Here's What The Ultra-Rare Atari Cosmos Is Worth Today

Many different Atari consoles have been created to date, including an unreleased console. This was known as the Atari Cosmos, and its creation began in 1978 and ended in 1981, with the idea being thrown out (via Atari HQ). The console had been slated for release at the time, but the exact date wasn't set. The Atari Cosmos' main feature was that it included holographic images from its screen, as explained on Atari HQ. However, these were pretty primitive to what you may imagine a holograph to be. There were also only one or two holograms included per game, while the rest of the game was played out in 2D on the LED screen. 

A lot of research went into producing these holograms, though. Yet critics were less than impressed by them and, in fact, believed they took too much attention away from the true gameplay on the console. Seemingly, Atari took these critics opinion's to heart, as they eventually decided to pull the plug on the Cosmos. This was despite the console's release being at the ready, with hundreds of housing shells already created, marketing being done, and years of work invested. 

Being an unreleased console, you might imagine the Atari Cosmos is hard to come by. Today, only six of them are known to exist (via Handheld Museum), while only three are actually in fully working condition. The other three are simply non-functional prototypes. One of these partially working Atari Cosmos was actually put up on eBay, after being found in a storage unit around San Francisco in 2010, and it was sold for $7500. Unfortunately, this is likely the only sale of a working Atari Cosmos console that will happen in a while as they are very rare to find. Another working Cosmos console belongs to Curt Vendel at the Atari Historical Society, and the third is owned by a former Atari employee. 

However, you may be able to come across an important piece of the Cosmos' legacy. In 2007, an ex-Atari employee, Dan Kramer, sold 18 of the hologram screens used on the console at $30 a piece, as reported by Wired. Although these are slightly less rare, they are a better bet to find than the Cosmos console itself. 

Besides the $7500 sale for a half-working unit, it's hard to tell what the true value of an Atari Cosmos these days would be. If one of these ever does go up for sale again, especially a fully functional one, it's safe to say it won't be cheap.