The Condition Tag (How Picky Are You With Your Games?)

[IntellivisionDude]

[Atari_Bill]

Not very. My goal is to have a copy of the game. I'm not concerned about it being perfect.

[+SoulBuster]

If I can upgrade without too much cost, I will, otherwise anything goes as long as it is CIB/NIB.

[Oscar G.]

Same as Atari Bill. You cannot be very picky if you still want to play today with Toys from the late 70s-80s.

I still try to keep them arranged/protected in a plastic box.

I would say I am not very picky but sensible

Cheers!

[JasonlikesINTV]

I'm very picky about game condition. The mintier, the better. I'm even starting to clean up my Wii and PS2 games.

 

I have spent a lot of time upgrading my Intellivision boxes. I just finished up most of my Imagic (Swords and Serpents and Truckin are my worst, but not bad) and my Intellivoice (Tron is pretty good, but prob the worst of the 4). My Mattel gatefolds are mostly done. I'll have to check inside contents down the road (including upgrading to orig heavy shielded carts). Now I'm working on Sears.

 

I suppose I think of my collection in terms of the worst boxes I have. For a while it was Venture, but I upgraded that. Then it was Nova Blast, but my new one is decent. My Body Slam is probably my worst box, but I got it CIB for like $60 and display it in a mint Repro box, even though I still have the crushed original. On the Sears side, it used to be Triple Action and Space Armada, but I've upgraded both of those. I don't have any imperative Sears upgrades, except I need Soccer! :mad:

 

The next ones I plan on upgrading, in general, are my Mattel Pinball and my Chip Shot SP Golf. Both display at an angle, although Chip Shot might be fixable. Pinball has a crushed spine.

 

I suppose I'm getting off topic. In summary condition has become more important to me over the years, but a rare game in poor condition still has value since many collectors don't care.

[+cmart604]

I'm like Jason in this case. When I started collecting INTV stuff 14 years ago I didn't care, I just wanted the games I played as a kid, then it became all the games and I started adding CIB, then all of them CIB, with some NIB mixed in, then the CIB upgrading began. After this many years I'm literally searching for reasons to buy stuff, and upgrading existing and filling in missing variants is what keeps me collecting.

[+SoulBuster]

After this many years I'm literally searching for reasons to buy stuff, and upgrading existing and filling in missing variants is what keeps me collecting.

This is probably why I will still keep collecting. I am not into variants. [Oh God, here it comes.] I think of myself as purist. They have to be Intellivision made [sears will not do] or at least company that owned the copyright at the time [iNTV, etc.]. Now before you go all of the wall with me about where produced [country], I have not thought about it much, but it will probably eventually come into play and I will probably try to go for all USA made items, if that's possible, to complete entire 125 made in USA. [Now for the reason I am not into variants] When I do collect the [probably] all USA versions, every other version I may have will therefore be available for trade or sale. Like I said, purist, meaning I only want 1 copy of each game. You guys get where I am coming from?

[JasonlikesINTV]

This is probably why I will still keep collecting. I am not into variants. [Oh God, here it comes.] I think of myself as purist. They have to be Intellivision made [sears will not do] or at least company that owned the copyright at the time [iNTV, etc.]. Now before you go all of the wall with me about where produced [country], I have not thought about it much, but it will probably eventually come into play and I will probably try to go for all USA made items, if that's possible, to complete entire 125 made in USA. [Now for the reason I am not into variants] When I do collect the [probably] all USA versions, every other version I may have will therefore be available for trade or sale. Like I said, purist, meaning I only want 1 copy of each game. You guys get where I am coming from?

 

Loud and clear. Spoken like a true variant collector Just kidding, you want very specific versions and variant collectors want all versions. Then there are hoarders who want multiple identical copies of a specific game. I, for instance, want all of the Worm Whompers! All of them.

[MagnaFarce]

I personally care more about the condition of my consoles than I do the condition of my games. I have a lot of really messed up games, but I'm okay with it. If one of my consoles gets chip or a permanent mark on it a freak out a little bit.

[+SoulBuster]

Loud and clear. Spoken like a true variant collector Just kidding, you want very specific versions and variant collectors want all versions. Then there are hoarders who want multiple identical copies of a specific game. I, for instance, want all of the Worm Whompers! All of them.

Well in all of those Worm Whompers you're collecting, you think you can find just 1 overlay that does not have a CIB to go with it?

[OutlawTorn71]

I'm very picky about game condition. The mintier, the better....

Ditto

[B0B 1ob1aw]

I am not super picky. I am in the same boat as some others, if I was too strict then the cost of collecting would be too high. At this point I will only buy/trade for CIBs, but I am flexable on the conditions because there are so many variables.

 

The irony is, if I had started collecting two years ago I would have 125 CIB by now - and I would have been more of a stickler for condition. Back then I had plenty of disposable income, until I bought a bigger house...

[Fushek]

I've been upgrading boxes for a while and the most important aspect of the box to me is the spine because that's how they display in my collection. This gets tricky (and petty) because the words on the boxes need to read the same way as the others around it (depending on which spine you have facing outwards, the type may be going up or going down). I've kept boxes that may be slightly worse because their spine was better on a specific side.

 

Wow ... that sounded reasonable and logical in my head and petty after it's been typed.

[+SoulBuster]

I've been upgrading boxes for a while and the most important aspect of the box to me is the spine because that's how they display in my collection. This gets tricky (and petty) because the words on the boxes need to read the same way as the others around it (depending on which spine you have facing outwards, the type may be going up or going down). I've kept boxes that may be slightly worse because their spine was better on a specific side.

 

Wow ... that sounded reasonable and logical in my head and petty after it's been typed.

I have to agree with you. The spine is what is displayed. Since I do not collect variants, I have also changed out a bottom opening box for a gatefold that was in worse condition as I would like to have as many gatefolds as possible.

 

So all the variant collectors!!! If you have extra gatefolds and need the bottom opening variation, we might be able to make some trades.

Edited February 28, 2013 by SoulBuster

[bikeguychicago]

My sole expression in variants came yesterday. I bought Backgammon and it came with the cart with the green label. The purple labeled one with logo came up on eBay and I bought it because purple label looks better with purple box.

[JasonlikesINTV]

I have spent up to 10 minutes comparing the pros and cons of two boxes with differing qualities. For the longest time my best copy of Sharp Shot (gatefold) was pristine, but the spine was faded. It looked terrible, but it was by far a great box and the front was not faded at all. The front art is also kinda of important to me. The non-gatefolds have also caused me lots of stress. Many of my best copies (Chip Shot for example) have crooked spines and display at an angle. Otherwise, they look great.....what to do.

 

Manuals are another thing I'm picky about. I always struggle between keeping ones with beautiful vibrant colors and a little creasing vs faded colors (not due to sun damage, just printing variation) but crease-less and minty. I have been leaning toward the better colors. They have more character and the minty ones probably sell better.

[JasonlikesINTV]

Well in all of those Worm Whompers you're collecting, you think you can find just 1 overlay that does not have a CIB to go with it?

 

I don't have any extras, sorry. I have a couple of CIB copies that I want to keep and only one other overlay, but it's for my overlay collection. I'll post some pics of my overlay collection some time. It's a fun sub-collection project I've been working on. For the longest time, my second CIB copy of Worm Whomper was missing a manual and it drove me nuts