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Did I Pay Too Much?


kamakazi

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My wife and I, just out of spite, stopped by one of two local pawn shops. I was curious to see what they had in video games. Expecting to find the usual, unwanted, modern stuff I was surprised to four large stacks of Atari 2600 games. They were dusty but some old friends were in the piles. Defender, Space Invaders, Missile Command, Crystal Castles, Dig Dug, Pitfall!, and Dodge 'Em. Also in the mix were a lot of games I never seen before including Flash Gordon, Revenge of the Beef Steak Tomatoes, Pitfall II, Aliens, and Fire Fighter. There were a LOT more than I can remember. When I asked how much they were I was expecting a flat price for all of them. I was surprised to hear the owner say $4 each. I know on the internet that those games are very common and usually sell for less. But then there's that fee to get it from point A to point B, making the items cost more. I grabbed Defender and Space Invaders, took them to the counter, paid for them, and left wishing that I could have grabbed more. I could see $4 for some titles but not every title and definitely not for the 2600 Pac-Man. Some of the titles were the Sears Telegames labels.

 

So...two games. Defender. Space Invaders. Total spent was $8. Did I just pay too much for two common Atari 2600 games?

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Not if you play them and enjoy them. Sure you can get both of those for about $1, but they are certainly $4 worth of fun. And that is what counts to me. If you are looking for a financial investment, then you overpaid.

 

Go back and get everything else except Fire Fighter. That game isn't worth 4 cents.

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I thought about getting a few more but it would extremely difficult for me to not bring home all of them even if there were some duplicates. Hopefully I can talk my wife into letting me get at least 4 more if not more. Thanks for your feedback. And, yes, I'll have fun with them. Space Invaders was the first Atari game I ever played.

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I thought about getting a few more but it would extremely difficult for me to not bring home all of them even if there were some duplicates. Hopefully I can talk my wife into letting me get at least 4 more if not more. Thanks for your feedback. And, yes, I'll have fun with them. Space Invaders was the first Atari game I ever played.

Save some money and buy the common games from folks here in the marketplace. For $16.00, I could send you at least 10 common games....maybe more. On the other hand, titles like Flash Gordon, Revenge of the Beef Steak Tomatoes, Pitfall II and Aliens are somewhat less common...$4 is a pretty fair price on those.

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Save some money and buy the common games from folks here in the marketplace. For $16.00, I could send you at least 10 common games....maybe more. On the other hand, titles like Flash Gordon, Revenge of the Beef Steak Tomatoes, Pitfall II and Aliens are somewhat less common...$4 is a pretty fair price on those.

 

The only issue I might run into with buying games from others in the marketplace is the fact I don't use PayPal. And the 2600 my wife and I own is needing some games since we only had six before today. Been that way for too long ;)

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I have to agree with the comment on ebay pricing, while most aren't too bad, I've seen a lot with high prices and the over used word 'rare' in the title on games like pacman, missile command and defender among others.. and shipping is the nasty part, being in Canada I find most sellers in the US want to use the expensive international priority shipping, asking about $15 to send a single cart. I tend to filter searches to on;y show listig from Canada to avoid the huge shipping fees

 

I've just recently decided to really start collecting instead of just have a few games to play. I bought 9 games over the last couple weeks. a couple from a store at $4 each. six from the same ebay seller so i could get combined shipping on them which take a bit of the bite out of the cost. and one came with the 2600 Jf I bought, that turned out to need a fair bit of repairs to make right

 

But now that I have a small collection started (19) I'm going to try stuff like flee-markets or yard sames

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The only issue I might run into with buying games from others in the marketplace is the fact I don't use PayPal. And the 2600 my wife and I own is needing some games since we only had six before today. Been that way for too long ;)

Like Benny. I and probably many others here would sell you commons real cheap.

Not everyone here requires Paypal as payment. Can't speak for everyone, but in a situation like this , for such a small amount, I would gladly take a check.

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I thought about getting a few more but it would extremely difficult for me to not bring home all of them even if there were some duplicates. Hopefully I can talk my wife into letting me get at least 4 more if not more. Thanks for your feedback. And, yes, I'll have fun with them. Space Invaders was the first Atari game I ever played.

"Hopefully I can talk my wife into letting me..."

 

This is why men end up happily divorced.

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I am just going to echo the chorus here and say that you paid too much for Space Invaders and Defender. Though $4 is not all that bad as both are great games. For really common commons $1.00 seems to be the benchmark. Stuff like the 20th century fox titles and Pitfall II especially are priced well at $4.00 -- even more so if they look to be in good shape. I'd go back just for Pitfall II.

 

 

I've been paying more attention to eBay lately for lots since I have the buying bug. I always like seeing lots of lots with starting bids < $9.99, but they are few and far between these days. My goal is to try and get lots for no more than $2/cart including shipping, but this isn't happening as much. But depending on where you are at see if there are any local gaming stores, odds are (even if they aren't out) they have a bin or two of 2600 carts sitting behind the counter all for a buck or two.

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The only used gaming store in the area is a Game Stop. Not a bad place to go for modern stuff but lacks any retro gaming goodness. So I was a little surprised to find Atari games on a pawn shop shelf with a Wii next to them. The games are very dusty and some belong in the wounded warriors and naked ladies categories. I'm going to go back and pick up a few more.

