Thrifting is hereditary. I got it from my parents. Nowadays, we do it for the same reason: looking for collectibles. So when they were visiting this week (which I hope will be accepted as full explanation for my extended absence) we all considered it a valuable use of our time to trawl San Francisco’s Goodwills for buried treasure.
They made out okay (a sterling silver bowl that would fetch $50 even melted down for scrap), but I think I did better. One store turned up a complete copy of Asterix and the Great Rescue for Genesis, a mid-lifecycle first-party release (it had to be released right before they switched over to cardboard) that Digital Press says is about a 4/10 on the ratings scale.
At $3.50, that wasn’t bad. But the next store was crazy. I was kind of talking it down. “The first time I came in here, I hit the mother lode, but haven’t seen a single thing in there since then,” I said. Having adjusted all of our expectations downward, we proceeded to go in and hit paydirt again, some eighteen months after the last time I found anything worthwhile. (This is why you never give up!)
I don’t know if I’d consider a $2 copy of Mace: The Dark Age for N64 “paydirt,” but with the box and manual in okay condition it’s worth grabbing. But then, right over it was a copy of Megamania for Atari 5200 with at least some shrink wrap still on the box. Upon further inspection, it was sealed, if a little bit crushed at the bottom.
So I scoured the rest of the store, then went back to where I found Megamania. I’d overlooked it at the time, but right underneath where I’d pulled out Mage was another Atari 5200 game, in an oddly-sized box, also sealed: Zenji.
From what I understand, this is one of the rarest 5200 games out there. Sealed. I couldn’t find any on eBay and have no idea what it’s worth, but Atari2600.com was selling a sealed one in similar condition for upwards of $130. The thing is, the only thing that identifies this for sure as a genuine Atari 5200 box is a little removable piece of cardboard that’s on the bottom of the box, so that’s easily damaged. With the seal on the box, that’s kept it around all these years.
I don’t know. Generally I don’t sell stuff that I find — I just like keeping it around. But in the case of Zenji, I might find that I like money more. Not sure what to do!