One of the things I think an owner of a currently unreleased “prototype” cart should keep in mind is the uncertainty of who else has a “prototype” cart or reproduction cart of the same game and what one of those other people might decide to do with such.
Let’s say one bought a “prototype” cart of an unreleased game. Let’s say one had to pay $3,000.00 for it. The first thing to consider is: how sure are you that what you have is actually a prototype cart in the first place? How do you know that the previous owner didn’t simply have a reproduction cart made that just looks very much like the prototype? Thus, you may own a $3,000.00 prototype cart, or you may simply own a $3,000.00 reproduction cart.
The second thing to consider is: what might others who own the currently unreleased prototype cart or reproduction cart of the same do with their product? If one of them decides to have the game released publicly, you will still be out your $3,000.00 and will still have your “prototype” cart which could possibly be a reproduction cart.
Now I can fully understand why a person who paid a large amount of money for a game won’t simply release it online for free. That would be a very generous and gracious gift indeed. However, if an owner of a prototype cart or reproduction cart, who paid a large amount to acquire such, decides to allow a fundraiser to occur for the release of the game, many good things can result for him or her:
Lots of people each pay an amount for the ROM to be released. Each one gets to decide how much simply playing the game is worth to him or her and pays that amount. Thus, nobody who participates in the fundraiser is ripped off because each one knows what he or she is getting and knows what it is worth to him or her. If the fundraiser reaches the target amount of what the owner of the proto/repro cart paid for the original game, the game is released, the owner is now no longer out the $3,000.00 or so and still has his either very rare prototype cart or else phoney prototype-reproduction cart. If the target amount is not reached, then obviously not enough people care about the game and the community doesn’t deserve to have the game, so the owner keeps the cart and game itself and the people who contributed to the fundraiser get refunded the money, assuming the person who collected the money was a trustworthy middleman. Now in the case of the ROM’s release, the other owners of proto/repro carts of the same game will still be out whatever money they paid and will always have the doubt as to whether or not what they have is genuine, but the one who allowed the fundraiser to occur is out no money, still has a special item, whatever it may be, and has the personal satisfaction of contributing a good part to an elite community. So each owner of such carts must decide: might another jump on this opportunity and/or would it be best for me to jump on this opportunity? Of course, the other danger is that someone else who has a ROM of the game in question might just let it leak for free, in which case everyone with the cart in question is out a lot of money, while the community that did nothing to deserve it is very happy indeed.
Just my thoughts on the matter.
Here are some photos of my friend’s Travel Master case. I asked him about it again last night, and I was apparently mistaken about him getting it at Hills or Ames. He got it at a Toys R Us that used to be in the mall of Indiana, PA.
