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The Thrill of the Hunt

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I'm going to shift the focus of this blog. I gotta be honest, there is only so much I can bitch about concerning videogame retail. It's the same stuff, different day every day. The faces change, but the stories are all the same. Hence the whole nine posts since this started.

So instead, I'm going to share my shopping experiences. You are so interested, ADMIT IT!
Most of what I sell is from trade ins or clearance sales. But a small part of it comes from me hitting up various other shops, thrifts, garage sales and so on. I usually go home upset at the wasted time and gas, but every once in a while I find something really good and or cool and it reinvigorates my determination. Did I ever tell you about the time I found Aero Fighters for SNES for $5? Or the CIB Spider Man Web of Fire for $8? Yeah, I know I have. Often.

Today, the first place I hit up was a joint called Tom's Bargain Stop. This place sells everything, and by that, I mean EVERYTHING. Tools, motorized wheel chairs, replica swords...you name it. It's very dirty and very disorganized and is really a dump. I love it. Classic games are all one price, no matter the title and the guy will give a discount of you grab a few things. It was this place that last week I got these:
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for all of $20.
I dug into all the nooks and crannies, but the most interesting thing I found was Super Mario World for $5. I sell them for $15, so the profit was worthwhile, but it was covered in rental stickers and magic marker and I've a decent amount of them already. I left it for someone who might actually want it.
I was about to leave, but decided to dig through a shelf of 8 tracks and pc games (it makes sense that they would be stored next to each other, right?). This caught my eye.
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I love Vonnegut, and though this is completely worthless; it was sealed and only $2. I bought it.
I was heading out the door when I saw a nerd taking pics of my car. I had to take a pic of a guy taking a pic of my car. Of course I missed the shot I wanted. Here he is walking away after taking four different shots. I love the attention that car gets me!
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I stopped at two different thrift stores after Toms. One had a fat ps2 with a few junk games. They wanted $75. Fools.

Since I was sort of in the area, I drove out to one of our satellite stores. I don't usually go to other Game Craze's because we all tend to be on top of things, so there's little likelihood that I will find something cheap enough to flip. HOWEVER, since I'm on an NES kick and I'm not looking them just to resell, I wanted to see what they might have.
They didn't have much CIB, but I did grab
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and
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for $5 a pop. The boxes aren't as nice as I'd like, but they'll do until I find something better.

Here's the thing with me and collections. I tend to enjoy the hunt more than actually playing the game. So to help balance myself, I've instituted a few rules for this NES kick I'm on.
1) I will only buy things I might actually play
2) I will only buy CIB
3) I will only buy locally. No online and especially no eBay.
As long as I adhere to those rules, I should be able to build the collection slowly enough that I play the games as I get them, and not just throw them on the shelf. At least that's my hope. It's been about a week and I've already acquired 20 games, and the only ones I've played are Mario and Star Tropics.

So anyway, that was it for NES games. That particular store was having a buy two, get one sale on PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube games.
There was nothing decent on Gamecube, but I found a few PS2 and Xbox games.
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Nothing too exciting, and some stuff may bear explaining.
Syberia II for instance. As it happens, I have a customer who has been looking for that game since she really liked the first one. I won't make much of anything on it since it was a little overpriced. But it was mint, and she is a good customer. So it's worth it to make her happy.
I have a thing where I will buy any RPG if it's cheap. They are always a safe bet as far as increasing value goes. Even the shitty ones.
I grabbed Everblue 2 because I don't see it often. Same thing with Echo Night Beyond.
The thing I was happiest to get was:
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It's worthless and probably not fun at all. BUT! I had never seen it before. I'm around this stuff almost all day every day. I LOVE the rare occasions when I find something I didn't know existed.

Note: This particular Game Craze copied the Game Stop practice of placing their price sticker ON THE FUCKING ARTWORK. That shit is so lame. Thankfully, the stickers aren't overly sticky. I already peeled them off with no damage to the inserts with the help of a heat gun.

That last place I stopped was an indy shop I first ran across a few months ago. It is called Good Game. The owner seems to be a nice guy, if not entirely informed. More on that later.

He doesn't have much for classics, and actually had no NES at all. I was a sad panda. He had smattering of SNES carts, all with no prices. Nothing exciting, but I spotted Mario World and Mario All stars. I asked him what the prices were and he said he just looks them up on eBay and then knocks a few bucks off. So there was no way I was getting them for a good price. I then saw a Might and Magic III, and like Syberia II; I have a regular who has been looking for it. I asked him if he could check that one for me. He said, "You know what? It's been a while since I sold a super nintendo game. You can have it for $3. It's probably worth more than that."
I said, "Cool, thanks." I usually sell it for $8. So there's a little money to be made there.
He, too, was having a buy two get one sale on PS2. I dug through the couple racks of inventory. It was all Gamestop prices or higher. But I did find Suikoden V and Shadow Hearts Covenant for $20 a piece. I couldn't find anything else rpg-ish in the same price range (gotta maximize those savings!). But then I saw a GTA collection for $20. Done!
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He rang me up and it came up to $43 and change after tax. I asked him if he remembered the SNES game, and he said No, but here, you can have it.

That is "bonus!" that she says every two seconds, right?
I will sell the GTAs separately for a total of $25, and get $8 for the Might and Magic. That means I got Suikoden V and Shadow Hearts Covenant for $10 total. This is how we doooo iiiittttt.
On the way out the door, the guy tells me, "If you have any problems with that Snes game working, just use a little Windex on the board to clean it up. Whatever you do, don't use rubbing alcohol! It will corrode and ruin the board." That goes against everything I've ever heard, and over 20 years of my own experience. Still, he was a nice guy; so whatever.

So that was today. I may hit up some places around Syracuse tomorrow. I may stay in bed.
I should have started this blog last weekend when I got a Nintendo with two controllers, two light guns, and 55 games for $60 at the flea market. They were all loose carts, but it priced out to over $450.

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Updated 05 Jun 2012 at 09:15 PM by Some Stupid Japanese Name (I always forget to catergorize. MAYBE I DON'T WANT TO BE PUT IN A BOX!)

Categories
Video Games , News and Culture , Personal

Comments

  1. GohanX's Avatar
    I want to go shopping with you sometime. My one shop that sells old games actually knows the proper values!
  2. Some Stupid Japanese Name's Avatar
    You can always be my wing man!

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