Rarity / Collectors Guide - For Handheld Electronic Games

[vcoleiro1]

Ive got a suggestion I'd like peoples feedback on. I'd like to work as a community to develop a Rarity Guide for Handheld Electronic Games. Perhaps all games up until 1989 (we can discuss this). I know there is a little bit of info in the FAQ here , but IMHO, this hobby really, really needs a concise list of games (including foreign) and there rarity. I think it would be good for the hobby and if nothing else, give us all something to do and bring some life back into this forum.

Perhaps even a Collectors guide section would be good also. Basically if your new to collecting Handhelds , it would take you about 6 months collecting and reading posts on this forum to get an idea of what is collectable and what isn't. Everyone knows about the AV, however, unless you have done your research you wouldn't know about the Palmtex Super Micro , Epoch Fights of the Titan , Defender Strikes etc etc. These are the most collectable games in this hobby, but if your new to the hobby you wouldn't have a clue, and proably wouldn't for 6 months . A collectors guide section would be handy and IMHO - absolutely required for this hobby.

I hate to say it, but I get the feeling this hobby is dying. I have seen so many collectors sell up in the last year its crazy. This forum is all but deserted, with often days going by without even a post by anyone. Lets kick start this hobby again shall we, and get some enthusiasm back . Lets work together to create a Rarity and Collectors guide thus bringing life back into this forum. Then share the guide with others outside of this community so that others can learn and become involved and join in on this great hobby

As an idea of how it could be done - and I like to hear others ideas to -. Perhaps a group of us can each work on a list of a certain companies games . Then determine the rarity of these games based on factors like how often they have appeared on ebay in the last year or something like that. Rate them and then swap there list with someone else to cross check. Perhaps we could all then work together to come up with a collectors guide on the most collectable games. Just an idea

Whats does everyone think?

[MrBland]

Personally I love this idea, though to be honest I thought of the "Museum" as this in a way.I guess a little more info on actual rarity of each item would be nice, though on the sought after games this is often referred to in some way in the description.

What I would value even more than actual rarity would be value (though of course they are linked). As I start buying games I like, it would be nice to know if I am paying too much. Of course value is a really hard thing to nail down and it changes a lot...

[blanka]

[nicknicknickandnick]

For me, I collect what I like the look of mostly. By "collectible" sometimes people mean akin to an investment, which isn't a good place to start a hobby if some of the 1990s comic book excesses have shown us.

I have kept track of a wide variety of games for a few years at eBay.com, in box with instructions, because that maximizes perceived value (or collectibility). The Nintendo Game and Watch series, despite not very rare on average, has a lot of people chasing them, and so can sell for hundreds. Another definition of collectible are games that help define the art of design of a period, yet are ignored or overlooked, and so are somewhat rare yet do not get much demand or money -- coming to mind are Lakeside's Computer Perfection and Castle's Tactix.

Another aspect of collectibility is tie-in with something in popular culture. Tomy's Tron, Mattel's Battlestar Galactica Space Alert, and many famous arcade game versions get many people interested. I have seen Tiger games of the recent LCD type that to my eye look kind of junky in design of shape sell for tens of dollars just because at least a couple of people are interested in the tie-in aspect.

Anyway, the forum seems to be humming steadily to me, maybe more so than a couple of years ago. It was never super busy anyway.

[Dan]

I still expect the hobby to take off in the coming years. I read recently that nostalgic popularity resurgences occur at the 40 year mark, and ground zero for handhelds was circa 1980, so I guess I'll keep storing my doubles (and triples, and quadruples...) for a while yet!

[GameHoarder]

I have noticed that many of the game items that I have collected have gone up in value since I bought them. And the BE$T part of it is that I payed far under the going prices at the time.

I have done much the same with the obsolete badges I started collecting less then 2 years ago. I got in on the ground floor on that one as the "deals" I found back in the start don't show up much anymore.
Badge collecting is a growing hobby as there are more and more that become interested in "areas" that use "badges of authority".

I have a few other nice collections that are going up in value far more then down over the years.

When I first bought my property the scrap metal price was around $5.00 a ton. It went up to $8.00 a ton, then $20.00, $85.00 and on up to over $300.00 a ton.

I never scraped the yard as I knew the price would go up more then down over the years. Besides, I had better things to do with my time and energy. Makes another nice nest egg anywho

I'm saving my favorite and most interesting collections like my games, badges and other more valuable items for my older old age

[kisember]

[vcoleiro1]

Let me put it this way, for starters , if you read my initial post I talk about not only putting together a guide which has rarity , but also a guide for what is collectible. I should add that I never mentioning anything about putting pricing in the guide - where did that come from?.

In relation and in direct response to rarity differing based on where your at, um, collecting in this hobby is world wide. So basically I'm saying you can define the rarity of something based on its world wide availability .But again, the guide would also be about what's collectible. For example the adventure vision is not as rare as some other games , but it is very collectible and valuable.

The whole point to the guide was to get the whole community together in creating the guide . therefor provide a guide that newbies could use to get into the hobby thus getting more people involved.

[Rik]

Um, this game is clearly listed as:
Incredibly Rare ++
IR is the rarest declaration in the FAQ
++ indicates the games is VERY desirable for 'play value and looks'

IR++ is highest rarity rating there is in the FAQ, and this game is clearly market that way...

Some of the rarity ratings do need to be updated as the FAQ was largely created about 10 years ago, but I think most of the IR, IR+ and IR++ games have retained their rarity status...

[vcoleiro1]

Rik, Kisember might have given a bad example above , but the point still remains that most games are not rarity rated at all. A better example would be Defender Strikes which along with most games just has FO (Foreign - unrated) as its rating.

The fact of the matter is that most games in the FAQ are unrated for rarity. The games that are rated in the FAQ seem fair enough, I don't think anyone is questioning the accuracy for those that are rated . In fact the FAQ would be a good leg up and starting point to putting together a guide.

If you where a newbie to the hobby , you'd have to spend a year absorbing info and guessing which games are rare and collectable or even fun for that matter. Thus why I say we need a complete rarity and collectors (+ fun games) guide. It will bring more people into the hobby, and man is it needed.

[MrBland]

If I'm reading this correctly, it sounds like everyone loves the database that is here on Handheld Museum, but would like to have a more thorough rarity rating system. So why not just start a thread and people can start rating games they are familiar with from 1-10, 10 being most rare. Maybe a P for prototypes. Then if Rik wanted he could use the ratings and add them to the database. Some items people would give different rating of course, but with multiple people giving feedback you could get a good idea of the rarity.

EDIT:
Ok, I feel kind of stupid . This whole time I have only been looking at the "Museum" which only occasionally mentions rarity. I just finished reading over the "FAQ" which is a very nice catalogue of games, rarity, and about everything else you would want to know. I now really don't see a need for another list... maybe we could start a thread for updating the FAQ though. Fill in gaps or update old info.

Nice list by the way Rik and Clinton. It is very easy to reference with good simple info

[Rik]

[MrBland]

I think I like the idea of updating the games website. That way you have the pics/history/etc. and ratings all in one spot. Kind of a one stop shop for learning about a particular game. Then also update and keep up the "FAQ" list for quick easy referencing.

If a numbered system is used, I think the "++", "--", etc. should be kept to reference desirability. That is a nice feature in the "FAQ" I hadn't thought of before.

I would love to see the "List 1" and "List 2" ideas also. Since I am starting out in this era of handhelds, it would give me a fun area to focus on first.

[vcoleiro1]

[Rik]