Game storage

[+Dastari Creel]

Now that I have Atari games and I'm building my collection, how should I store it? All my NES games are encased in hard plastic shells that are fairly dust tight. Basically when I buy a game, I give the cartridge a thorough cleaning and then encase it in the shell (you'd be shocked at some of the things I've seen inside carts, I swear one guy must have been keeping one in a chimney). Obviously I'm going to clean my new 2600/7800 games as well but then what do I do with them? Has anyone made hard plastic shells for these games? How do you store your collection?

[Armonigann]

Store like no other I tell you..

[Chris Leach]

Mine are locked in a dark secret air tight cavern, otherwise known as the back of my closet....I picked up some shelves a long moon ago from wal mart in the hood and they measures exact to store the games two deep and 60 tall or so.....until you get to the odd shaped ones, this worked great...

 

as for the odd shaped ones? you are gonna have to devise your own storing idea for those bad guys....there Are so Many to colect!

 

They are like pokemon and you will never have them all...!

[DickNixonArisen]

The bookcase setup is nice, that's how a lot of folks on here do it. Mine are in ramen boxes by company. Arizona iced tea flats are good too hah. It's different if you have full boxes. I keep my full boxes folded flat (most of them aren't worth that much to worry about it) separately. What's really nice for someone who plays the games a lot is a big wire rack to display all the systems together (26, gemini, jr, CV, INTV2, 52, 78, GEN3, NES, 64, SNES, GCN, WII). Makes me feel wealthy.

 

A lot of retail stores will give their used fixtures or sell them cheap, esp. if they're going out of business.

 

Most of the boxes/setups made for storing atari games were made when games cost fifty bucks each and having more than ten was uncommon.

[+Omegamatrix]

I store my loose carts all in Rubbermaid containers. They stack nicely. If you want to display or play with your games all the time then get some nice wooden shelves.

[bohoki]

I store my loose carts all in Rubbermaid containers. They stack nicely. If you want to display or play with your games all the time then get some nice wooden shelves.

 

 

shoeboxes work for me

[tz101]

These work great for me...

 

[Cliff Friedel]

I use sterlite 7 qt containers you can get at walmart. About $2.50 each, it will hold 26 carts and you can read all the end labels. I love them. They work for NES carts too except you have to read the end carts from the side since you have to lay them flat inside.

[MAGAIVER]

This is how I store my atari stuff, top yellow container has the cartridges and a joystick, bottom container has the rest of the joysticks, paddle controllers etc... my boxes are displayed on the shelf to left on top of the odyssey's shelf, behind that atari. cant really see in the picture.

I dont keep my games inside their boxes, I'd rather have them next to the console for easy access.

 

Edited April 15, 2010 by MAGAIVER

[shadow460]

Mine are in stacks of anywhere between 20 and 60 on the closet shelf. There are nine stacks total, most of them with 60 carts each. I have an '80's vintage cassette case for my Starpath games, and they've been stored there since *drumroll please* the early '80's!

Some of my games are on another shelf in their retail boxes. I'd say there are about 20 of those so far.

 

My 7800 games are in an Atari Game Center or in retail boxes. The Atari Game Center looks a lot like that Videostak thing posted above. It has a cutout to hold a 2600, but when I got it I didn't have a 2600. My 7800 is too small for it to support.

[codyr783]

Keep mine in these little cartridge baggies; and inside a rubbermaid container. Also throw a few silica gel packs inside the containers to keep the moisture out.

[Fantasmike]

I have about 50 carts stored in a Rubbermaid container. I have a Microwave cart with 3 original Cartridge storage racks that we had in the early 80s and still work fine I also still use the vinyl Atari logo cover we had for our 2600. The old school is the best school.

[etschuetz]

Like TZ101, I have that Atari Modular case, a home made Wooden "shelf" I made around 15 or so years ago in Wood Shop, and I have this really nice metal filing cabinet. They all hold my Atari 2600, 5200 and 7800 games. I haven't decided on a good storage method for my Lynx and Jaguar games yet though. As for Controllers, I stow them away in standard cardboard boxes. And the consoles are usually hooked up to a television with a game inside of the port to keep dust from settling in there. Right now, as I moved (again) recently, I need to situate everything in a manner so that it is out and playable again.

[Tempest]

I generally use IRIS drawer systems. You can get them at Office Max and they work great. You can see them in the pictures of my gameroom: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/146921-tempests-game-room/

 

Tempest

[DickNixonArisen]

Yep, that's a room I wouldn't mind being kidnapped and locked into.

[misspent_youth]

I generally use IRIS drawer systems. You can get them at Office Max and they work great. You can see them in the pictures of my gameroom: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/146921-tempests-game-room/

 

Tempest

 

Tempest, the Iris 6 drawer cabinet you have your 2600 and CV loose carts in, have you had it for a while? I notice that in your picture it fits cartridges nicely standing on end, but most of the ones I find now seem to have smaller drawers that would only ft a cartridge on its side. Granted, I'm in Canada, but even in browsing the Office Max and Staples websites the drawers seem smaller than a cartridge, and the measurements match those of the ones I've seen in person here that don't fit. If at some point you happen to be in your collection room with a tape measure, could you measure the height of the unit? Feel free to tell me to take a flying leap. Still, thanks for the info, as it has at least spurred me on to hit up various office supply stores with carts in hand...Sales people look at me funny when they notice what I'm doing...

[Tempest]

Yeah I've had those for awhile now. Maybe they stopped making the bigger one?

 

Tempest

[esplonky]

mine are in a tupperware tub that i drew atari logos all over and wrote ATARI GAMES on

[VectorGamer]

Tubs: http://retrocademagazine.com/collection.htm

 

For Imagic, Xonox, Mattel et al carts that don't fit in tubs I use Music Mates

[Rev]

These work great for me...

 

 

i have a bunch of the atari modular cart storage units if you want them.

[Rex Dart]

These are $5 for a 3-pack at Lowe's and hold 24 carts each.

 

 

[VectorGamer]

These are $5 for a 3-pack at Lowe's and hold 24 carts each.

 

 

 

Those look like the ones I started buying, but then I found the tubs (in the link I posted above) from one of the office supply stores (Staples I think) that hold 28 carts per tub. They fit perfectly for 2600, 7800 and ColecoVision carts.

[Red 5]

They are too pretty to store is a box or in tupperware!

 

They should be displayed in all their glory so when people go into your man cave they go like this...

 

oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh ! ! !

 

Edited August 5, 2011 by Red 5

[Schizophretard]

oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh ! ! ! 8-tracks!!! Is the baseball bat on top a "Do not touch!" sign?

[mtshark7]

I keep mine in random sized boxes...the carts w/o the dust guard I keep in zipLoc bags