Concern: You expect me to carry an Atari cart in my pocket? That can’t be comfortable!
The truth: Atari wallets are the same size as a traditional wallet, but a fraction of the weight!

By the numbers:

…         Atari wallet  vs  Leather wallet  vs  iPhone G3

Length:     3.88 in.        3.5 - 4.5 in.            4.5 in.
Width:       3.32 in.        3 - 3.5 in.               2.4 in.
Depth:       0.81 in.        0.5 - 0.7 in.            0.48 in.
Weight:     46g              224 - 448g            133g
(56g with chip)    (or 5-10 Atari wallets)  (or 3 Atari wallets)

Concern: Atari games are made from hard plastic and can’t bend. Again, that can’t be comfortable!
The truth: First, no wallet should bend to avoid damage to plastic cards within. Second, it is recommended to carry your wallet – Atari or otherwise – in your front pockets to avoid loss, pickpocket and back pain. You’ll be surprised how well the Atari wallet works in your pocket.

Concern: Great use for vintage video games, but they can’t be that sturdy.
The truth: Unless your goal is trying to destroy your Atari wallet, your Atari wallet will survive an active life.  Three years with the same Atari wallet and only the label faded about two years of abuse. These are tough li’l buggers.

Concern: You use high-strength rare earth magnets in the Atari wallets. Doesn’t that ruin magnetic strips in plastic cards?
The truth: Magnetic strips should be kept away from demagnetizers. Prolonged exposure to powerful magnetic fields can affect magnetic strips. The magnets used in the Atari wallets are strong but their fields are oriented axially (up & down) and the lateral pull does not extend far enough to effect cards. I test carried a reverse (lefty) version for a year with the magnets directly beside my cards with no adverse effects.

The magnetic closure has been likened to the smoothness found in a Macbook with a unique snapping sound. It is the most commented on feature by new Atari wallet owners.

Concern: Your prices are too high.
The truth: Each wallet requires two hours to repurpose. The only part I don’t do is the 10 minutes of machining time. Each internal piece – the money wire, the card protector, the topper – requires 5-10 minutes each to prepare. Each hinge requires three separate cuts to be modified into Atari wallet hinges. The real nightmare is in the gluing steps – all eight of them. After the gauntlet of glue, every wallet is opened & closed 50 times. You have no idea how much the snapping sound of a closing Atari wallet haunts my life.

Include now the cost of the hinges, magnets, glue and the games themselves. What was free was the five years of time I gave up in pursuit of bringing the Atari wallet to you. The engineering, research, testing and experimenting consumed as much time as a part-time job, except this job cost me money every step of the way. It’ll take selling at least two hundred wallets to recover the costs I have put into this so far.

Not everyone can appreciate what I’m doing. Then again, not everyone wants electricity, or else we’d see Amish reality TV.  (Fun fact: I sold a cell phone to an Amish man while working back in college. No lie.)

Concern: You are destroying history! How could you?
The truth: There is approximately one thousand wallets in differing stages of production, with another thousand games ready to be processed if the need arises. Out of the millions of Atari games floating around out there, the Atari wallet project isn’t going to change the marketplace for collectors. No games beyond a rarity of 5 (according to AtariAge.com) were processed in the Atari wallet project. At least none that I recall right now.

And the games I don’t use for Atari wallets? The working ones are packaged with complete Atari 2600 systems – including joysticks, paddles, power and cable adapter – and sold on eBay under member niles.z. Atari systems are listed and close every Friday with 30% of the closing price split between two childrens charities. For more about the eBay resales see this earlier blog entry.

And the games that I don’t use for Atari wallets and do not work? If the case isn’t mangled I donate them to AtariAge for re-use by enthusaists publishing new games for the Atari 2600.

And the games that I don’t use for Atari wallets and do not work and the cases are mangled? I haven’t had a clever solution to that one yet. It’s in the works. Thankfully, there is perhaps dozens in this category out of the thousands of games I have had.

The longer the Atari wallet project continues the more games kept from landfills, the more charity eBay sales completed, the more I can avoid my wife and son. We all win, especially my wife & son.

Concern:  I don’t like the wallets and I don’t like you.
The truth:  Mom? Is that you?

Tags: FAQ, Feedback

This entry was posted on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 10:48 pm and is filed under FAQ, Feedback. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.