Forget Pokémon Go...the real fun is finding an old Atari in the attic and selling it for £700

POKEMON GO may end up being a passing craze but old computer games and consoles still have collectible value. Prices for old games are rising as a result of nostalgia for an era when part of the fun was wasting hours waiting for downloads of basic but strangely addictive games.

For many people, their baptism into the world of computer games came with the wood-veneered Atari 2600 that came out in 1982 and plugged into the back of a TV.

These can now sell for as much as £700 in pristine condition while long-forgotten cartridge games – ET for example – that are slotted into the console can sell for £25.

Another console that changed the way computers were used was the Sinclair ZX81 of 1981 and a year later the ZX Spectrum. These can both sell for £200 if with their original box.

The 1984 Amstrad Computer CPC464 can sell for more than £500 if in excellent condition – with old game favourites such as Chuckie Egg costing a tenner. Sega Saturn was released in 1995 and can sell for more than £500 – above the £400 original sales price, according to research by website TotallyMoney. Another short-lived wonder – the handheld Game Gear launched by Sega in 1991 – changes hands for more than £300. The Neo Geo console from 1990 bombed on launch due to its £450 price tag, but it now sells for £700.