Mr.FoodMonster Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 Im pretty new to collecting atari stuff and want to know how to get up a half way decent colletion. places to get them what a good buy for a common cart ect. i have one system and all of these games Asteroids Carnival Casino Circus Atari Combat Defender Donkey Kong E.T. The Extra Terrestrial Frogs and Flies Grand Prix Kaboom! Keystone Kapers Midnight Magic Pac-Man Raiders of the Lost Ark Solaris (box and instruction book) Sky Diver Space Invaders Space Jockey Sub Scan Surround Target Fun Video Olympics Yars' Revenge probably is nothing compaired to your guys collection and the rarest one i have is SubScan i think and its only a 4 =( any collecters basic and that sort of thing would be helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 hit all your local thrifts & fleas, check your local phone books. dont forget the yard sale signs sometimes even local used game stores like rhino/game force/etc will even have 2600 games. That is where you always find the best prices to get a collection going into the hundreds before you have to start paying what they are really worth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 You can also try the Marketplace Forum here. There are lots of collectors who will help you out with good prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARI TROLL Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 Welcome you will have a blast here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black dog Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 Even though many people hate it, Ebay is still the fastest way to build up your collection, good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Historian Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 'Zilla is right. Local thrifts, fleas, yard sales and used game stores are a very good place to start. Unless you are in Jacksonville... It's just plain war here. To many collectors in a single market... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARI TROLL Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 I suffer the same thing here in Kansas (yes kansas) collectors buy one or two days before I get a chance to from every thrift store I have been to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeus Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 You may do a lot of searching for little gains. As was said in other threads, the thrift stores are basically plundered. You might have some luck in garage sales, however, I've been to over 150 so far this year and have only found a 2600 Jr. and a Space Attack cart. Don't want to bring you down too much, but old videogames are getting real hard to find these days, even in the usual places Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARI TROLL Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 Think I am going to stay out of thrifts for a while and try the garage sales. Maybe some retired couple might have one dusted out and ready to sale this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.FoodMonster Posted June 3, 2003 Author Share Posted June 3, 2003 we dont have any thrift stores around here to my knowlade and there is only 1 flea market around here. the only used game place is funcoland and EB. we need alot more collecter type people around here. now i got my mom to drive me to detroit i might find some, although i bet sence the size of the city most people wont have them. one year (last year, of course) there was one of the sub-division wide sales and that was the goldmine. i hope they have another one this year. well thanks for all your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad2600 Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 Though some collectors don't use it, I recommend EBay if you're looking for good deals. You can find New, shrinkwrapped games for under $10(sometimes even $5) and you can find big lots of games that are usually the best way to build a collection FAST. I started with less than 30 2600 carts...I have well over 150 now! I've been collecting again for less than a year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaineMaxwell Posted June 4, 2003 Share Posted June 4, 2003 I'm trying for a collection of Activision carts myself mainly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsoper Posted June 4, 2003 Share Posted June 4, 2003 If you're serious and have the money, you should go buy a huge game lot on ebay. It's expensive, but the price per game would be great, and since you're new you won't buy many games you already have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caveman Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 I'm with the others: flea markets, yard sales, ebay, and while you're on the net, check out www.telegames.com There are TONS of sites on line that could do you right. I was lucky to live in a college town (Boston) where there was a local record store that also sells Atari and vintage game stuff where I picked up my 7800. And from what I gather about MI and the midwest in general, the net is your best option in terms of quantity. Games that I consider essential are: Adventure Breakout Super Breakout Yar's Revenge Berzerk Surround Outlaw Dolphin (Activision) Chopper Command (Activision) Keystone Kapers (Activision) Robot Tank (Activision) Reactor (Parker Bros.) California Games (Epyx) Subterranea (Imagic) Moonsweeper (Imagic) Wizard of Wor (CBS) Blueprint (CBS) ...and probably more that escape me right now. Feel free to email, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariDude Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 If you do decide to use Ebay, I recommend that you look into getting several games from the same vendor since they tend to give you a break on shipping when you buy from the same person. You also want to look at sellers selling multiple games at once. Usually it is less expensive that buying one individual game at a time. