I have been remiss in keeping up with the Weekend Thrifting posts, which is especially tragic when you consider that I have been all over the place recently: The rare (or at least collectible) (or at least old) videogames featured herein come not only from thrift stores but an Oakland flea market, the California Extreme arcade game show, and even the infamous eBay.
My dalliances as of late with that auction house of ill repute have been spurred on by the fact that it is a buyer’s market right now; for what I assume are obvious reasons people seem to have dialed back on the frivolous purchasing of old videogames. So it was that I obtained an Odyssey, the first home game console ever, for about $10 before shipping.
But that’s another story. This story is everything else, a new pile of Nintendo, Sega, and even a bunch of Atari 2600 games, plus some other miscellany and oddities. On our last episode of Weekend Thrifting, a commenter suggested that I tally up the prices that I paid for everything and the actual collector’s value of each. He suggested this rather rudely, yes, but it was a good idea, and as a person who often suggests good ideas rather rudely I have a soft spot in my heart for some of these adorable little scamps, these ragamuffins.
So we’ll total up the cost at the end, which hopefully should give you some incentive to read through the whole thing. (No fair skipping to the end first!)
We went on a wine tour this weekend, which has nothing to do with this column, but I did think I could class up the photos by taking them on top of my wine rack.
Anyway, these first items present a challenge for our little math problem. The Digital Press Collector’s Guide is generally considered to be a modest, conservative estimate of game values, perfect for the level-headed collector who wants to keep his expectations in check. In the guide, NES game prices assume that the game lacks a box and manual, since that’s how you find most of them.
Loose copies of Slalom — Rare’s first NES game — and the wonderful Chip ‘n Dale’s Rescue Rangers would only fetch $4 and $6 respectively. I paid $5 each, which would be breaking even. But these are complete, and so we have to ballpark the value. Probably between $10-$20 each. The boxes are banged up a bit, Slalom‘s in particular, proving once again Kohler’s Law of Videogames You Find, which states: If you come across a bunch of games, the one worth the most money will be in the worst condition.