Notes: This is the final listing of the original owners of the
hand-made multicarts which Ward Shrake once sold, for two 1980's
video game systems: the Bally Astrocade and the Emerson Arcadia.
Neither "production run" went over 50 total assembled cartridges.
What is out there now, is all that will ever be made by Ward. (As
of this writing, by the way: no more upgrades are being offered.)
Ward retired from Classic Gaming around the end of 2002 or the
beginning of 2003, to spend his coveted leisure time in other
ways. By early 2005, 90% of Ward's private collection of Classic
Gaming items was either sold; auctioned on eBay; or was otherwise
disposed of. Virtually everything went: from Ward's three arcade
coin-op stand-up machines . . . down to his Pac-Man cup. Ward had
long wanted to reinvent his life. He's extremely glad that he did!
So, if you have one of these: you have something very limited
in number; made by hand; et cetera. Good for you. If you don't
have one of these, trust me: you can have a great life, anyway.
Life's too short, to fret much over silly little plastic boxes.
-- Ward Shrake, August 17 2005
Bally Astrocade multicart list
Cart numbers & original owners
(Only 43 total were ever made)
Cart # Owner's Software
& batch # Name version Original Shipping date
===========================================================================
"00" 1,9 Ward Shrake 1.3b In-house test cart. One of the first I
had finished in 2001. Revamped a bit in
August 2005, and then given to a friend
of Ward's: Adam Trionfo. Adam also got
the last of the artifacts related to my
production of Bally multicarts; these
include my original hand-drawn MC plans.
(The hole in this cart's case was for a
socket; the only Bally MC to have one.)
Ward is "out of the Bally business" now;
he doesn't even own one of these game
machines any more. Nor does he want one.
1 1 Jamie Fenton 1.3b Shipped 2001-10-29.
2 1 Mike White 1.3 Shipped 2001-11-01.
3 1 Adam Trionfo 1.3a Shipped 2001-10-29.
4 2 Daniel Blitz 1.3 Shipped 2001-12-19.
5 2 Jeff Rothkopf 1.3 Shipped 2001-12-19.
6 2 Matt Reichert 1.3 Shipped 2002-01-08.
7 2 Chris Neiman 1.3 Shipped 2002-01-08.
8 2 Lance Squire 1.3 Shipped 2001-12-14.
9 2 Mike Markowski 1.3 Shipped 2002-01-03.
10 2 Gary Gordon 1.3 Shipped 2001-12-14.
11 3 David Flemming 1.3 Shipped 2001-12-27.
12 4 Ben Bauer 1.3a Shipped 2002-01-25.
13 5 Ward Shrake 1.3a Made on 2002-02-20. (This was Ward's
personal multicart. He sold it during
2004 to Bryan Gruszka's wife; Christmas
present, from her to him. Bryan got my
original "production templates" that
were used for marking DIP switch holes,
along with a related "production jig".)
14 4 Rich Gallo 1.3a Shipped 2002-01-25.
15 4 Aaron Schlieve 1.3a Shipped 2002-01-25.
16 5 Jerry Greiner 1.3a Shipped 2002-02-21.
17 2 Charles Dysert 1.3 Shipped 2001-12-19.
18 4 David Wiggins 1.3a Shipped 2002-02-06.
19 4 Gerilynn Schott 1.3a Shipped 2002-01-29.
20 4 Matthew Knapp 1.3a Shipped 2002-01-25.
21 5 Alan Hewston 1.3a Shipped 2002-02-25.
22 6 Kevin Zazzera 1.3a Shipped 2002-02-26.
23 6 Guy Gordon 1.3a Shipped 2002-02-26.
24 7? Mark Bowling 1.3a Shipped 2002-05-28.
25 7? Douglas Lee 1.3a Shipped 2002-06-04.
26 5 Russ Perry Jr. 1.3b Shipped 2002-08-23.
27 8? Rick Truka 1.3b Shipped 2002-08-05.
28 8? Chris Wilkson 1.3b Sold on 2002-08-xx. Auctioned @ CGE 2002.
29 8? Al Backiel 1.3b Sold on 2002-08-xx. Sold during CGE 2002.
30 8? George Livingston 1.3b Shipped 2002-08-16.
31 8? Hans Reutter 1.3b Shipped 2002-12-27.
32 8? Tom Burtell 1.3b Shipped 2003-01-03.
33 8? Larry Anderson 1.3b Shipped 2002-12-27.
34 8? Ian Baronofsky 1.3b Shipped 2003-01-06.
35 8? Chris Albert 1.3b Shipped 2003-07-xx.
