New Mexico dig starts soon for Atari’s poorly received E.T. video game

Far from Raiders of the Last Ark, a team of gaming fans plans to dig up a New Mexico landfill this month in search of what some consider to be the worst video game ever made.

Legend has it that Atari, one of videogaming’s earliest pioneers, buried millions of copies of its E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial game in an Alamogordo landfill in 1983. The game, based on the movie E.T. was such a commercial flop that many say it doomed Atari.

Now, a team of employees who work with Microsoft’s Xbox gaming system are planning an April search for the discarded cartridges. The team is set to make a documentary about their quest, and say the public is welcome to look on as they dig.

The Alamogordo landfill is currently closed, but city officials agreed to allow the dig as long as they get to keep the bulk of the games discovered, the Alamogordo News reported.

The search is set to begin on April 26.