Nolan Bushnell, 7800, atari, collectibles, ebay, rare, retro

Nolan Bushnell Atari 7800 Fetching Big Bucks

Attention Atari collectors! Currently being auctioned on eBay is the above pictured, ultra rare "Nolan Bushnell Signature Series Atari 7800". For you kids too young to have ever dragged your parents to one of Bushnell's Chuck E. Cheese's, he's the founder of Atari. Go on, look it up!

Here's the deal with this very fashionable old-school console:

A few years ago, we were contracted to assist in the production of NEW Atari 7800 units. They were to be emblazoned with Nolan Bushnell's signature, a large Atari logo on the front of the case, and "Signature Series" over on the right.
Unfortunately, this project never entered production, and very few of these 7800's were built. In fact, the 7800 pictured in this auction has one of the pre-production plastic housings, with the guts of a production 7800 unit inside. While new 7800 motherboards were designed (by us!) for this new product, very few of these motherboards exist, and only one board was ever populated.

Look, you have less than 2 days to snag this piece of obsessive collecting history. Auction price at time of publish was $560 so sell that kidney if you have to and get bidding! Michael McWhertor

Rare Nolan Bushnell Signature Series Atari 7800 Console

6:50 PM on Sat Sep 9 2006
By Michael McWhertor
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9 comments

Comments

Vabor at 06:48 PM on 09/09/06
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That thing is a work of beauty....too bad I want a Wii360 and not to spend money on a museum relic.
scazza at 07:03 PM on 09/09/06
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I owned 3 of the atari lines (and still have a working 2600 and 7800). They were esthetically brutal, and built like crap. That thing just looks far too good to be considered "atari". Heh.
Justin42 at 07:25 PM on 09/09/06
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Seems like a Nolan Bushnell signature 2600 would have been more appropriate; AFAIK Bushnell was long gone from Atari by the time the 7800 was in its original release period (84; although most units shipped post-86)

That said, I'd love to get one of these.
Robotron at 08:22 PM on 09/09/06
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I'd buy it if I had the cash.
I was an Atari fanboy and not ashamed to admit it.
I even use to run an Atari BBS on my 800xl....now those were the days....2400 baud I rocked.
AlteredBeast at 10:39 PM on 09/09/06
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Wow, its hard to believe that gamers had to suffer for so long playing on consoles without high definition movie playback.
JohnnyLA at 09:17 AM on 09/10/06
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Bah! Where's the wood grain?
The Commissar at 01:11 PM on 09/10/06
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I would rather have an original Magnavox Odyssey. 2600 and 7800 were (and are) more common than leaves in autumn.
HappyWulf at 02:32 PM on 09/10/06
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I like how the Power button is right next to the Pause button.
Joonas at 06:33 AM on 09/11/06
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Gotta love the first question up on Ebay:

"Q: hi!! a box was made for this itrm? or not!! thanks"