You're wasting your time and your money on toys/junk

ShadowFlame76

What do you say to people that tell you that? especially if it's your friends and/or family saying it to you..

Neil UK · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 9:51 am Post subject:

Welcome to the Forum Smile

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I believe my wife thinks I'm a bit daft collecting all my games but she appreciates it's a nice safe hobby and that if I buy wisely I shouldn't loose any money as I could quite possibly sell them in the future for more than I paid for them. (not that I have any plans of doing so Wink

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Just tell them they are a long term investment that are fun to use and collect, and there are a great bunch of like minded people on the net from all over the world who you enjoy conversing with and who will help you nurture your collection.

We get to enjoy the unique technology from a very limited time in history as games like these will never be made again and we are also doing our bit to save the planet by finding good homes to the thousands of lumps of plastic etc that would otherwise end up in landfill sites around the world Sad

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I personally can't think of a better hobby especially if you had some of the games as a child. I don't think people younger than about 30 can really appreciate the joy and wonder of playing a (now) simple game such as Blip (the Digital game!) . We had seen nothing like them before and therefore they made a much greater impression on our lives.

Best of luck with your collection!

Neil.

ShadowFlame76 · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:42 am Post subject:

Thanks, i just bought some of the Coleco tabletops games off of ebay.. i got
1. Frogger
2. PacMan
3. Donkey Kong and Zaxxon

and also bought Q*Bert from Parker Brothers (I posted my Q*Bert score on the high scores Q*Bert page), I used to have Q*Bert and Pacman back in the 80s along with over 20 handhelds.. but i was young and they got lost and/or broken.. sigh.. and they are so expensive now, It's very hard to find any of them decently priced on ebay. There is a store on ebay called 70s80s80s handhelds they have tons of them but the prices are just ridiculous

Rik · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:23 pm Post subject:

I guarantee you that for every person that says something like that, you can think of an equal comeback... Do they drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes? Both of those are complete wastes of money, but people do it because they enjoy it. Do you know any women with over 200 pairs of shoes, and only 2 feet? Seems ridiculous to me, but she obviously enjoys having them. Ever spend $50-100 or more on two people to eat out at a restaurant when there's perfectly good peanut butter and jelly at home? What a waste! (But I bet it tasted pretty good! Mr. Green

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Surely almost everyone out there collects something... Why is their figurine, comic book, sports memorabilia, autograph collection, DVD collection, etc, etc any less a 'waste of money on junk' than your game collection?

Just simply tell them it's something you enjoy doing, and for that reason it's worth the money. I've found myself several times lightly criticizing the amount of money a friend spends on something I think is a bit of a waste... But I will usually, in the same sentence, say 'But I waste a lot more on old games and toys, so I can't really talk'. Cool

I can definitely see that spending money on games is a complete waste to other people, but they should at least realize there's something they spend money on that I probably think is a complete waste, so it evens out...

And for most of is, it's collecting memories! I grew up having, playing and wanting these games. A lot of people seem to want to buy the things they wanted as a child when they get old enough to afford them on their own... For us it's 'silly little games and toys'!

Rik

ShadowFlame76 · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 9:04 pm Post subject:

Oh i agree with you and Neil, I like the handhelds and tabletops.. I also like the older consoles, have a NES, SNES, Dreamcast, Genesis, Sega Master System, ok and i also have a Wii and DS with a bunch of games for each console and i've posted my tabletop games above..

I'm looking for

Coleco's Galaxian and Ms. Pac-Man. they're on ebay but for like $150+.. too expensive for me..

what hand held games could you recommend? i like action/adventure/shooters..

i used to have
1943
Knight Rider
Narc
Airwolf
Defender
9 of those "Tiger" games
a blue dual screen game called Pirate! (can't remember who made it)
Some of Nintendo's Game and Watches.. (ungodly pricey on ebay)
a lot of others i can't recall..

oh, i forgot to mention i also picked up some Nelsonic watch games:

1. Super Mario Bros (black)
2. Zelda (black)
3. Starfox (black)

Dan · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 6:10 am Post subject:

Panic Button · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 9:04 am Post subject:

Handheld electronic games from the late 70s to the mid eighties are important from a cultural perspective in that they were the first manifestation of the computer games industry which now dwarfs the mighty Hollywood in terms of global sales. So by collecting vintage handhelds you are collecting the first examples of a revolution in leisure time and im sure that their value will only rise as their importance becomes recognised by younger generations of gamers who will want to explore the world of retro gaming and get their hands on such quaint handheld antiques. Moreover their funky shapes and designs, retro graphics and marquee art capture the 80s zeitgeist where 'digital' was all the rage and we were starting to catch a glimpse of the world of the future. Furthermore, as most handhelds weren't cartridge based, but dedicated to one game, the look & feel of the units was a critical part of helping them sell. Exotic shapes and colourful art perhaps helped draw attention away from simplistic gameplay and graphics - and in the wake of Star Wars, every teenage boy wanted a slice of a science fiction future in their bedroom. Like LED watches before them, they flourished briefly before being superseded. And what came after wasn't nearly as interesting from a visual/design perspective, as the only thing different between computer games or console cartridges is the art on the front of the box - aside from the order of the 1s and 0s of their contents of course!

