The Legend of SwordQuest
What started as a promotion for a new Atari game would become one of the most controversial moments in ‘80s pop culture, with a central mystery that’s consumed fans for decades: what happened to the missing SwordQuest prizes? To unlock the biggest mystery in video game history, host Jamie Loftus is going on a treasure hunt 40 years in the making.
Episodes
In the early 1980s, Atari is one of the biggest entertainment brands in the world and seeks to promote the biggest video game contest to date, promising $150,000 in prizes. But what starts out as a promising adventure quickly devolves into chaos.
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Expert gamers are invited to an all-expenses paid trip to California for the first round of Atari’s SwordQuest contest and a chance at the first treasure: a $25,000 medallion. The problem? Solving the game’s central puzzle will prove nearly impossible.
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SwordQuest players discover that being video game rock stars comes at a price. Meanwhile, delays in the contest raise suspicions among contestants that Atari may not intend to see it through to the end—and that the prizes may not even exist at all.
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Atari’s financial problems force the company to issue an ultimatum to SwordQuest players—one that may involve a top-secret gaming tournament closed to the public.
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Years after SwordQuest came to an abrupt and disappointing end, a gamer makes a surprising discovery in a Brooklyn thrift shop.
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An unreleased SwordQuest game suddenly surfaces online; the fate of the missing prizes undergoes fresh scrutiny by gaming historians.
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The trail to find the missing SwordQuest treasures leads back to one of the most controversial figures in Atari history.
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After decades of speculation, a mysterious source emerges that may solve the mystery of the missing SwordQuest treasures once and for all.
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A waste management specialist unearths thousands of Atari games buried in a New Mexico landfill. As gaming historians rejoice, he plots to turn Atari’s unwanted trash into cash.
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During its first 50 seasons, Saturday Night Live has welcomed legendary actors, superstar athletes, and notable politicians. But for one memorable night in 1977, Lorne Michaels turned the show over to an 80-year-old amateur.
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Eighty years ago, a young John F. Kennedy took a summer job as a journalist for Hearst newspapers, filing dispatches in the final days of World War II. Even the most seasoned JFK scholars often overlook this chapter, missing the influence those months had on the future president.
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