De Atari 2600 game Air Raid word beschouwd als de heilige graal onder de game collectors. Want van deze titel zijn er maar enkele gemaakt, en de losse cartridge is al eens verkocht voor $17.000 Dollar. Sterker voor een exemplaar met doos is zelfs $30.000 neergelegd. Maar nu is er een versie, met een perfect uitziende doos en handleiding opgedoken en de staat te koop. De eigenaar had Air Raid jaren geleden voor een paar Dollar gekocht in de winkel waar hij werkte, en sinds dien lag deze in een storage box opgeslagen. Het hele verhaal achter deze vondst kan je hier lezen, de video's er van kan je hier onder zien.
This particular cartridge belongs to Harv Bennett, who dug the game out of storage with the help of his daughter, Alana. But how Bennett came to own the game is pure serendipity.
Bennett was working as an assistant manager for a small drug store that processed photos and sold watches and video games. Bennett worked in the video game department, assisting in the buying and selling of store stock.
"At the time big game companies like Activision and Atari would just plus us out games and send them to the store," Bennett told Polygon. "Smaller companies would send reps in to try to sell their games. Apollo and Spectrovision would send them, small companies like that. And then one day, this guy came in from Men-A-Vision with a game called Air Raid."
Bennett said he would take the games home to play, and if he liked them he would order copies for the store.
"The man told me, 'It's my last copy. I only got five or six pieces. This one is the last.' He said even if I did want it, he'd have to order it special and send it to us later."
The video posted above shows Bennett and his daughter opening the Atari cabinet and re-discovering the cartridge for the first time. The box has been opened a total of five times, Bennett said, and there isn't a scratch or crease anywhere on it.
After some research, Alana reached out to Kennedy at GameGavel. When he saw the photos and video of the game, Bennett says Kennedy agreed to sell the game. Bennett and Kennedy spoke with AtariAge administrator Albert Yarusso, who said there was no questioning what Bennett and his daughter had found.
"From that second on, everything just went crazy," Bennett said.
Alana discovered the game's manual when she pulled the game and tray out of the box to take pictures.
"[Kennedy and Yarusso] went crazy when they saw the manual," Bennett said. "There had never been a manual for the game."