Page 50 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #2

-By Lee K. Seitz-

Cleaning Your Cartridges
Cleaning Your Cartridges
Cleaning Your CartridgesCleaning Your Cartridges

F people, I can't guarantee that you see. Alcohol evaporates
quickly but as you know, water
something totally weird won't hap-
doesn't. Water causes corro-
pen when you try them, so please
inally, after months of
searching, you find a new
Okay, the first rule of cart clean-
and sought after cartridge for your don't blame me. sion so the less, the better.
As you have probably
collection. You take it home, plug it ing is don't blow into them! Al- guessed by now, simply take a
in your system, and. . .nothing! though I don't know of any studies cotton swab and dip it in the al-
The game appears to be dead. that prove it, the conventional wis- cohol. Then rub it up and down
Maybe it's just dusty. You take it dom is that all you're doing is along the contacts. You will
out, blow on it, and try again. Still blowing moisture right onto probably be surprised by how
nothing. Your sense of euphoria the contacts, which will only black the swab becomes. Now
has been dashed by a cruel jest make them corrode faster. Al- whatever you do, don't dip it
of the fates. Or maybe not! though it may seem that you’re back in the alcohol because
Just like everything else, blowing the dust out of them and then you'll just contaminate it.
cartridges get dirty over making a cartridge that didn't work You can, however, rotate the
time. How dirty depends a second ago work now, it was swab to a clean area as you rub.
mainly on the environment they're probably just the fact that you re- You'll end up with three or four
kept in, but you probably only care seated the contacts by taking it out "sides" to your swab. While I'm at
whether they work or not. and putting it back in. If you must it, I also clean the inside of the car-
Well, first let me suggest that blow into them, try using a tridge around the contacts so
you clean all the carts you find be- can of compressed air from the dust there doesn't settle
cause some of the dirt on the con- your local electronics back on them.
tacts is going to stay in your con- store. This is exactly Oh, but you can't get to
sole's cartridge slot. Using only what those cans were the contacts because
clean cartridges will help prolong created for. there's just more black plas-
your system's life. (Think of it as There is a better, tic on that end? Okay, then
"safe sex" for your video game sys- more thorough way, al- that's probably an Atari-
tem(s).) though it's not as fast. made Atari 2600 cart. If
Before I proceed, I must say First, go to your local you look closely, you'll see
that neither Classic Gamer Maga- pharmacy and buy some two tabs sticking out at
zine nor I take any responsibility for cotton swabs and a small each end next to a "hole."
any damage you might do to your bottle of isopropyl alco- Take something like a nail
cartridges following any of the ad- hol. The higher the file or knife and carefully
vice below. Although the tech- percentage of alcohol, the better. poke it into one of those holes.
niques described work for most The rest of the solution is water, (Continued on page 62)
Classic Gamer Magazine Winter 2000 50