Research Material about the 1983 Atari Video Game Burial, 1983-2011
Add to SetSummary
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
Research (Document genres)
Subject Date
1983-2011
Creators
Place of Creation
United States, New Mexico, Alamogordo
Creator Notes
Copies of newspaper articles from September 1983 editions of the Alamogordo Daily News and an online article from the El Paso Times posted 19 February 2011.
Collection Title
Location
Not on exhibit to the public.
Object ID
2015.13.30
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of the City of Alamogordo, New Mexico.
Material
Paper (Fiber product)
Dimensions
Height: 11 in
Width: 8.5 in
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