Ethan, Thanks for the feedback regarding cleaning cartridges - that is often an issue but I do not think the games are the problem in this instance since they work on my Atari 800XL. My understanding is the XE is supposed to boot to Galaxian as a built-in game and if the keyboard is attached it should automatically boot and let you choose between BASIC and Galaxian. Can anyone confirm if this is true? I have no previous experience with the XE so this is all based on what I read online so far. Can anyone provide insight into what is special about the Star Raiders cartridge since from what I have seen online there is something about it that lets it boot when other games won't. David