Rare Atari Breakout handheld shows up on eBay

It's certainly not the first bit of super rare Atari gear to show up on eBay, but those looking to expand their collection may want to take stock of their bank account right about now, as the Super Breakout handheld prototype pictured above (apparently one of only two known to exist) is now up for auction with less than a day to go. As you might have guessed, it doesn't actually work, or even have the finished branding, but it apparently is the real deal -- purchased directly from the handheld's designer, no less. If that's got you all nostalgic for what could have been, you'll only have to beat $385 (as of this writing) to be the top bidder, although you can be sure you'll have to drop a good deal more than that if you actually want to get your hands on it.

[Via OhGizmo!]

[tek @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:05PM]

One of two in existance? Is that perhaps the other one at the left?

[Kosso @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:25PM]

Cool! I expect Steve Wozniak has one.

Did you know he invented breakout - with Steve Jobs, so people could effectively play Pong on their own? True.

[xorlac @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:25PM]

True if you mean by "with Steve Jobs" you mean with Steve Jobs taking all the money and credit from Woz's work.

Breakout, a discrete logic (non-microprocessor) game, was conceptualized by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow, after the latter had "rejoined" Atari after the merge of Atari subsidiary Kee Games.

They had an idea to turn Pong into a single player game, where the player would use a ball to deplete a wall of bricks without missing the ball on its rebound. Bushnell was certain the game would be popular, and the two partnered to produce a concept. Al Alcorn was assigned as the project manager, and began development with Cyan Engineering in 1975. The same year, Alcorn assigned Steve Jobs to design a prototype. Jobs was offered USD$750, with an extra $100 each time a chip was eliminated from the prospected design. Jobs promised to complete a prototype within four days.

Jobs noticed his friend Steve Wozniak—employee of Hewlett-Packard—was capable of producing designs with a small number of chips, and invited him to work on the hardware design with the prospect of splitting the $750 wage. Wozniak had no sketches and instead interpreted the game from its description. To save parts, he had "tricky little designs" difficult to understand for most engineers. Near the end of development, Wozniak considered moving the high score to the screen's top, but Jobs claimed Bushnell wanted it at the bottom; Wozniak unaware of any truth to his claims. The original deadline was met, and 50 chips were removed from Jobs' original design. This equated to a $5000 USD bonus, which Jobs kept secret from Wozniak, instead only paying him $375.

[Kosso @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:32PM]

Wow. Thanks for the extra info. I learned about it from reading 'iWoz' - which was obviously Steve Wozniak perspective.

I see that regarding Steve Jobs, a Leopard/Tiger/Panther never changes it's spots/stripes/errr... 'black polonecks', eh ;)

[Paul @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:34PM]

looks like fossilized remains of a prehistoric ipod.

[Alex R @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:49PM]

Only two? There is two in the picture. so either the seller owns a plastic moulding machine, or the images were just Googled and the winning bidder will recieve a box of rocks. Again. Much like that seemingly made up story a while back...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/09/birthday-girl-gets-two-rock-filled-ipod-boxes/

[kro-bar @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:42PM]

The other one in the picture appears to be the space invaders he mentions...

[Paul @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:53PM]

So it is a very generic piece of plastic that does not work and has no branding or proof of legitimacy but it is "the real deal"

nice work

[Upallnite @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:44PM]

This listing (5948347258) has been removed or is no longer available. Please make sure you entered the right item number.
If the listing was removed by eBay, consider it canceled. Note: Listings that have ended more than 90 days ago will no longer appear on eBay

[ug @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:12PM]

This is being auctioned by Curt Vendel who made the Atari Flashback/Flashback 2 and who maintains a large collection (basically a private museum) of Atari items. So you can trust that it is indeed legit.

The amount of vaporware that Atari Inc. was working on before the videocrash is truly staggering.

[671GD @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:32PM]

The dude should have put a can of Dr. Pepper in the shot, just for size comparison.

[Patrick @ Jan 3rd 2008 11:13PM]

not quite a coke can, but here's a link for relative size:
http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/dedicated/handhelds.html

[gunasekaran.b @ Jan 3rd 2008 11:56PM]

The black border around, kinda resembles the imac screen

[Bryan Law @ Jan 4th 2008 2:05AM]

This is actually an early iPod nano prototype. From the 80's.

[You knew it would happen @ Jan 4th 2008 11:22AM]

All that is fine and dandy... but the real question... does it play doom?

[Steve @ Jan 4th 2008 12:40PM]

$610 with 3 minutes 6 secs to go! still $610 with 15 seconds to go!
and sold, for $821!

wow that sure is a lot to pay for a plastic device that no longer works...

oh well, now some lucky person has $821 less in his wallet, but 1 of 2 Atari handheld gaming systems...