Certificate of Authenticity for Video Game Recovered in 2014 from the 1983 Atari Video Game Burial Site
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In 1983, rumors circulated: Atari was bankrupt, and was dumping truckloads of games into a New Mexico landfill. Victim to the "Video Game Crash," the company buried 700,000 cartridges in the desert. The story became an obscure pop culture legend -- until "The Atari Tomb" was unearthed in 2014. This document captures the history of the world's first video game excavation.
In 1983, rumors circulated: Atari was bankrupt, and was dumping truckloads of games into a New Mexico landfill. Victim to the "Video Game Crash," the company buried 700,000 cartridges in the desert. The story became an obscure pop culture legend -- until "The Atari Tomb" was unearthed in 2014. This document captures the history of the world's first video game excavation.
Artifact
Certificate
Date Made
2014
Subject Date
26 April 2014
Creators
Place of Creation
United States, New Mexico, Alamogordo
Creator Notes
Certificate of Authenticity endorsed by Susie Galea, mayor of Alamogordo, N.M., Howard Warshaw, Atari game engineer and Joseph Lewandowski, researcher and project manager for the Atari Game Cartridge Dig, April 26, 2014.
Keywords
On Exhibit
at Henry Ford Museum in Your Place in Time
Object ID
2015.13.26
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of the City of Alamogordo, New Mexico.
Material
Paper (Fiber product)
Dimensions
Height: 8.5 in
Width: 11 in
Inscriptions
City of Alamogordo New Mexico Certificate of Authenticity This certificate verifies that this game with serial # is an original ATARI game recovered from the Alamogordo Dump in Alamogordo, New Mexico on April 26, 2014. The video game was buried in 1983 in one of the 12 truckloads of merchandise delivered by ATARI following disapppointing sales and eventual collapse of ATARI gaming. The videos were disposed of secretively, even covered with cement to discourage scavengers. Over a thousand of the "E.T." games and 60 other game titles, were unearthed from the dump. Many of those games are to be presented to museums for all to see. The City of Alamogordo has made the decision to allow a limited number to be released to the general public. This is one of the limited games of that #1 Urban Legend in the gaming industry to be offered. ATARI game: Swordquest serial: COA-08425 . . .
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