FS: Vectrex Android, Mail Plane, MonStorm, & Test Cart

[jasonbar]

Howdy-

I've got some special Vectrex items for sale: 4 EPROMs with Android,
Mail Plane, Monstorm, & Test Cart Rev 4, and a socket cart with which
to use the EPROMs.

A while ago, I answered a Craigslist ad for a Vectrex + Mail Plane.
Turns out the fellow used to work for GCE & had some leftover goodies
that he wanted to sell. I kept some & am selling some.

Pictures (sorry for the poor quality):
http://s242.photobucket.com/albums/ff97/infernolab/forsale/vecprotos/?start=all

Video links below (again, not good quality--I had trouble getting good
footage, but it should be good enough to show you what I've got.).

I'm not yet sure if I want to go the eBay route, so I'm posting to
some forums first to see if I can drum up some offers first. Right
now, I'm probably looking for cash over trades, but if you've got some
trade item of interest, feel free to make a trade offer.

Here's what I have:

1 - Custom-made cartridge PCB that accepts EPROMs. Textool 228-3345
EPROM 28-pin socket with clamping mechanism accepts 24-pin or 28-pin
EPROMs. I colored one of its Phillips screw heads black to indicate
which way the chip notch should be pointed. When installing a 24-pin
chip, bias the chip away from the blackened screw head.

2 - Android EPROM. From what I've been able to find out, there's only
1 other known copy of this out there. Tested fully working, with 4
radar/scanner demos & 3 detail views of a spaceship.
4 radar/scanner demos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry0X8o5vHOY
3 detail views of spaceship: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9jqGCGJOo0

3 - Mail Plane. With the copy floating around for public domain
download, you can't get past the menu--try to start a game & the
screen goes blank & the game freezes. With this copy, you can start
the game, plan your route on the map, load your plane with cargo, taxi
on the runway, but then the game glitches when you try to take off.
My semi-working Mail Plane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAFwTEM0_UM
Public domain downloaded Mail Plane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhFx7bgfiGE

4 - MonStorm. This is a hack made by the GCE fellow himself. He says
that he made several different hacks of Monstorm. On this version,
you have infinite lives (or at least a whoooole lot), the game does
not crash after minefield 13, & every now & then, when shooting one of
the mines that shoots back, the graphics will glitch & the game will
slow down for a few seconds. I played it up to minefield 17 & am
unsure how this game otherwise differs from normal Minestorm.
1st 10 minutes of MonStorm gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9Z0uMePv1A
2nd 10 minutes of MonStorm gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74gOKFfzmC4

5 - Test Cart Rev 4. This appears to be the same as the version
available for public domain download. Test & adjust your video,
audio, controllers, etc.
Test Cart in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvOikdL3J-w

Thanks for reading.
-Jason

PS--my transaction feedback from various sources:
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=jasonbar&ftab=AllFeedback
http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/127592-jasonbar/
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138082&highlight=infernolab
http://nintendoage.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Users.Feedback&User=jasonbar
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=trader&id=12258

[FURY]

Sending you a private email shortly (about an hour).

George

[[HCI]Mara'akate]

Sent an email as well!

[jasonbar]

Thanks for all of the interest & info that's been coming in already!

Based on some of my received messages, I think I wasn't clear in my
original post.

I have for sale only 1 PCB with an easy-swap socket, and 4 chips.
Therefore, I'd like to sell this all as 1 set. I've received some
offers for the PCB & 1 chip, but that would render the other chips
essentially unusable.

My highest offer yet is $400US for the set. I've received many e-
mails asking me to provide an asking price (or prices). It's very
difficult to put a price on items that haven't been sold before (or
may have been sold once or maybe twice before).

I think it's fair to request that any further offers be made in $100US
increments. I'm still somewhat feeling out the market for these
items--I may put them onto eBay (where I may fare better or worse than
here...tough call...) or I may choose to keep them after or all
(probably not).

So, please feel free to contact me with any more questions of offers.

Thank you very much,
-Jason

[jasonbar]

Current best offer: $500US.

Thanks,
-Jason

[jasonbar]

Current best offer: $700US.

Thank you,
-Jason

[jasonbar]

Howdy-

Thanks for everybody's interest & e-mails & bids.

I've got a handful of people who are biding their time & interested in
bidding but waiting till I'm close to stopping taking offers (in true
eBay style--wait till the last minute to bid--makes sense!). So,
let's put a deadline on this.

I've got interested parties in Europe & across America. I live in
California.

