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Defender (Atari 2600): PSA Pop Report & Prices

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PSA has graded 100 Defender Atari 2600 copies on record — 100 sealed. PSA tracks 3 distinct production variants separately because they’re priced differently by collectors. This page is the per-game pop + price + grading reference for Defender on Atari 2600 — updated weekly from PSA’s official population data and PriceCharting’s market catalog.

Quick Facts

• Title: Defender

• Console: Atari 2600

• Variants tracked by PSA: 3

• Total PSA-graded copies: 100 (Loose: 0 · CIB: 0 · Sealed: 100)

• PriceCharting market data: available

Variant Comparison

PSA recognizes 3 distinct production variants of Defender, each tracked on its own population row because collectors value them differently.

PSA Pop by Condition

PSA tracks Defender populations independently for loose carts, complete-in-box (CIB), and factory-sealed copies — collectors price each condition separately because rarity and demand diverge sharply. Tables below show the grade-tier breakdown per condition, aggregated across 3 variants PSA recognizes for this title.

Loose Cartridge

PSA hasn’t graded any loose copies of Defender for Atari 2600 yet.

Complete in Box (CIB)

PSA hasn’t graded any cib copies of Defender for Atari 2600 yet.

Factory Sealed

Total graded: 100

Sealed summary by variant:

Factory Sealed Grade × Seal Matrix

Rows show PSA numeric grades. Columns show seal grades. Cell values are PSA population counts. Aggregated across all variants. Top observed grade: 9.6 (PSA scale extends to 10).

Per-variant grade × seal matrices

Click any variant to expand its full grade × seal breakdown.

Current Market Prices

All prices below come from PriceCharting’s public catalog as of this page’s last update. PriceCharting calculates its values from completed sales on eBay and its own marketplace — independent of any data on this page. The Sealed column reflects PriceCharting’s “manual-only” / new tier — factory-sealed retail at average condition; specific graded-sealed prices vary sharply by numeric grade + seal letter (use the Sealed eBay browse link below for grade-specific comps).

• Loose cartridge: $7.25

• Complete in Box (CIB): $18

• Sealed: $35

All 3 PSA-tracked variants share the same PriceCharting prices because PriceCharting indexes at the title level, not the variant level. Variant-specific pricing surfaces on eBay sold-comp data — check the Sealed / CIB / Loose browse links below for variant-aware market signals.

Auction House Graded Sales

Heritage Auctions and Goldin sold results below are real auction transactions for Defender on Atari 2600. They complement the PriceCharting loose / CIB / sealed benchmarks above; they are not estimates and they are not blended into PriceCharting’s ungraded market prices.

Summary rows are title-level auction sale signals, sorted by format, recency, and realized-price signal. PSA production variants can price differently, so the sale records keep each auction house’s own variant notes visible instead of pretending every auction lot maps cleanly to a PSA variant row.

High-grade games can trade years apart, so older auction records stay visible; treat the latest-sale date as part of the comp, not just the dollar amount.

Showing the top 12 auction sale signals; the sale-record table below includes every auction auction sale used on this page.

Sale records:

Listings

Each link below opens an eBay search filtered to that condition, scoped to Defender on Atari 2600. “Sold” pulls completed/sold listings (use this for price research). “Listings” pulls current active listings (use this to find a copy to buy).

• Loose Cartridge: Sold · Listings

• Complete in Box (CIB): Sold · Listings

• Factory Sealed: Sold · Listings

Why Defender Matters for Grading

Defender is one of the more heavily-graded Atari 2600 titles, with 100 PSA-graded copies on record (100 sealed). Strong submission volume signals collector demand — and grade premiums are the market’s vote on which copies are scarce. Notable: every graded copy is in the sealed condition — collectors clearly favor that condition tier for this title, and the other conditions are either ungraded territory or grade-and-flip opportunities. Sealed copies trade at roughly 4× the loose price ($35 vs $7.25). Solid spread for grading speculation if you can source a clean sealed cart. Because PSA tracks 3 variants separately, production-code identification matters before submission. The pop-by-variant breakdown above tells you which variant is the rarer find.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Defender Atari 2600 worth grading?

Mostly for sealed copies. The sealed-state population (100) outweighs CIB and loose for Defender, indicating sealed is where collector capital concentrates. CIB and loose grading is viable but margins are thinner after fees.

How rare is a graded sealed copy of Defender?

PSA tracks 100 graded sealed copies of Defender for Atari 2600. The grade-tier breakdown above shows how those split across PSA’s numeric grades — top-grade copies (9.4+) are the scarcest and typically command the strongest premiums.

Should I buy a graded or raw copy of Defender?

Depends on your goal. Graded copies cost more upfront but come with PSA’s authenticity + condition guarantee — the right move for buy-and-hold collectors. Raw copies are cheaper but require condition assessment yourself, and the grading lottery means a $50 raw cart can come back as a $25 PSA 7 OR a $200 PSA 9.4. Use the per-condition pop and price data above to calculate expected value before you commit.

Why does PSA track multiple variants of Defender?

PSA recognizes 3 distinct production variants of Defender on Atari 2600. Variants reflect real production differences — different factories (Made in Japan vs Made in Mexico), packaging die changes, ESRB-rating retrofits added partway through the console’s life, or Players Choice reissues from later runs. Collectors price them differently because rarity diverges, and PSA tracks each on its own population row so the data reflects the real market structure.

Sources

Pop counts pulled weekly from PSA Video Games population data. Prices from PriceCharting. PSA acquired WATA in July 2021 and completed the rebrand to PSA Video Games on October 20, 2025. PSA Video Games population data is the continuation of WATA’s population history. Heritage graded-sale comps come from Heritage Auctions sold archive lot pages linked in the sale-record table. Goldin graded-sale comps come from Goldin (goldin.co) sold lot pages linked in the sale-record table; Goldin prices are the lot’s final price as Goldin reports it. Rankings, medians and summaries are What The Slab analysis — How we get our numbers.

Related Resources

• Atari 2600 Game Library — every variant PSA tracks for this console, with pop + price per condition tier (loose, CIB, sealed).

• Retro Video Game Collecting — pillar with broader strategy, market dynamics, and grading economics.

More Atari 2600 pop reports & prices:

• Deadly Duck

• Death Trap

• Defender II

• Demon Attack

• Space Invaders

• Ms. Pac-Man