The Great Video Game Burial: Why Atari Entombed Thousands of Cartridges In An Alamogordo Landfill

In 1983, at the height of the video game crash, Atari buried hundreds of thousands of unsold video game cartridges, consoles, and equipment in a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The infamous mass burial included the notorious flop E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial along with titles like Pac-Man, Centipede, Defender, and more. What started as a practical disposal of excess inventory from Atari’s El Paso plant quickly became one of gaming’s greatest urban legends. For decades, stories claimed millions of E.T. cartridges were secretly dumped in the New Mexico desert. In 2014, an excavation for the documentary Atari: Game Over finally confirmed the truth, recovering roughly 1,300 cartridges and other artifacts from the site. This episode of The Tom Gulley Show digs into the real story behind the Atari video game burial: why it happened, what was actually buried, the local scavengers who found free games, the concrete cover-up, and how the dig turned legend into history. Explore the video game crash of 1983, Atari’s dramatic downfall, and the lasting cultural impact of the Alamogordo landfill. If you love retro gaming history, 1980s nostalgia, Atari 2600 stories, or forgotten chapters of video game lore, this one is for you. Like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell for more deep dives into gaming’s most fascinating moments. #AtariBurial #Alamogordo #ETAtari #VideoGameCrash #Atari2600 #RetroGaming #GamingHistory #NewMexico #AtariLandfill #VideoGameGraveyard thetomgulleyshow.com