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Atari buried surplus cartridges and other inventory in an Alamogordo, New Mexico, landfill in 1983. The often-cited quantity is about 700,000 cartridges, but it is an estimate—not a verified inventory count. In 2015, 881 recovered cartridges sold through eBay auctions for $107,930.15. Those 881 were only a portion of the excavation finds, not the number buried.
What Atari buried in Alamogordo
Atari disposed of surplus cartridges and other inventory at the Alamogordo landfill in 1983. The event was reported at the time, then acquired the reputation of an urban legend. The burial was real: an excavation in 2014 recovered Atari material, including game cartridges. New Mexico Magazine later quoted witness Joe Lewandowski describing it as “one of the biggest urban legends of all time.” (New Mexico Magazine; Smithsonian Magazine)
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| 1 |
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Lot of 25 Atari 2600 Games All Different Titles | $99.95 | Buy on Amazon |
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Atari 2600 Game Cartridge - Pac Man | $15.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Centipede - Atari 2600-2676 - Video Game - Cartridge Only - 1982 | $35.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Atari 2600 - Asteroids | $35.00 | Buy on Amazon |
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Atari Berzerk 2600+ | $31.09 | Buy on Amazon |
How many cartridges were buried?
About 700,000 is a reasonable rounded description, not a precise count. Parade reported in 2026 that former Atari manager James Heller put the figure at 728,000; New Mexico Magazine used “nearly 800,000” in 2025. These are attributed estimates with different degrees of rounding, not a reconciled inventory tally. (Parade; New Mexico Magazine)
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What the 2014 excavation found
The excavation associated with the documentary Atari: Game Over recovered more than E.T. cartridges. A contemporaneous Ars Technica field report described E.T., Centipede, Atari catalogs and promotional material among the finds. It also noted that participants were uncertain about the full contents and condition of the buried material. (Ars Technica)
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Published accounts do not agree on one total for the number recovered: New Mexico Magazine reports 1,382, while a Smithsonian podcast search result gives 1,178. The accessible evidence does not establish a definitive excavation-wide count, so neither figure should be treated as settled. (New Mexico Magazine; Smithsonian)
What the 881 eBay sales brought in
In 2015, 881 cartridges recovered from the landfill were sold through eBay auctions for a combined $107,930.15. Ars Technica reported that $65,037.78 went to Alamogordo and $16,259.44 to the Tularosa Basin Historical Society; shipping charges exceeded $26,000. The highest single-cartridge sale was $1,535. These auction figures describe the 881 sold, not all cartridges buried or all material recovered. (Ars Technica)
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to tell an excavation artifact from a regular E.T. cartridge
A standard Atari 2600 E.T. cartridge is not automatically a landfill collectible. Provenance is the key distinction: the Smithsonian’s record for one excavated E.T. cartridge says it bears a City of Alamogordo serial number certifying its origin in the excavation. The city’s 2014 auction description, reproduced by ABC News, said cartridges were sold as-is and might not be operable after burial. An excavation claim should therefore be supported by documentation, and provenance alone does not establish that a cartridge is playable. (Smithsonian; ABC News)
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