Ebay vs. "In the wild"

[RangerG]

Nothing beats finding stuff in the wild. So far I only have carts I have found in the wild. However, I have right at 200 games (this includes major label variations) and my finds have slowed to a crawl. I am going to keep up my only in the wild even it means one find every month or so, but I know eventually I will start trading and further down the road I will buy off Ebay. At what number of carts do you think it is time to say "the ability to find any more carts in the wild is almost nil!". It is sad actually, but I also love getting packages in the mail so trading should be fun.

[paladiin]

Just curious about what you guys think about buying games on ebay versus finding them in the wild (ie. thrifting, flea markets, garage sales).

 

Since I started collecting back in January, I've found a decent amount of atari stuff here locally in Salt Lake. Got 2 ataris (6 switch and 4 switch), controllers, paddles, Wico joystick, and probably about 50 carts (mostly common and uncommon, but a couple more rare ones as well). I've also found lots of NES, SNES, and Genesis stuff as well. I've really enoyjed "rescuing" these and giving them a good home. And with it just starting to thaw here, I haven't even started hitting up garage and yard sales yet.

 

However, I've been finding that finding new games for my 2600 collection has been slow going lately. Did manage a couple carts a few weeks ago, but that's about it. Then I started checking out Ebay. Found a good deal on a bunch of scarce carts, and some Imagic carts I didn't have, and won the auctions on those. I added about 10 carts I've never played before (a few I'd never even heard of before), along with one of my all time favorite 2600 games when I was younger, Keystone Kapers. Paid about $2 a cart for these, which is a tad bit more than the $.49 and $.99 I've been paying for games, but it's definitely a fair price.

 

Anyway, I found as I was cleaning up the games that I just didn't find it as exciting getting these games in the mail as I did when I found games in the wild. In fact, I was kind of disappointed that I used ebay to get the games. I know that for some games, I'll never see them unless I use ebay, but still, it doesn't match the thrill of actually picking through junk or walking into a store and finding that poor, lonely cart just begging to come home with me. And funny, it's only with the 2600 games so far that I've felt this way about. Gotten plenty of NES, SNES, and other system games from ebay. Maybe it's because I can find games for these systems all over the place, yet the 2600 games are always elusive, and when found, look so sad sitting there surrounded by other video games, or at the bottom of a box full of cables and power supplies.

 

Anyone else feel this way?

[paladiin]

Oh, by the way, here's the games that I just got on ebay:

 

Star Voyager

Fire Fighter

Trick Shot

Fathom

Fire Fly

Final Approach

Freeway

Fantastic Voyage

Keystone Kapers

Human Cannonball

Realsports Football (soccer)

 

If I would have come across any of these in the wild, I would have been stoked! But I got all of them in the mail, and it just wasn't as exciting.

[fmctm1sw]

You can't beat the "wild" in my opinion. I uncovered a Pong back home in a pile of old lawnmower parts. The other day I spotted a atari 2600 power supply (while upside down) among another bunch of power cords. Nothing beats the excitement of the "wild" for me.

[Albert]

It is much more satisfying finding games in the wild (flea markets, thrifts, yard sales, someone's attic, etc.) than simply buying them on eBay. Unfortunately I've had generally poor luck thrifting. I blame this on living in cities with high concentrations of collectors as well as just not spending a lot of time making the local circuit. It takes a lot of time to drive around hitting all these places.

 

I've recently been hunting down Dreamcast games and have been doing a lot of driving around for that cause, but I can't imagine doing it every week or two in the pursuit of classic games. Not that I wouldn't like to, but it could be a huge timesink and I barely have enough time at the moment to stay on top of everything else.

 

..Al

[Adriana]

Of course nothing beats finding stuff out in the wild, but after a certain point in Atari 2600 collecting -- around the 300 cartridge mark probably -- it just gets damn near impossible to find stuff, especially if you live somewhere like the Bay Area (like I do) which is just COMPLETELY picked over. Oh, how I long for the early 90s classic gaming gravy train, where classic games at flea markets and thrifts were a-plenty, and it felt like I was the only one looking for this stuff.

