Writing on games

[+atari2600land]

Is there anything I can do to get rid of people's writing on video game labels? Another question is why do they write their names ON THE LABEL instead of on the cart so it'd be easier to get off?

Edited April 8, 2009 by atari2600land

[STICH666]

I think that was the point. In case someone I knew stole my cart, I put my initials on them. Which is funny because I found one of my old games that way at the $1 bin at play-n-trade.

[shadow460]

Depends on what system the cart is for. Alternately, you could print a new label.

 

2600 games will stand up to acetone on the main labels, and it melts the Sharpie ink right off. N64 labels, on the other hand, are very fragile and will rip apart if you even think of cleaning one up.

[STICH666]

Depends on what system the cart is for. Alternately, you could print a new label.

 

2600 games will stand up to acetone on the main labels, and it melts the Sharpie ink right off. N64 labels, on the other hand, are very fragile and will rip apart if you even think of cleaning one up.

Yep I learned that the hard way with Doom 64.

[+atari2600land]

How about those unlicensed NES Tengen carts?

[CGQuarterly]

Acetone should be used as a last resort. I use methanol (AKA "wood alcohol) because it has the ink-removing ability of acetone without being able to dissolve plastic. The main caveat with using solvents like that is that you may also take some of the dye out of the label, which will leave you with a big faded spot. It's best to try the most innocuous stuff first, and keep stepping it up until you find something that works. Like go wet wipe, goo gone, rubbing alcohol, wood alcohol, acetone. There are probably more things that you could insert there as well. My point is that if you start out with something too rough, you may cause enough damage that you wish you just had the writing on the game instead. I damaged a Super Mario RPG label that way one time, and definitely lowered its value as a result.

 

Chris

[shadow460]

I've torn through many N64 labels including Blitz SE, Elmo's Letter Adventure, and Super Smash Bros. I feel your pain.

[Rik]

I've heard some claim that going over the letters with a dry erase marker will remove writing on carts.I tried,didnt work at all.I think it depends on what type of ink the marker consisted of.

[Metalwario64]

For me, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers did the trick for me. It only takes a little bit of scrubbing, and it gets marker, and most of the dirt I have experienced on my cartridges.

[ApolloBoy]

For me, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers did the trick for me. It only takes a little bit of scrubbing, and it gets marker, and most of the dirt I have experienced on my cartridges.

You do have to be careful though, otherwise you'll take the ink out of the label.

[Lord Thag]

Heh, I have so many carts with 'Bobby' written on them in Sharpie marker that they compise a collection all to themselves

 

I actually like getting the scribbled on carts. It lets you know you rescued a game someone used to care about.

[2600FunTimes]

If it's written in perm marker on the cart, I usually just wipe it off with rubbing alcohol.. sometimes more tedious than others, but it eventually gets it all off.

 

If it's on the labels themselves, I usually find a creative way to mask it.. I'll only do this if the resell value is already done for, or if there wasn't much of one to begin with.. ..but either way, I pretty much don't sell any of my games (yet).

 

 

Got one the other day that actually has "Johnson" practically engraved in white chalky writing.. ..can't get rid of it.. still thinking if theres a way I want to creatively alter it.. I might just get lazy on that one and leave it as-is.

Edited April 11, 2009 by 2600FunTimes

[Rik]

Oh man!dont get me started! This has got to be the one thing that PISSES me off above all other things!I just leave them as is cus everytime ive tried taking writing of cart labels I've ended up damaging the label itself by rubbing off ink and making it worse.If I see a game with writing on label,I tell seller that they'll have to give me a really good deal on price or else forget it.There's nothing worse to me than finding a game with the labels in perfect condition ruined by names scribbled all over.But hey,if game is really cheap,dont matter to me,whats done is done,ill buy it,again if cheap enough.