lanatrzczka Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Is it when you have the comics (Yar's, Bezerk, Defender, etc...)? Is it when you keep a spreadsheet to remember what games you own? I am just a person who has built this thing, but no one in my life understands it. Looking to AtariAge Forums to see if anyone else goes after the "original feeling" when pulling out that warranty card from the box, or reading the Asteroids manual, or using the button on the paddle to flip the teeter-totter in Circus Atari. Is there a difference between a collector and an active player? I guess I am just looking to hear from kindred spirits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari181 Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 "Serious Collector" is a relative term. You can be a serious collector and spend very little money, collecting those games that you had or played as a child. Most Atari stuff is pretty cheap. Some take it to a collecting hobby, collecting much more than playing. So the answer is probably different for each individual. Lots of people may even have a specific time/event that they knew they had became a serious collector. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 For me it was when I began to start collecting anything and everything Atari related. Was more obsessed and/or took more delight in acquiring things than actually playing them. I'm better now. Much better. BTW: a real serious collector don't need no stinkin' spreadsheet to keep track of *anything*. Seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetset Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 If I had to pick a certain milestone, I think it was right about when I started lying to my wife about it. "No honey, I traded a really rare cart I had two of for those nine games". Yeah...that was it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanatrzczka Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share Posted January 6, 2013 BTW: a real serious collector don't need no stinkin' spreadsheet to keep track of *anything*. Seriously. Lol! So you have Combat and Space Invaders? Is that your collection? Ha ha, only busting around... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari181 Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 If I had to pick a certain milestone, I think it was right about when I started lying to my wife about it. "No honey, I traded a really rare cart I had two of for those nine games". Yeah...that was it. LMFAO been there, done that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariBrian Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 LMFAO been there, done that! :lolblue: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennetzel Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 (edited) For me it was when I pulled out the old system for nostolgic reasons, fired her up, realized she still works, and started buying the games I missed out on back in the day. I would not call myself a "serious" collector, but I look for certain games, buy them, play them, enjoy them, when others think I am insane and trying to recapture my youth. LOL. Then I found myself hanging around this place...which made me realize it's more than a "like" for me, but a passion. I wanted to learn all I could about the system, its history, its origins and its popularity. So I suppose wanting to learn more about something that goes beyond a casual appreciation makes you a "serious" collector. Edited January 7, 2013 by kennetzel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schizophretard Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 The moment you become an AtariAge member. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Lol! So you have Combat and Space Invaders? Is that your collection? Ha ha, only busting around... Hahaha! Which reminds me... collecting label variants, now there's another sign you may be a serious collector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OBO Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 (edited) I'm not collecting. (said the guy who has the complete Atari 16/32 computer range collection, almost complete A8 collection (missing PAL A400 and A800, and a 1200XL), 4 VCS/2600 of various models , 2 7800, a jaguar w/jag CD, and a bazillion other items related to those) Edited January 7, 2013 by OBO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jknu80sfan Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 I have been a serious collector of so many other things prior to getting back into Atari. I collect 80's toys, 80's wrestling footage, and 80's cartoons. SOOOOO....it was only natural for me to get back into Atari. I don't consider myself a serious collector yet since I just picked up a 2600 jr off Ebay. I only have 8 games so far but the last night at Game Craze I bought a pac man with yellow label and a pac man with orange label so I think I am on my way to getting more serious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowCoder Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Simply put, I think it's when you've crossed the threshold from buying to play, to buying just to have it. Some members here have so much collection, but they never actually play anything. The stuff they own is displayed right next to the 8x10 family photos. They have nice, unopened CIB games and consoles. Stuff that will remain tucked away in boxes, hidden from view, and will likely never see the light of day ... because UV is damaging. I'm more a gamer, and when I have the time I play. I can't really call myself a collector. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
video game addict Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 The point between casual collector & serious most likely varies with everyone. I would say the word serious means $$$ because that's really all that seperates any of us from obtaining more Atari. Now for some of us money isn't disposable and you have to pick & choose your battles so to speak. So that $50 game may need to wait in favor of new shoes for the kids. But passion is what really drives collectors. Whether you're a fan of Dave Matthews and you have every bootleg version of every album downloaded in your ipod or someone like my wife who still enjoys the joy of 'the hunt' and would rather find her collectables through a random thrift shop spree than bidding on ebay. We all have different levels of joy and apprecation that we derive from our collections. I don't think you need to play Atari to love Atari. For some simply owning the game brings back memories of years past. I enjoy playing Atari, still, now some 30 years later. I believe my first Atari came in either 82 or 83. And I still have never beat Adventure.. I actually have a 2600 setup in my kids room and we have been playing alot of it over the past few weeks. I guess for me, I've always enjoyed collecting things, from hotwheels & gijoes as a kid, to old bottles when I was a little older and digging up trash in the woods behind our house, to collecting baseball cards & comics in my teens, and finally to collecting video games once I had the time & money to start thrifting & hitting the yard sales. I first