36 8? Lucas Barnes 1.3b Shipped 2002-12-30.
37 8? Jeff Rothkopf 1.3b Shipped 2003-01-03.
38 8? Drew Dockery 1.3b Shipped 2003-01-03.
39 8? Jason Wilson 1.3b Shipped 2003-01-06.
"43" 3 Ian Baronofsky 1.3 Shipped 2002-12-27.
"57" 3 Sean McGrail 1.3 Shipped 2002-12-27.
"69" 3 Kai Darius Kohl 1.3 Shipped 2001-12-21.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Arcadia 2001 multicart list
Cart numbers and original owners
(Only 34 total were ever made)
Cart # Owner's Software
& batch # Name version Status of cartridge
===========================================================================
1 1 Bryan Gruszka 1.25a Shipped 2001-11-26.
2 1 Stefan Piasecki 1.35 Shipped 2001-11-26.
3 2 Jeff Rothkopf 1.1 Shipped 2001-12-19.
4 2 Dan Blitz 1.25a Shipped 2001-12-19.
5 2 Mike Markowski 1.1 Shipped 2002-01-03.
6 2 Matt Reichert 1.25a Shipped 2002-01-08.
7 2 Chris Neiman 1.25a Shipped 2002-01-08.
8 3 Lee Romanow 1.1a Shipped 2002-01-22.
9 4 Dennis Spreen 1.1a Shipped 2002-01-25.
10 4 Aaron Schlieve 1.25a Shipped 2002-01-25.
11 3 David Flemming 1.25a Shipped 2001-12-27.
12 5 Jerry Greiner 1.25a Shipped 2002-02-21.
13 3 Ward Shrake 1.35 Finished 2001-12-20. (May sell it later.)
14 5 Gerilynn Schott 1.25a Shipped 2002-02-22.
15 7? Sly DC 1.25 Shipped 2002-05-28.
16 7? Mark Bowling 1.25 Shipped 2002-05-28.
17 2 Charles Dysert 1.25a Shipped 2001-12-19.
18 7? Al Backiel 1.25a Sold on 2002-08-xx. Sold during CGE 2002.
19 7? Joe Cody 1.25a Sold on 2002-08-xx. Auctioned @ CGE 2002.
20 7? Sean McGrail 1.25a Shipped 2002-08-23.
21 8? Hans Reutter 1.3 Shipped 2002-12-27.
22 8? Ian Baronofsky 1.3 Shipped 2003-01-06.
23 8? Scott Bertulli 1.3 Shipped 2003-01-09.
24 8? Lucas Barnes 1.3 Shipped 2002-12-30.
25 8? Jeff Rothkopf 1.3 Shipped 2003-01-03.
26 3 Russ Perry Jr. 1.3 Shipped 2002-01-19.
27 8? Drew Dockery 1.3 Shipped 2003-01-03.
28 8? Larry Anderson 1.3 Shipped 2003-01-06.
29 8? Matthew Archambeau 1.3 Shipped 2003-01-17.
30 8? Matthew Archambeau 1.3 Shipped 2003-01-17.
"43" 3 Ian Baronofsky 1.25a Shipped 2001-12-27.
"69" 3 Kai Darius Kohl 1.25a Shipped 2001-12-21.
"2001" 7? Adam Trionfo 1.35 Shipped 2002-05-03.
"34" 8? Ward Shrake 1.35 Finished Jan 2005. (May sell it later.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Notes on the Bally multicarts:
==============================
Note that only 43 Bally multicarts were ever made,
but the cart numbers do not seem to reflect that.
This is because I allowed non-sequential numbers
to be chosen by owners, at one point or another.
#69 is the highest cart number written on any
Bally label by Ward. Adam's "test cart" was given
a number of "00" as a nod to binary numbering. Ian
Baronofsky, Sean McGrail, and Kai Darius Kohl all
decided to take Ward up on "pick your favorite #"
instead of having the next number in a series.
Shipping dates are therefore a more reliable way
of knowing whose cart was made earlier, or later.
Which is one reason that info is included, above.
This bit of whimsy in the cart numbering aside,
these are all still very rare carts: less than 50
were ever made by Ward Shrake, or ever will be.
On cart labels and cart cases: two different case
styles were used. The first carts made, used Bally
cases; the later batches used cart case halves that
Ward obtained through Mike White. (New Old Stock; a
third-party company made these, back in the day. He
has the last few hundred of these empty case parts.)
When Ward was using the original cases, he used a
custom label set: one label on top, and one on the
bottom, as well. This is because these carts had a
spot for two labels. The cases from Mike, did not;
so, those carts went out with only one label each.
