Buying an ATARI 65XE on holiday

On the way to our holiday I was already making plans to build a collection of every type of 8-bit ATARI, including period Czech ATARI literature. Because of the intense heat, trips were practically impossible during the holiday, so I devoted myself fully to browsing every ATARI-related website and discussion forum I could find. My enormous enthusiasm for building a collection of Atari computers showed no sign of fading.

I registered on the Allegro auction site after spotting a nice ATARI 65XE in its original packaging, complete with joystick and XC12 cassette recorder. It was offered at a fixed price that seemed reasonable, so I bought the computer straight away. By coincidence, the seller lived in a nearby Polish town, so we arranged for me to collect it in person the very next day. Why waste time? 🙂

We turned collecting the computer into a family trip. The owner gave us a warm welcome and invited us into his home. He works in computer-game distribution and also has his own collection of old computers, game consoles and mobile phones. The computer was complete and the XC12 recorder had been modified for accelerated TURBO Blizzard game loading. Unfortunately, the original cartridge was missing 🙁