Dive Brief:
- Reuters reports that hundreds of Atari cartridges bearing the title "E.T. the Extra Terrestrial" were excavated this weekend from a landfill in Alamogordo, NM. The dig was reinstated after being put on hold by environmental regulators in March of 2014.
- Crews dug on the scene for three hours in a 150x150-foot search area to find the rare game. Released in the 1980s, the Atari cartridges were considered a major marketing flop and the company allegedly discarded millions of unsold games.
- A documentary film is being shot about the excavation and will contain footage of the dig and include answers to many questions surrounding the video games: who threw out the games and why.
Dive Insight:
It is suspected there may be up to five million games buried at the landfill. The New York Times has reported that Atari, the company which produced the video game, discarded the unsold games at the landfill in the middle of the night, adding to the mystique of this rare game.
