Atari video game burial — 1983 mass burial of unsold video game cartridges in New Mexico
The Atari video game burial became a cultural symbol of the 1983 video game crash and the commercial collapse of Atari, Inc.
Key Facts
- Date of burial
- September 26, 1983
- Estimated cartridges buried
- ~700,000 cartridges of various games
- Cartridges recovered (2014)
- ~1,300
- Excavation date
- April 26, 2014
- Burial location
- Landfill, Alamogordo, New Mexico
- Documentary produced
- Atari: Game Over (Fuel Industries/Microsoft)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Atari, Inc. suffered a catastrophic fiscal year in 1983, driven by poor-selling titles such as the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial game and the critically panned Atari 2600 port of Pac-Man, contributing to the broader video game crash of 1983 and forcing parent company Warner Communications to sell off the division.
In September 1983, Atari, Inc. transported hundreds of thousands of unsold video game cartridges, consoles, and computers to a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where they were buried and covered with concrete. The event was little publicized at the time and was widely doubted or dismissed as urban legend for decades.
The burial became a cultural reference point for corporate failure and the 1983 video game crash. In 2014, a publicly documented excavation confirmed the burial's existence, recovering roughly 1,300 cartridges; proceeds from their auction were directed toward a museum commemorating the event.