reverendshoebox Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 I don't know about you guys, but to me one of the best things about classic game collecting is finding rarities in the wild. I think my best find to date is my copy of "Chase the Chuck Wagon," which I actually found in a dollar bin at a used game store about 10 years ago. This same store was charging $14.99 for Pitfall. -=ShoEboX=- 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reverendshoebox Posted December 22, 2013 Author Share Posted December 22, 2013 I should qualify that - that's my best Atari find to date. My best classic gaming find of any sort was a "Caltron 6-In-1" cartridge for the NES which I bought for $5 at a video store and sold on Amazon for $400 (couldn't justify hanging onto it at that price!) -='Box=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari2600Lives Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 A new sears video arcade 2 system buried under junk in the back of a random thrift store I stopped at about 10 years ago A CIB Turbo for Intellevision for $3 at a local goodwill about 8 years ago Those were both unforgettable 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jv3 Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Flea market find last summer, two boxes of colecovision,intellivision, and atari games, all nearly complete, all scarce +! Ten bucks!!! Kept the rarest atari and intellivision ones(private eye and dreadnought factor namely) and sold the rest individully on ebay for around 500 bucks total... Wish i would have jept tarzan and dukes of hazard in hindsight, but ya gotta sell sometimes! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jv3 Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Flea market find last summer, two boxes of colecovision,intellivision, and atari games, all nearly complete, all scarce +! Ten bucks!!! Kept the rarest atari and intellivision ones(private eye and dreadnought factor namely) and sold the rest individully on ebay for around 500 bucks total... Wish i would have jept tarzan and dukes of hazard in hindsight, but ya gotta sell sometimes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 I have to say that while maybe ten years ago I'd find the rare Cocecovision, Intellivision, or 2600 in the wild, now I never find anything pre-PS1 except maybe the occasional common cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Reverend Shoebox, I'm sorry this is off topic, but I just wanted to say that I'm a HUGE fan of your !st Church of Pac-Man website! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rasch_C Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 (edited) About 3-4 years ago, when I got back into Atari I started off on the right foot. The find I got to get us back into it: heavy 6 w/ original joysticks (missing hex discs), original paddles (atari logo), and 2 original driving controllers (atari logo). Along with 2 cx40s, all 9 gatefold games cib, 5 other games cib and a couple loose. All this for $30! Sometimes craigslist can be great Edited December 22, 2013 by rasch_C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Stargunner bundled in a trade/sale two years ago. Scored a Pigs in Space last month for $5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 What counts as "in the wild"? Most of my best finds come mixed in with large lots I've purchased online.. I'm under the impression that this is not what "in the wild" means? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 I would define 'in the wild' as being anything NOT online -- a yard sale, a thirft store, a used gaming place. Nothing from EBay, Craigslist, or the AA Marketplace. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 To this date my best find in the wild was an Outrun 3D CIB for Sega Master System for $7 USD or so. Another was a weird store that had two bags filled with lots of Atari cartridges, I managed to buy around 30 for $45 USD, rarity 4-5, including two multicarts, various V-Cases, Konami's Marine Wars, Strategy-X and Atari Video Cube. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rasch_C Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 I would define 'in the wild' as being anything NOT online -- a yard sale, a thirft store, a used gaming place. Nothing from EBay, Craigslist, or the AA Marketplace. I've always considered Craigslist in the wild (I agree about ePay and online resellers/retailers). But, now I guess I'll have to rethink that. In that case, the most I've ever found up here is a Raft Rider cart loose with missing end label for $4 at a pawn shop (all carts were that price). I didn't buy, but kinda regret it -these are kinda scarce. We are pretty dry and non-existent up here for anything in the wild (if we don't have Craigslist) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 2600 wise and about 17 years ago, found Frontline, Roc 'n Rope and Pengo between a Salvation Army and GoodWill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dobidy Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 So many good finds....and stuff I passed over that I should have bought. I would have to say a box of carts my wife picked up that included a Supercharger and cassettes. Last summer I picked up a CIB zellers Dragon Treasure, 2 boxed Colecovisions and a pile of CIB games, a 3D0 for $6 and a Tooth Protectors cart. All of that stuff was traded or sold off to feed my MAME project, except the Zellers cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
