Durability of Atari Cartridges

ARE ATARI 2600 CARTRIDGES DURABLE?

Q. I have seen a lot of talk recently about making backups of games,
   and having copiers for them.  Why would someone want to back up a
   game?  Do they get erased or something?  I have played on almost every

   system imaginable, and have never had the actual game erased (although

   on Baseball Stars for the NES, the data got erased all the time).

   Can someone help me understand this?

A. It's easy. They want to make a quick buck off you being scared that 
your
   game is going to get erased.  I don't think it's even legal to make a 

   backup copy of a ROM (but of course, who would care with an Atari           
game?)
  
   I read in some software copyright law book that ROMs are considered
   "durable" and so making a backup copy isn't necessary (like it is with

   magnetic media.)

   Backing up an Atari cartridge is absurd. The games are stored in ROM.
   That's solid state (one chunk of silicon with different concentrations

   of ions implanted into it to make transistors.) You cannot corrupt the

   data because you can't move the ions around in the silicon lattice
   (just like it's impossible to move the colors around in a chunk of
   granite.  You can't do it unless you break it up into pieces.)  The
   metal pins on the ROM package are connected to certain places on the
   silicon by tiny wires. Plastic (or ceramic) is poured over all that 
and
   formed into the ROM package.  It's all one chuck of plastic and metal 
with
   no holes, no spaces, and no mechanically unstable parts! The ROM is 
then
   soldered into place on the little printed circuit board (PCB) and then

   mounted in the plastic casing of the cartridge.

   There are only 2 ways that I can think of that an Atari cart can go 
bad.

   1. If a large voltage or static charge is taken across a transistor 
will
      get "fried" (caused by so many electrons moving through a small 
space
      at once that the physical properties of the silicon are changed in
      that area of the chip.)

   2. There is corrosion on the metal contacts on the game's PCB that 
keeps
      electrons from flowing easily from the Atari console to the game's
      PCB.  That can be fixed by cleaning off the corrosion with a pencil

      eraser, a Q-tip with alcohol, or a very fine sandpaper if it's 
_really_
      bad.

   I have over 2,000 Atari carts and I've only found a couple that don't 
work
   after they're cleaned.

   Exactly how durable are Atari carts?  I thought I'd see for myself...

   I took a combat cart that was made in the 32nd week of 1981 (you can 
tell
   by reading a little number code printed on the ROM) and did some          

  experiments on it to see what how much abuse it could take and still 
work.

   1. I took the cart and dropped it out of my 2nd story window onto the
      cement 5 times. The plastic part of the cart was in pieces, but the

      game still worked.

   2. I put the cartridge back together as best I could and put it out in

      the street.  It got run over by a jeep. I took it inside and it 
still
      worked. At this point there was nothing left but the PCB with the
      ROM soldered on it (and a metal cover that went over the ROM.)

   3. I then put the PCB in boiling water for 5 minutes, took it out and
      immediately packed it in a snowball that I made out of frost from 
my
      freezer. After 5 minutes in the frost ball, I broke all the ice off

      it and plugged it into my Atari...  It worked!

   4. I have this magnet that's so strong that if you hold it within 
about
      1.5 feet from a TV screen all the color gets sucked to one side of 
the
      screen! Well, I took that magnet and rubbed it all over the PCB and 

      ROM. Plugged it in...  and it worked!

   5. Next, I took a lighter and held the ROM right above the flame. I 
left
      it there for a few minutes until the ROM was smoking and giving off

      a nasty smell.  I cleaned off all the soot and plugged it in and it

      still worked.

   6. Okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy!  I took it outside and had 3 cars run 
over
      it, I threw it up as high as I could and had it land on the cement
      twice, and I threw it down onto the cement as hard as I could 
twice.
      this point the metal cover that goes over the ROM had broken off, 
the
      PCB was chipped on all the corners, the ROM was smashed onto the 
PCB    								                                                                                                

      so that the pins were all squished on one side and were being 
pulled out
      of solder on the other side.  I had to straighten out the pins so 
that
      none were touching each other and I had to hold the PCB together in 
one
      place so that the metal contacts would be in the right place when I

      plugged the game in.  Guess what... it _still_ worked!!

   7. It had taken heat extremes, shock, and magnetism. Next up was some
      electricity.  I took the Atari power supply (9V, 500mA) and 
connected
      some alligator clips to the output terminals of the power supply. 
      Then, I rubbed the other end of the alligator clips across the 
metal
      contacts on the game's PCB.  I tried a bunch of different 
      combinations and always had both alligator clips touching the PCB
      contacts so that electricity would be flowing.  I plugged the game
      back in and much to my surprise it still worked!

   8. I grabbed my hammer, laid the game down on the cement and gave it
      a good smack. The ROM cracked right in half breaking the silicon 
wafer.
      I plugged the game in and of course it had died on that one.

    It took all that abuse to ruin a 13 year old Atari game. I'd say 
they're
    pretty damn durable!