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The text labels came with three possible different product numbers.
The original gatefold games that Atari made were also released by Sears. The product numbers of these versions were 5
digits long and began with 99. The second wave of new games saw a 6- being put in front of the 5 digits. To my knowledge,
of the gatefold games, only 3 have both versions: Pong Sports, Tank Plus, and Target Fun. The last text versions made began
with a 49- in front of the 5 digits. Some games were also released with picture labels. It has been established that the games
that have both text and picture versions, that the picture version is harder to find, sometimes much, much harder. I
believe Pong Sports is the only title to have all 4 versions, which is shown above.
Certain games like Berzerk, Defender, and Warlords, to name a few, only have picture labels.
Above we have the end label of the earliest release of Pong Sports with a later one underneath. Some early original games
had what they called the slanted "s", which is shown above. It is later assumed that these same labels were changed with a
straight "s" as shown on the other end label. I've been trying to acquire scans of any of the early games with these
variations so I can see the main label, but so far no luck. But at least you get an idea of what you are looking for. The
other cartridges with this variation that I know of is Tank Plus and Target Fun. Outer Space and Speedway II also has a slanted
"s" version, but no listing for a straight one with the same type of label.
Above we see the real end label variations for color. This has been a debate and is not always clear when it comes to
Sears cartridges. The top is the true yellow end label and the bottom is the gold. There are many times where the end label
has faded some on the gold version and it sort of looks yellow. The yellow version is a bright yellow as shown in this example
of Baseball.
One of the most recent discoveries with the Sears variations is the comma vs period. In this instance, we see the top
version of the copyright info has a comma after the word Atari. The bottom has a period. Sometimes these are hard to distinguish
and if you must, try and use a magnifier if you have doubts. With printing, the die breaks down and the comma is not always
clearly defined. But in this case, we're showing you the Adventure legitimate versions.
Sometimes variations with the comma and period are only in the Atari copyright section. Others also include it with the
Sears line at the bottom, as is the case in this example of Gunslinger. Again, you see a comma after Sears on the top and
a period after Sears on the bottom.
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