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Kai Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 I agree with jsoper, if you have some money to spend, and you don't have alot of games right now, you should consider buying up one of many available game lots on Ebay. If you want to try your luck in the wild, try searching at your local Goodwill stores, or Salvation Army. Also hit garage sales, and Pawn shops. Don't forget to ask everyone you come into contact with, be it at work, or family members, make sure to ask them if they have any old Atari stuff they don't want anymore, you'd be amazed at what people have sitting around their homes collecting dust. I've got my best scores from coworkers and family members! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyranthraxus Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 I've found some stuff at thrifts but I think I've been lucky and none of what I found was rare or valuable. In fact many times for common carts they were priced at more than what they would get on ebay. For the dirt common stuff ebay is often the way to go. Also I think buying a couple lots of ebay is great and not at all expensive. For a decent sized one you might pay $50-100 and get dozens of games. You can the turn around and sell the ones you hate or are doubles. Also ebay is a great way to get those common games that are still abundantly found in sealed boxes. Garage sales & thrifts maybe where you MIGHT find Quadran for 50 cents but its a fluke in this day and age. Unless there are other things you are searching for at garage sales like say cds or some tools, books, etc. you could be in for a long day with little return. In 1993 you could find Atari everywhere. In 2003 Atari is rare but you can find a lot of NES & Sega Genesis. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turn2 Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 I'm not sure how your town is but about once or twice a year, when yard sales start up real heavy, I'll put a "wanted to buy" add in the paper that usually turn up as many offers as I can afford to bye, and If you see someone else doing the same thing call them up and see what you may be able to trade for or bye from them. the best cart I got this way is a Quest for Quintana Roo (Sunrise) I beleive it is an 8 by this sites rating system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gulag picture radio Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 I guess it's because I'm in a major city, but I find that the thrifts are still pretty good. I just found River Raid II a week ago. Today I got some joysticks, a complete virtual boy, Sega CD, and a bunch of games for all kinds of systems. Still Ebay is pretty good, as is half.com, but don't discount the Marketplace here. It is rather grand how people help each other out around here. I have had a couple of very successful and happy trades with folks on these boards. Don't give up too soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.FoodMonster Posted July 19, 2003 Author Share Posted July 19, 2003 From june 3rd to july 19th my collection has grown quite a bit. the ones i am listing are only the ones i have in my possestion, but i have more coming in the mail. most of the ones that say (2) are most likly label variations. i got a big lot, like most of you suggested, on ebay of 59 games and controllers and 1 working and 1 non working system for a mere 30.50, including shipping, wich the guy ended up UPS ing to me, the box was 25.5 pounds, so it must have been alot to ship. anyways, here goes 3D Tic-Tac-Toe Adventure Arcade Golf Arcade Pinball Asteroids(2) Backgammon Barnstorming(2) Baseball Basic Programming Basketball(2) Battle Zone Bezerk Blackjack(2) Bowling Breakout(2) Carnival Casino(3) Centipede(2) Chopper Command Circus Circus Atari Combat(2) Cosmic Creeps Dark Cavern Defender(4) Demon Attack Demons to Diamonds Dig Dug Dodge 'Em(2) Donkey Kong(2) E.T. The Extra Terrestrial(2) Enduro Fantastic Voyage Football(2) Freeway Frogger(2) Frogs and Flies(2) Golf Grand Prix(2) Haunted House(2) Human Cannonball Hunt & Score Joust Jungle Hunt Kaboom! Kangaroo Keystone Kapers Masters of the Universe; The Power of He-Man Maze Maze Craze Midnight Magic Missile Command(2) Moon Patrol Ms. Pac-Man(2) Night Driver(2) Othello Pac-Man(2) Pele's Soccer Pitfall!(2) Q*bert Race Raiders of the Lost Ark Reactor RealSports Baseball Riddle of the Sphinx River Raid Sky Diver Slot Racers Sneak' n Peek Solaris (box and instruction book) Space Combat Space Invaders(2) Space Jockey Space War Spider Fighter Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Stellar Track Street Racer(2) Sub Scan Surround SwordQuest: FireWorld Target Fun Vanguard Video Chess Video Olympics Video Pinball(2) Wizard of Wor Yars' Revenge(2) lucky for me, i decied to catalog all my atari games from the starting post till now, and plan on continuing doing so. thanks to everyone for the support! oh, and im going to my nearest salvation army next week =D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanglyman Posted July 19, 2003 Share Posted July 19, 2003 right on, you got a great deal there on ebay watch those shipping costs, you can get kind of ripped pawn shops, the ones that will even take atari, have been good to me, most people going into pawn shops have no idea of the values of atari stuff the thrift stores around here overprice their stuff $5.00 for pacman? good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeV0 Posted July 19, 2003 Share Posted July 19, 2003 Yeah, Pawn shops have been great to me as well. My rarest have come from a pawn shop from a collection of around 200? A couple of 8's, 7's etc. If u r lucky and find a pawn shop that finds them hard to get rid of, you can get some real bargains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolt Posted July 19, 2003 Share Posted July 19, 2003 Please answer a question for me--how do Pawn Shops work? I've never ventured into one 'cause they're always in the crummy neighborhoods around here, but I'm definitely curious after hearing you guys talk about 'em. Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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