Hello Im New/Looking for Advice

[travelnjones]

Hi folks

 

I am new here and was hoping that i could get some advice on how i should expand my collection. First let me give you some background on what i am going for. Then talk about what I have and how i came about it. I see myself as a player first and collecter second. So am less interested in boxes, instructions, catelogs etc. I also am not too interested in alternate labels and what not. I do like to have overlays and proper controllers. I currently think I would like to finish up my collection of activision titles. Then i would like to focus getting fun titles and grab rarities where i can.

 

I am one of those packrats that kept their atari from the 80's along with all the games. Over the years when i noticed people throwing out atari's i said i would take it. My sister in law also goes through thrift stores and buys them out. All in all that has not been very effective. I have tons of rarity 1 dupes because of it. I also have got some stuff off eBay and 4Jays is in driving distance of my house.

 

My collection is pretty solid on the 1's and 2's but for rare stuff its pretty week. I have Private Eye, Pitfall 2, Robot Tank, H.E.R.O., and a few other Activision 4-5's. Pole Position silver and a couple of Atari rares. Crazy Climber is my only particularly rare cart.

 

So what do you guys suggest i do to beef this up? I have never done Garage sales so i dont really know anything about doing that.

 

Thank you

jim

 

p.s. i am in san jose California. Not sure how important location info is.

[codyr783]

Welcome to AtariAge!

[+FujiSkunk]

Most of the die-hard collectors are going after manuals and boxes now, and so the price of loose rare carts has been going down lately. If you have an eBay account, do some browsing. There is the potential to pick up some nice loose collections with one or more rare titles for a relatively modest amount.

 

Welcome to AtariAge!

[Rick Weis]

your best bet is to make a wanted list and post it in the wanted forums here on atariage, many people here have tons of extra carts. also helps if you have a price range in mind that you are looking for on each cart.

 

welcome to AA

 

Rick

[+Wonder007]

Welcome to AtariAge....the best website in the internet. Ditto what Rick said.....

[Crazy Climber]

Step one - Get a truckload of cash

Step two - buy the games

Most of the rarity 9 stuff and below is out there, it's just not cheap like the rarity 1's.

[Crazy Climber]

Almost forgot, heres a link to one of my favorite online stores, they always have the rare stuff

www.atari2600.com

[Lord Thag]

Welcome!

 

Like Rick said, the marketplace here is fantastic. I've had some great scores for very reasonable prices here. I can also recommend 4jays. Nice folks, and pretty reasonable on the pricing, especially if you actually go in the store, which I've done. I've gotten free games on a couple of occasions just for buying from them. They have a lot of stuff in a separate warehouse that isn't in the actual store too. I've gotten the lion's share of my 5200 and 2600 Activision sets from them.

 

If you really just want a game and are willing to pay full market value, atari2600.com is a good store with fast service, but it's not that cheap.

 

The best advice I can give you is to get to know some of the other collectors. I'm friends with several on this forum, and they have helped my collection a *LOT*. If you really want to get some crazy stuff, take a train ride up to Seattle and hit NWCGE this fall. The train ride is only about $100 round trip, and it's well worth the ride. You can meet some of the guys on the forums here, as well as find a metric ton of stuff for damn cheap. Classic Gaming Expo is also this year, but it's a bit pricier as is the lodging.

 

Ebay is also good if you're picky and don't mind digging. Anything R5 and under is usually really affordable.

 

Enjoy the hobby, it's a lot of fun!

[Recycled]

I only buy loose carts myself, because I'm a cheap bastard. I've found buying commons and semi-commons 2 or 4 at a time cost effective. I enjoy doing research on the games and then looking for them after that. Also, classic video game expos are great places to get common carts dirt cheap...like $1 a piece. I'm going to one in may to load up on some new games.

Edited April 4, 2007 by Recycled

[travelnjones]

yeah i actually work for eBay, well PayPal, so i do buy stuff off them. 4Jays is a dangerous store to go into for me. I have the atari, Sega genesis and master systema and a NES. There is so much i want to buy i can get myself in trouble.

 

That atari2600 looks pretty cool, thanks for pointing me there.

 

So In looking at the top 100 atari post most of that is pretty easy to get. Are there some games you folks can recommend that I may not have heard of. I dont have miner 2049er so maybe i should look into that.

 

Thanks Again

jim

[+Omegamatrix]

yeah i actually work for eBay, well PayPal, so i do buy stuff off them. 4Jays is a dangerous store to go into for me. I have the atari, Sega genesis and master systema and a NES. There is so much i want to buy i can get myself in trouble.

 

That atari2600 looks pretty cool, thanks for pointing me there.

 

So In looking at the top 100 atari post most of that is pretty easy to get. Are there some games you folks can recommend that I may not have heard of. I dont have miner 2049er so maybe i should look into that.

 

Thanks Again

jim

Here are some games you might not have heard of, but should check out!

 

Spacemaster X-7

Room of Doom

Jr. Pac-Man

Sir Lancelot

Track and Field

Atari Video Cube

Subterranea

Death Trap

Marauder

Defender II

Solar Fox

Turmoil

Laser Gates

H.E.R.O.

Winter Games

Tapper

Master Builder

[Rom Hunter]

Here you go:

http://atarimania.com/top100.php?TYPE_CODE...n_sauver=Search