famicommander Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Best deal I ever found period was a complete copy of Earthbound at a yard sale for 50 cents, sometime in the late 1990s. I was just a kid then but my grandma bought it for me, because grandmas are awesome. Best 2600 related deal was a copy of Tomarc the Barbarian that came in a lot I got at a used game store for five dollars. Best Atari-related period was a free Atari 5200. The local game store I go to had one traded in, but they realized they didn't have any working controllers for it. So they set it aside for me, knowing that I always bought "strange" things from them. Next time I came in they just gave it to me for free, because they didn't think they could sell it without a controller and they didn't want to bother tracking one down. Level 7 Games in Denver, Colorado is a great game store run by some first class dudes. If you're ever here, be sure to check them out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss 2600 Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 (edited) 1. The manual to Swordquest: Waterworld for free at a thrift store in Fort Bragg, CA. 2. Guardian loose cartridge (with front and end labels) for $1.00 at a Goodwill in Yuba City, CA. 3. Stargunner loose with the color label handle cartridge for $1.00 at a thrift store in Chico, CA Edited December 25, 2013 by Miss 2600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jferio Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Nice, famicommander. I like Level 7 a lot myself. I hit them quite regularly to browse for things. Game Force Boulder is also nice, but I tend to reserve that for actual planned trips, as is a place called Games Ahoy up in Loveland. I'm kind of split between the 7-8 boxed SEALED Atari 2600 games at the thrift for $3 a pop (and it was a huge box, I left lots of stuff behind!), and the $4 copy of Valkyrie Profile for the PS1, you know, one of the games that can go for $100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
famicommander Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Nice, famicommander. I like Level 7 a lot myself. I hit them quite regularly to browse for things. Game Force Boulder is also nice, but I tend to reserve that for actual planned trips, as is a place called Games Ahoy up in Loveland. I'm kind of split between the 7-8 boxed SEALED Atari 2600 games at the thrift for $3 a pop (and it was a huge box, I left lots of stuff behind!), and the $4 copy of Valkyrie Profile for the PS1, you know, one of the games that can go for $100. Game Force has a nice selection, but approximately 85% of the things they sell are 15$ more than every other store in town and the people working at any given Game Force are usually too busy eating Chinese food behind the counter to actually help customers. Nothing in Colorado is as bad as Doc's, though. Huge selection, but ridiculously bad prices and the worst customer service you'll ever find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karokoenig Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 My best find was probably a Commodore VC20, complete with Datasette and all cables plus manuals on a local flea market. All in good shape and working perfectly. Price: 5 Euro. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borntorun Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 A lady at a Flea Market sold me a bunch of beautiful, new-looking CIB 2600, 5200, 7800, Colecovision, and Intellivision games for $5 each. Highlights were Subterranea, Private Eye, Pengo, and Pressure Cooker for the 2600, Gyruss and Dreadnaught Factor for the 5200, Fathom, Thin Ice, and Thunder Castle for the Intellivision, and Jungle Hunt for the Colecovision. We bought a bunch more, too- I just can't remember them all. I told her what the games were worth, but she stuck with her original price anyway. I also found a CIB Colecovision ADAM at a Goodwill for $20 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy62 Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Fathom! total great deal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy62 Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 actually those are all great deals! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy62 Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 My best find was 30 CIB Super Nintendo RPG games in mint condition at a Swap Meet for $7. dollars each. The guy had no idea what he had, and I had no idea what I found as I never collected for the system. they sure looked rare and collectible to me though! I later met a guy at the same Swap Meet location who was looking for some of the games I found. I sold them to him and made $600. that I used to help complete my Intellivision collection. They were worth more than that, but it worked out well for both of us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bcombee Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Back in the mid-90's, I got a unboxed Glib from a yard sale here in Austin... the same summer, I found Crazy Climber loose at an Austin Goodwill, and a box of four or five boxed Caltron 6-in-1 carts from a random junk seller at the Big Saturday Sale in Dallas. Unfortunately, I traded off a couple of the Caltrons before I really understood their value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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