At a K-Mart in Massachusetts $131.88 before tax. A great price and at $27.88 Asteroids is a real bargain. Thanks to Bukanza for posting and sharing this important piece of history.
At a K-Mart in Massachusetts $131.88 before tax. A great price and at $27.88 Asteroids is a real bargain. Thanks to Bukanza for posting and sharing this important piece of history.
This is excellent! I’m amused to note that the store took a check. $211.60 was a pretty large amount of money in 1981. Good luck writing a check for that amount in a store today without several forms of ID and an extensive screening process.
GEEZUS! What is that in 2011 money??
Out of curiosity I just googled up an inflation calculator. It suggests that “What cost $211 in 1978 would cost $686.25 in 2009.” (2009 being the most recent year for which the calculator had data.) So… pretty pricey, but in-line with a modern-day first-gen machine and a few games?
[Oooh - and I did my inflation check before seeing Retro J's exclamation. Eerie!]
Wow! great find. I’m surprised to be reminded that “odd pricing” isn’t a new thing. I thought it was only walmart who priced things with .88 cents added at the end… or .44 or .55!
That kind of money buys you a top grade console with loads of games, a pretty good computer, something by Apple or maybe a wreck of a car.
Seems in line with a full system and some new games when the system is pretty new. You can get a decent collection of games with an xbox 360 or PS3 nowadays. This system had been out for ~4 years at this point — so maybe it was a bigger hit to the wallet to own a system back then.
wow! so back then K-mart employees could read AND write??!!
According to Wolfram Alpha, it would be $320.58 in today’s dollars, just for the console, and $514.37 total.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=conversion+%24131.88+1981+to+2011