Junk my arse!

As for ebay stores such as sexysis - stay well clear! The prices are generally way over the odds crazy. As long as you're patient you can pick up stuff a lot cheaper by bidding for it. That and bidding is more fun! Also, remember that boxed examples will generally command higher prices. There are 2 schools of view here. One is 'it must be boxed or i'm not interested'. Down that road, wallet pain lies. As I've mentioned on another thread already, why pay so much money for cardboard?

ShadowFlame76 · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 11:39 am Post subject:

do you guys have any tricks to winning bids? if i am not in front of my computer and bidding at the last 20 seconds i lose the auctions, so i usually don't bother putting a max bid in as someone will always go over it.. also, do you guys know of any sellers on ebay that are reasonable to good with their prices? whether through auction or buy it now..

I'm attempting to get Galaxian.. and there are 2 Nintendo game and watches that aren't very high priced through the bidding yet, but as we all know in the last 30 seconds before auction ends the bids will sky rocket the price up.

I wish there was another place that was like ebay that would have these classic games..

also how much are you guys willing to spend on one game? and what are the best ones to look for?

Rik · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 1:19 pm Post subject:

If you bid on eBay a lot, it's worth it to sign up for a service like AuctionStealer ( www.auctionstealer.com ). With this service, you put in your maximum bid, and the service will post the bid to eBay about 10 seconds before the auction ends. You don't have to worry about forgetting about it, or being at your computer, it does it all for you. And, if you decide at the last minute you don't want the item (or you want to lower/raise your bid), all you have to do is edit the entry.

You can sign up for free and use it 3 times a week (or month, I forget) to see if you like it...

Check the items forsale by sexysis and chickeneater and people like that regularly. While a lot of their prices might seem kind of high, I've found that all of them will list things very reasonably as well. I think they list things at a hopeful price, and then lower them over time until someone bites. Cool

But they seem to be the only regulars that list things in the store format.

Also, check out www.chasethechuckwagon.com . It's an auction site (much like eBay) created by a group of vintage gamers that just got fed up with eBay... It's vintage gaming only, so it's pretty cool... Probably more console games like Atari, ColecoVision and such, but they have a handheld section too... As popularity increases, it'll just get bigger.

Rik

Neil UK · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 2:54 pm Post subject:

Shadowflame76, here is a working Coleco Ms Pacman for $39.95 BIN or make him an offer.

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-CO.....286.c0.m14

Neil.

ShadowFlame76 · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 4:38 pm Post subject:

Thanks to Rik for the mention of the other site and to Neil for the heads up about the Ms. Pac-Man game Smile

and of course, thanks to everyone that has posted their opinions and thoughts in this thread i do like hearing (reading) them.

about that Ms. Pac-Man.. anyway to fix the bubbling issue it has on the decals? and it's missing the top one, but it's at least affordable and supposidly in working order.. Razz

EDIT: Nevermind the seller doesn't ship to Canada..so the hunt continues for a decent priced Coleco Ms. Pac-Man and a Coleco Galaxian (though i may have a Galaxian soon).. i have the others.. except Donkey Kong Jr. but since it's not an arcade conversion i don't really miss not having it..

tanatron · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 8:09 am Post subject:

ShadowFlame76 · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:02 am Post subject:

I think once i am able to get a Coleco Galaxian, Ms. Pac-Man and possibly an Excalibur's Space Invaders i am going to be done with this for awhile.. it's too expensive and it's frustrating trying to win things on ebay now.

i am looking for the games mentioned above (well i think space invaders is available in stores still)

anyways, i put a request in on the "games wanted" thread.. for Ms. Pacc-Man and Galaxian..

hopefully someone can help me out with getting these 2 remaining colecos.

Thank You.

blue6demon · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:03 pm Post subject:

Well this one is reasonable for the time being :
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110299374910
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Keep on playing... no matter what !

ShadowFlame76 · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:14 pm Post subject:

I'll keep an eye out on that Ms. Pac-Man since there is still about a week in the auction.

Well I was able to get Galaxian complete with the box, Styrofoam and instructions.. (not that i really need those as my other Coleco games are just the games only) i'd tell you how much i paid, but before i do.. what is something like that really worth?