discovered other Atari collectors in 98 I think it was and I still have my first VGR list printed off my computer in July of 99 and later some Andrew Krieg lists which had [C] [i ] [b] which I liked a little better to highlight what I had found. For me I think I obsessed over it a little too much, hence the name, and the $$$ part of serious found me not able to truely enjoy it for what it was, but to the quest to obtain was more important. I commissioned Ben to make me a VCSp well before the limited run was offered, I found myself buying everything complete in box, regardless of whether I owned it yet already and suddenly I wasn't happy with the stuff I had found in the wild. It all needed to be mint in the box. I was using credit cards to buy games that were on ebay, because who knows how long it might be before another boxed X-man appears (and it's such a great game right?) and on & on the cycle goes. So now I look at my life, married.. have a couple kids.. bought a house a couple years ago.. have a dog in the backyard... still have probably 300 boxed Atari games, but they are all in the attic.. The Atari is in use as I type this, I can hear the sound of Bump n'Jump being played by my kids. The joy is still there. I'm a collector still, maybe not serious, but with serious love and affection for my toys & hobbies. So I guess you could say I'm learning to be serious without the $$$. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unbeliever Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Simply put, I think it's when you've crossed the threshold from buying to play, to buying just to have it. Some members here have so much collection, but they never actually play anything. The stuff they own is displayed right next to the 8x10 family photos. They have nice, unopened CIB games and consoles. Stuff that will remain tucked away in boxes, hidden from view, and will likely never see the light of day ... because UV is damaging. I'm more a gamer, and when I have the time I play. I can't really call myself a collector. Me neither. I love my Atari 2600, and stare with dreamy eyes at the box art, pull out a manual with a certain nervous quiver as I open the Berserk game instructions and feel like a kid again, dust off my Atari every day to make it as shiny as possible, search for Atari 2600 "YouTube" videos over and over again...maybe I'm just plain obsessed, but a serious collector? Nah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennetzel Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 I agree with you in a lot of ways, jknu80sfan...I too have been collecting tons of other things before I got back into Atari...mostly toy robots, but lots of other pop culture items fill my home. SO I suppose anything I have more than two of is seriously collected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinMos3 Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 At what point do you become a serious 2600 collector? When you have recurring dreams of going into a pawn shop, thrift store, or flea market and find either very rare games or games that never existed. I can't even describe how many times I've bought Rambo or something like that only to wake up disappointed. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 You get serious about anything when it spawns a major quest in your life. For me, that quest is knowledge. When people point you out as the "go to guy" for Atari and you're actually confident in what you're telling them, you're probably serious about Atari information. When the thrill of a find is higher than the thrill of a high score, you're probably more serious about collecting. If it's the other way around, you're probably a serious gamer instead. Seeking out prototypes just to get them exposed to the Atari community could show you're serious about Atari. Atari isn't the main focus of my life. Video games in general aren't the main focus, either. I do sit down to an occasional game or even compete in the HSC for a week once in a while. I am, however, a serious Atari collector. I'm not serious about other systems. I'd be happy without my LaserActive or my Clay Fighter Sculptor's Cut for the N64. (Don't send offers, though; they're not for sale). I could live without the 2600, but the fact that I grew up with it and its games is what brings me back to it for a little while each time and what drives me to seek out new stuff on it. I experienced games as they came out back then that are very rare today. I play games like Subterranea and Ram It with a passion that was born in the mid '80's. I had conquered Survival Island long before the golden age of 2600 collecting, and I conquered Sword of Saros shortly after it. Those are games that will empty your wallet prety quick, and I lived on them when they were new. That makes finding a new challenge a unique experience for me. I see new to me games like Shuttle Orbiter and Mangia as the blocky 8 bit graphics that they are, and its hard to justify dumping serious cash on them. On the other hand, I see the rare games that I grew up with through rose colored glasses, and those games are perfect! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 When you have Reef Store dreams. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 I said this before a few years ago, but it's worth saying again: You know you're a serious collector when you go to eBay and buy one of those lots that includes two 4-switch woody systems; no controllers; and 200 games that include three copies of Pac-Man, four copies of Combat, and a stray ColecoVision cartridge -- just to get that one game in the lot that you don't already have. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 When you have Reef Store dreams. ALL HAIL BIRA BIRA! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schizophretard Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 I said this before a few years ago, but it's worth saying again: You know you're a serious collector when you go to eBay and buy one of those lots that includes two 4-switch woody systems; no controllers; and 200 games that include three copies of Pac-Man, four copies of Combat, and a stray ColecoVision cartridge -- just to get that one game in the lot that you don't already have. I've done this not just for games I don't have but also label variations. The label variations makes it more fun because after it seems worth it to me just based on what I can see in the eBay pictures, when the lot gets home I find even more label variations I don't have. At first a lot looks like it would be mostly doubles but when it gets home, I discover that most of it I don't have yet or I find better condition labels of what I already have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raskar42 Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 when it stops being funny. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiddlepaddle Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Once you hear yourself say "I need..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 When you go to bed, holding that 2600 close to your chest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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