The Atari 2600 – in its familiar, wood-paneled, supergroovy incarnation of the late 1970s – will have a festive Lego style in August in recognition of the console’s 40/45 anniversaries (see below), according to German Lego fan site Promobricks.
According to Promobricks (translation via Google), the toy set will include a buildable Atari VCS deck with a scene from Activision’s groundbreaking hit Pitfall!. Pitfall!, by David Crane, was video game’s first blockbuster, made for consoles, from third parties.
Pitfall! launched in 1982, the same year that Atari renamed the VCS (so there’s your 40th anniversary) as the 2600. The console was originally launched in 1977 (there is the 45). It happened five years after Allan Alcorn and Nolan Bushnell installed the first one PONG coin-operated closet in a bar in Sunnyvale, California (a 50th anniversary, for good measure).
Promobricks suggested that the fold-out scene of Pitfall! must be able to move using the joystick replica of the play set. In 2020, Lego launched an anniversary set for the Nintendo Entertainment System, which included an almost life-size representation of the console, a Super Mario Bros. Game Pak and an adorable TV with wooden legs (with analog discs and rabbit ear antenna) as a screen. Builders were able to roll Mario through a rendering of the world 1-1 by turning the crank on the side of the overall TV.
The Lego Atari 2600 has set number 10306 (Atari 50th Anniversary Gaming Console) and will sell for $ 199.99 (€ 169.99), Promobricks says. Interestingly, that price (US) is about $ 10 more, in whole dollars, than Atari VCS ‘original MSRP when it was launched in 1977. Of course, $ 189.95 in Jimmy Carter money is around $ 900 today.