Did You Call The Atari 1-900 Phone Number?

[Justin]

 

 

Did you call the Atari 1-900 phone number in 1984? I've heard very little about the Atari 1-900 number. I had always thought it was the Atari equivalent to the Nintendo Powerline that you would call for hints and tips. Now that I think about it though, that doesn't make much sense. Unlike the games NES players called the Nintendo Powerline for, most popular games available on Atari, particularly the 2600, didn't play like NES games. There weren't too many warps, hidden power ups, or "secrets to get to the next level".

 

So what exactly was the Atari 1-900 phone number? Well, possibly an enticement to order a "free" MTV jacket. There's a post about this over at The Retroist website. Check out the 1-900 commercial below:

 

 

[Justin]

Also, what's up with the Wonderbread theming going on in that commercial? It opens with a riff on the Wonderbread logo. Then a guy flying on a slice of bread? Talk of slices of bread? It's pretty strange... 

[Atari Creep]

No, but I did get in HUGE trouble for calling the Freddy Kruger 900 # a bit too much. HAHAHAHA

[RickR]

Looks to me like they put this together with MTV, who probably came up with the crazy bread theme. 

[jmjustin6]

Someone should call it now....probably disconnected though

Edited December 11, 2016 by jmjustin6

[RickR]

[AlamoAtari]

I would have been beaten senseless if I cost my parents any money traceable. However, I know a kid in my school that had that jacket. Now I know how he got it.