1982-1985.
A paper is attached to the game with a serial number from the City of Alamagordo as a certification that it came from the excavation. The serial number is COA / 08073.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Fuel Entertainment
date made
1982
ID Number
2014.0190.01
serial number
COA / 08073
catalog number
2014.0190.01
accession number
2014.0190
Object Name
video game cartridge
cartridge, game
Object Type
Video Game
Physical Description
plastic (overall material)
Measurements
cartridge: 4 3/8 in x 3 1/2 in x 1 in; 11.1125 cm x 8.89 cm x 2.54 cm
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Computers
Computers & Business Machines
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1519322