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Let me speak from reality, rather than fifty-cent fantasy land, here.

 

You paid about as low a price as can be expected from a physical store. Yeah, people claim "oh that is worth 50c", but good luck finding a seller who agrees.

 

That said, you can do better if you buy them in lots online. Don't waste too much more money on $4 commons.

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IMO, it doesn't matter what one paid for anything. If you have have been looking for something for a while and you finally found it, and you are happy, that's all that counts. Classic stuff is going up in price quite a bit, so one can't be too stingy on the prices, especially the ones just starting to collect.

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As already mentioned, if you enjoy them more than $4 worth, then you didn't overpay.

 

There's something to be said for the experience of being able to go into a store - anywhere - and still find Atari stuff to buy that you don't have. That in itself is a rarity, and for me is worth a few extra bucks.

 

And you could always try to talk them down a little bit in price, too.

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So...two games. Defender. Space Invaders. Total spent was $8. Did I just pay too much for two common Atari 2600 games?

 

You paid too much. If you had bought Defender and Space Invaders from me you would have paid $6 shipped. (Ebay). And you could have added quite a few other games for $2 each (incuding shipping.) Maybe I need to raise my prices.

 

I personally would have grabbed the more rare ones like Pitfall II.

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Well, I neglected to mention that after visiting the pawn shop, wife agreed that ordering online was way cheaper. The plus side is that she agreed to let me place an order online with Atari2600(dot)com. Once she seen how paying that much for games in a local store her exact words were "You can get them cheaper online!" and the rest is history. I did order the wounded warriors and nekid ladies I could find to help in the purchase (more gaming for my money) and I also got a different controller. I am still hunting for a Defender and a few other commons I didn't get in this batch. As soon as I can I plan on going back to the pawn shop to try and pick up Pitfall II at least.

 

Picture240_zps6fb96a16.jpg

 

What I got was:

 

  1. Pac-Man (I know. Not the best Pac-Man port but still a fun game)
  2. Berzerk
  3. Amidar (never had this one before)
  4. Super Breakout
  5. Mouse Trap
  6. Tutankham (never had this one before)
  7. Q*Bert
  8. Missile Command
  9. Cosmic Ark (one of my favorite 2600 games)
  10. Jungle Hunt
  11. Asteroids
  12. Othello
  13. Video Pinball
  14. Midnight Magic
  15. Joust
  16. Circus Atari
  17. Breakout
  18. Barnstorming (CIB)
  19. Archer Competition Deluxe Joystick (with turbo)

I'm ready for some Atari action! I really prefer the labels to be intact but, hey, these poor souls needed a good home. It's sad. Here these games are, heavily used and possibly abused, still working. Yet, the Defender game I picked up looked in very good condition from the appearance of the label but only works for a few minutes before ceasing up. Ironic. I'm still wanting to get more 2600 games (I'm on a 2600 kick) and plan making a WTB list later this evening. I would like to get some more from AA members because I know those will work. BTW...if anyone has a Defender without a shell that works PM me.

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yeah in the amount you overpaid you will make back in knowlege

when shop owner says "flat price for each" I look through them ALL to find the ones I venture might be above that price range elsewhere,

 

shop owner said $5 each & I kinda grimaced but looked anyways , found a Snoopy & The Red Baron ($12-$25) & Food fight ($3-$5) so I came out a little ahead at first but Food fight didn't work :_( .... re-purposed the shell On a Cosmic Creeps I got for free because PCB was floating around on inside

 

 

I'm ready for some Atari action! I really prefer the labels to be intact but, hey, these poor souls needed a good home. It's sad. Here these games are, heavily used and possibly abused, still working. Yet, the Defender game I picked up looked in very good condition from the appearance of the label but only works for a few minutes before ceasing up. Ironic. I'm still wanting to get more 2600 games (I'm on a 2600 kick) and plan making a WTB list later this evening. I would like to get some more from AA members because I know those will work. BTW...if anyone has a Defender without a shell that works PM me.

will shoot ya a PM:

 

I have some badly water damaged ones & in with those I had a pretty good one

 

QI3QjWd.jpg

 

the one on the left I tested & it works : ( I even cleared a whole screen \o/ ) ... the others I didn't plug into my unit !!!

 

center one perhaps desoldering sheilding & taking a brass brush to remove rust may recover that one

 

the one to the right the board looks bubbled but the IC chip may be ok ... would desolder that & install on a good board

 

your welcome to all 3 PCB's ... if your soldering / de-soldering skills are lacking these would be great test subjects as they are pretty much ruined already

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http://youtu.be/a-cXDRVLoiU

 

Here is what my Defender cartridge does. Sometimes it takes about 30 minutes for it to act up. Other times it only takes a few minutes. It's almost like it is getting a virus or something.

Have you tried it in a different 2600? It look like at the end the system just shut off. Make me think either bad contacts on the cartridge and when it warms up the contacts shift a enough to act up, or the voltage regulator in the 2600 is overheating and shutting down. The 2600 uses a 7805 voltage regulator, which when it is over heating or there's a short it turns off to protect itself.

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