So, I think that if I stop taking offers at 11:00AM Pacific Time, on
Saturday 4/16/2011, that will be daytime for the time zones for all
interested parties.

The high offer right now is $700US. I'll pay for shipping, which will
include some form of insurance and/or delivery confirmation and/or
signature upon delivery.

To make this all transparent, a la eBay, I will do my best to post the
current highest bid. I'm posting to rec.games.vectrex, Atari Age,
Digital Press, Nintendo Age, & Sega-16. For simplicity, please make
each offer in $100US increments.

If people toss out lots of bids at the last moment, I may not be able
to publish them fast enough. In this case, if somebody puts out a
last-minute highest bid that leapfrogs the next-highest final bid, I
will knock down the winning offer to be $100US greater than the next-
highest offer. This is similar to eBay--you put down the max you're
willing to pay, but if the next-highest bid is well below yours, then
your final bid ends up being an increment above the next-highest bid
rather than being your highest max bid you're willing to pay.
Example: Spike bids $2500. Molly bids $1200. Those are my 2 highest
offers. Spike buys the items for $1300.

To avoid large paypal fees, I would prefer to *not* be paid via a
paypal money transfer for goods. I don't know if a Paypal gift
transfer is the way to go, either... I will not give out any of my
personal banking information for a money transfer or money wire. I
will accept a money order, bank check, or postal check. If the buyer
has strong feelings or other input about the method of payment, please
discuss with me beforehand.

I have accepted an offer from somebody who won't have enough $ on hand
to pay by this Friday, but he convinced me through auction account
feedback & through the promise of a down payment that he will make
good on his offer. If others are interested but won't have funds
available on short notice, please contact me to discuss.

Thank you very much--please contact me with any questions!

Thanks,
-Jason

[lucifershalo]

I hope that the person that purchases the lot
will "offer"it to the community
on carts or roms

[[HCI]Mara'akate]

Yes, please.

[jasonbar]

High offer is now currently $800US.

Thank you,
-Jason

[jasonbar]

Thanks to a new bid of $900, a previous high bid, reported previously
as $800, is now upped to $1000.

To try to strike a balance between privacy & fairness, at this point,
I will reveal the 2nd-highest bidder's information to the highest
bidder. I don't want the highest bidder to wonder if there really was
a 2nd-highest bid placed at $100 less than his final winning bid.
But, I don't want to publicize everybody's bids either, so only the
highest bidder will receive this piece of information about the 2nd-
highest bidder.

Hope that makes sense & is OK with all involved.

Thanks,
-Jason

[jasonbar]

Howdy-

A little over 11 hours to go till these Vectrex games have a new
home! :)

Thanks,
-Jason

[jasonbar]

Current high bid: $1300

Thanks,
-Jason

[jasonbar]

SOLD!

Working out payment/shipping details w/ buyer.

Thanks,
-Jason

[hcmffm]

Good to see that (some kind of) auction outside ebay also works. Thanks,
Jason, for posting here at RGV and other Retro collector groups.

- Helmut

[rob.o...@gmail.com]

Indeed. It was a flashback to the pre-ebay usenet auction era (things
were so much simpler then!)

Thanks to Jason.

BTW, does anyone know how many prototypes of Mail Plane are out there
and at what stage they are at?

[Mayhem]

Jason Moore (not this Jason) who did the Retro Games fanzine/online
store reputedly had one that was about in the same condition as the
one sold. I don't know where the dump online came from. I think Mark
Indictor might still have it too, as Frank Gasking did a piece on the
game for Edge magazine after speaking to him. Or he might have
contacted Jason Moore. Not sure. Afaik there's no public dump for the
game in this state of "completion"...

[hcmffm]

> BTW, does anyone know how many prototypes of Mail Plane are out there
> and at what stage they are at?

I guess there are 3-4 proms around. I have a PCB with a soldered Mail Plane
prom, which was previously owned by Rudy. Like in Jason's Mailplane version,
you can pack the plane and choose maps, but the plane does not take off.
FAIK the moste complete Mail Plane around is in Shawn Scallen hands.

- Helmut

[www.Vectrex.com]

AFAIK Mark may have some software rotting away (floppy disk rot) in
some boxes. But no system to pull the software back off the disks.
If they are still good that is.

The original, but non working, dump came from me.

[jasonbar]

Howdy-

These items have been received by their buyer, & he's confirmed that
they arrived intact & that he was able to dump them & study them.
I'll leave it up to him to share or give info as desired.

In the meantime, I'm going to take down my photobucket pics & youtube
videos in 1 week. If you wish to download these items, you've got 1
week to do so.

Thanks,
-Jason