What’s it worth? Atari Gauntlet – Houston, Texas

In today’s edition of ‘What’s it worth?’, here is a recently ended auction on eBay for a working Atari Gauntlet in the arcade hotbed of Houston, Texas.

Atari Gauntlet – Estimating Value

Gauntlet is one of a line of hits that were released by Atari, and continues to have a strong following today. The following auction ended on eBay at the start of February 2020 – just before the Covid-19 pandemic took hold in many American cities.

Final Bid Price for Atari Gauntlet: $1,300

Reviewing condition of this machine

Overall this is a nice looking machine. The sideart is missing a chunk at the top on the right side of the cabinet, and has been completely removed on the left side. Fortunately for whoever was the buyer, high-quality Gaunlet sideart is available from the best reproduction company around in This Old Game for $125 a set (as of this writing).

Otherwise, the artwork is in good shape. There is some slight cracking on the coin door decal, but no major damage to the control panel overlay or the marquee. The artwork appears to be original, but in today’s day and age with all of the reproduction artwork available – having original artwork does add value to the original cabinet.

For buyers looking over this cabinet, there are other cosmetic details of note. There appears to be little to no rust on the coin door or the back vent – indicating that this machine has been cared for and may have avoided long periods of storage. The shroud is solid, no cracks in the plastic which also has the molded Atari logo. The monitor has screen burn, which isn’t always desirable but not a big deal as long as it doesn’t affect the user playing the game. Having original manuals is a nice added bonus, but likely doesn’t affect value all that much.

Overall – I’m a bit surprised this game didn’t go for a bit more considering the popularity and that this was in a popular urban area of Houston Texas. But if you include the cost of replacing the sideart, possibly the monitor that would be the game right in line with the value for a nice quality machine.

Here are the photos from the auction:

Closing Note – Valuing Games

If you have an Atari Gauntlet or another game that you are looking to get an up to date appraisal, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I monitor values of games across a number of different sources beyond eBay and I provide free estimates on game values, all you need to do is send along photos and a description of the condition of your game.

Here are some similar arcade posts

• Photos of Atari’s Gauntlet prototype cabinet
• What’s it worth? Atari Asteroids Deluxe – Grand Island, Nebraska
• What’s it worth? Williams Defender sold in Georgia
• What’s it worth? Sega Zaxxon sold in Cincinnati, OH
• What’s it worth? Working Omega Race

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