 

Needless to say, eBay has been a boon to my collecting. After WASTING countless hours and days and weeks (which turned into months and years) searching for anything remotely decent that I didn't already have, at least now I can find it on eBay. Sure, it's not the same as finding it in the wild -- but the only games I'm missing in my collection are 9s and 10s, and there's no way I'm going to be finding these in the wild anytime soon!

 

When I roadtrip though, I always check flea markets and thrift stores ... but still nothing -- seriously, California in general is picked over.

[Albert]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Adrian:

it just gets damn near impossible to find stuff, especially if you live somewhere like the Bay Area (like I do) which is just COMPLETELY picked over.

---

 

Yep, Mountain View (in the heart of the Silicon Valley) is one of those towns I've lived in over the last few years and there seems to be very little to find out there.

 

..Al

[Callipygous]

Hey, I thought eBay was pretty "wild". The feeling everyone has about hunting down prey, errrr I mean carts, is a male instinct tracing to hunter/gatherer days. I am serious! A primal instinct to find something, kill it and bring on home. Most can't do this for food anymore, so stalking a rare beast, oops I mean video game, gives great satisfaction.

 

Not a phychiatrist, but sometimes I play one on AtariAge,

 

[ 04-02-2002: Message edited by: Mario's Other Brother ]

 

[ 04-02-2002: Message edited by: Mario's Other Brother ]

[AtariDude]

I have never found anything in the wild ever as far as Atari is concerned (seems like South Florida is the part of the world which Atari forgot) but I can just imagine what it must be like for some people. I remember when I used to live in NJ and used to go to flea markets on Sunday. It always interesting in terms of the kind of things that you used to find. I am sure that if I still lived in NJ (Hudson County), I would probably be finding stuff for the Atari. Anyone here live in Hudson County to let me know if Atari stuff is findable?

 

Lucky for me, I can get items from Ebay; otherwise I would have no Atari items at all except for the stuff that I kept over the years.

[fmctm1sw]

I had good luck (thrifting) when I was stationed in Norfolk, Va. But it was mostly common stuff. Things are a little weak here in the Florida panhandle as well. I did find frogger 2 and spy hunter here but that's been about it. An occasional console every now and then, etc....

[Joel D. Park]

I first started my collection off when living in Denver Colorado. That was over three years ago. I found lots of stuff at the "Mile high Flea Market" there. Now days I don't find hardly anything in the wild. I'm now back in my hometown of Oakland, Maryland. I have found stuff in the last 6 months though, but very rarely do I pick up anything at all. My best luck has been trading with folks who visit my web page, I've also spent a ton on ebay though.

[MattyXB]

Same probleme here in germany (berlin). For years have I see many Atari games on fleamarkets. But I have not collect these at this time. As I beginn, I have see some Atari games. And today I found nothing.

 

The last time on fleamarket I have see only 2 games, but nothing interesting. But for month I have get no game anymore on every fleamarket I was.

 

Bad times for wild finds. So I like Ebay. Cost much, but I get many good and rare games.

[Snider-man]

Around 3 to 5 years ago, the thrifts, fleas, and boots were overflowin' with classic video games. It was like walking into a thrift store and trying to locate a Herb Alpert record - they were *everyplace. My classic scores have included buying three Atari 2600 units - complete - for $5 apiece, and once finding two HUGE boxes filled with 200+ carts, two 2600 units, and a 7800 unit for $20 total.

 

Those days are long over my friends....

*Sigh*

[maximebeauvais]

quote

once finding two HUGE boxes filled with 200+ carts, two 2600 units, and a 7800 unit  for $20 total.

 

This is my dream

 

Finding in the wild is pretty much fun!!!!

[bradjewell]

dude, that sounds like an awesome score.

 

I'll add my two cents on this topic and agree with the consensus that you can't beat finding about anything in the wild. I mean, I found 2 2600's ( a jr. and a 4switch) for 7 bucks and there's a couple more left. I'm itching to get back there. I mean, if you been through a collecting drought and you see a joystick or just the back of a cart, you heart starts to race a little bit and your mind calculates a myriad possibilities. You just know it'll be quadrun or a proto, but then you pick it up and buy another copy of combat for 25 cents. It's all fun.

 

Brad