How to find out if Famicom is broken?

[The Great Famicom]

Well you're right but think about these cartridges, they can't be sold in 10packs in the next conershop and how the hell can you actually bring data on these weird plastic pieces in the carts? You probably need sophisticated equipment unlike burning a CD which can be done by everybody at home.

[untinip]

They're usually sold in Asia and eastern Europe, where they're actually quite common! And you're right, not everyone can copy carts, but the pirates have the necessary equipment and they don't make just one or two copies, they make lots and lots of them in a more or less automated process. For example, you can buy pirates games for as little as $2.63 per game including shipping from Hong Kong:
http://www.volumerates.com/cate/video-games-fc

Please note that the plastic cases on the games sold on the above mentioned site are of very low quality. I can't really recommend them...