I'm sending off my remaining loose carts to Albert today -- eleven VCS carts and two 5200 carts. I hope he's able to turn them into something good! I'd really like to buy about half a dozen games listed in the Atari Age store, but they're all currently out of stock.

 

Anyway, as I was packing those loose carts for shipping, taping up the box really nice, I was thinking about how much I enjoy restoring old video game stuff. Not just the hardware -- although I do enjoy that quite a bit -- but also the cartridge boxes.

 

Yeah, I know -- weird, huh?

 

Sure, I love getting a mint condition box. Or, better yet, an unopened mint condition box. I recently got sixteen of them for the 5200 from Best, and a dozen of them for the 7800 from O'Shea's. (Carefully) opening those old cartridge boxes was great! And they look fantastic on the shelf.

 

But I also like taking an old cartridge box that's been worn down through use and making it look and work a lot better. For example, if a box flap has been ripped, I'll cut a piece of paper to fit on the inside of the flap, coat the paper with a few passes of a glue stick, and then carefully position the two ripped sides so that once the reinforcing paper is in place, the rip's appearance is minimal from the outside.

 

Similarly, torn box corners can be repaired. Or even the cartridge holding part inside the box.

 

Some of my boxes seem to be about half paper and glue! But they look much better on the shelf, and it makes me feel really good to take what to many people might be only fodder for a landfill and restore it to the point that it's useful again. Old cartridge boxes need love, too!

 

It would be hard for me to decide which part of this hobby I enjoy more -- restoring old hardware and packaging, or playing the games.