Atari Exacts Revenge—E.T. Sank the Ship, Cartridges and All
- Rick
- Feb 21
- 1 min read
Updated: Mar 6
They dreamed of gold. They got a landfill.
The Copy Cats of Yaaargh’s Revenge thought they’d outgrown crime. Thought they could go legit. They had already made a fortune bootlegging a Yars’ Revenge rip-off—so when Atari offered them a seat at the table, they took it. A real deal. A sure thing. They bet everything on E.T. and walked straight into The Great Atari Disaster. The game was unplayable. The losses were immediate. Millions of unsold cartridges were shoveled into the sand, and with them, every last hope of a respectable future. The dream of going straight died right there in the dunes, buried under a mountain of plastic regret.
The Friendly Robot Travel Agency invites you to test your luck—because if there’s treasure here, it’s hiding beneath several million copies of failure. Some come hoping to find a sealed relic, proof of the worst bet in gaming history. Others just want to see if the rumors are true—that the ground still hums with failure, that if you listen closely, you can hear the soft, digital whimper of a game that never should have been.
Wishbone Cost:
Rick’s Review:
"Spent six hours digging and found exactly what I was looking for—a single, intact E.T. cartridge. Spent six more hours realizing that was never a win."