The style of the "bottom" label was essentially
a sort of artistic cut-away, showing the cart's
inner parts. (Adam's "test cart" was the last to
have one of these, as it used a Bally case style.)
The upper label also went through minor changes,
as time went on. Later cases had a message to the
effect that no copyright infringement was intended.
(Mike White had verbal approval to supply carts to
any interested parties, and passed that permission
on to Ward Shrake. Nothing much existed in writing:
but technically, most or all of these were "legal".
Adam Trionfo also obtained some permissions, while
he was doing Digital Archaeology for the Astrocade.)
No upgrades are available -- or necessary -- for
any of Ward's Bally Multicarts. Any warrantees
have long since expired. (Your original Astrocade
machine will likely die before the multicart, and
Mike White did such a thorough job of archiving
things, that even Jamie Fenton expressed surprise
at what Mike had . . . and Ward included!)
Version 1.3 of the Bally EPROM's data is the last
officially available cart upgrade. Everyone already
has that version. So: no upgrades. (Note that the
1.3a and 1.3b versions were essentially identical
to 1.3: Ward can't even recall what the difference
was, but assures you it wasn't "more programs". I
think it was date differences in the blank filler
areas of the cart? Whatever it was it's No Biggie.)
Ward and Adam made sure that if owners ever lost
their original DIP switch instruction sheet, for
the Bally multicart, that they're not out of luck.
Simply see the BallyAlley message board web site,
over on the "Yahoo! Groups" web site. (Membership
is required, but is free.) The latest version is
up there. Just download the file, and print it out.
Notes on the Arcadia multicarts:
================================
Note that while only 34 actual Arcadia multicarts
were ever made, some legitimate labels show silly
numbers as high as "2001". This is because Ward
had decided not to be overly anal about numbering.
He let people choose their own numbering, at least
in the beginning of the production process. Later
on he became more serious: most numbers at least
sort of match up to reality. (See shipping dates
and/or batch numbers, if it's "critical" that you
know the exact order each cart was made in.)
Whimsical numbering aside, these are all part of
a handmade cart series that never even hit a full
three dozen multicarts made: that is quite rare!
And, as with the Bally carts: no more will be made.
A few labels may have gone out with dates as late
as 2005. This is because some carts went out with
no labels, when they were first made. Replacement
labels, made later, may or may not reflect dates
when the actual carts were first made.
If you lost your DIP switch instruction sheet, see
the Arcadia2001 ("Yahoo!") message board web site:
I uploaded the very latest version of the sheet,
onto that site (see "files") for free download.
Ward is no longer offering EPROM chip upgrades or
cart repairs. However, this does not rule out a
chip upgrade from some other source. See the site
listed above, if you're technically inclined: Ward
uploaded all of the software tools he used himself,
to create the Arcadia MC's 512k EPROM files. If you
can burn your own chips, or know someone that is
capable of that, the data Ward uploaded should be
a big help. (Don't worry about voiding warrantees:
there aren't any, any more.) These carts were all
originally supplied with high quality chip sockets,
so the actual upgrade will be a very simple chip swap.
Even the back labels of the carts were made in such
a way, as to make opening these carts very simple.
Notes on the VIC-20 multicarts:
==============================
Only one was ever made. Ward came to his senses,
not long afterwards: he retired from gaming rather
than assign himself another non-rewarding project
of "Busy Work". Spent too many years in that rut
to want to continue! One of these carts was more
than enough to satisfy Ward's VIC-20 cravings. (A
number of difficult I'netters who demanded far too
much, for little or no reward, killed any hope of
this cart ever seeing an actual production run.)
Don't let it worry you, overly much, that copies
of this were never made for sale to others: this
early breadboard never did have all of the games
on it, anyway. Just a bunch of the games that Ward
liked the best, for this now-rather-ancient and
generally-not-very-much-fun computer / game system.
This multicart will stay in Ward's (trimmed-down)
personal collection, to be brought out once in a
blue moon to play a semi-decent VIC-20 game or two.
The names of any such games escape me at present:
games on, say, Ward's Atari 8-bit or Turbo-Grafx 16
will see FAR more play time, overall.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Parting advice: read the book "Walden" by Henry
David Thoreau, at some time during your life. He
came up with "Simplify, simplify!" and many other
excellent thoughts and advice. That book has been
around for over 100 years now; and is still highly
respected, all over the globe. If anything related
to these game systems last anywhere near that long,
I'll be truly flabbergasted. Priorities, people!