A little help ?

[Oldtimer]

Hi guys,roaming village idiot in need of advice I managed to find - if that's the right word - some rare games. I say find,theyre a find if you guys can help me verify the authenticity. I might just be being paranoid but is there such a thing as a pirate copy of things like Spiker? I'm just beginning to dip into this level of rarity,throw anything Nintendo at me and Ill spot the tiniest flaw at 100 yards blindfold on a galloping horse at midnight~but the Intellivision is a new world to me.

 

Anyway,much excitement boiling in me I went to take a peek at a few games a collector is offering. Now among his collection were games like Pole position,body slam,slap shot,super pro skiing,super pro decathlon and the REAL rarities,a Spiker & Mud Buggies. To me they all looked much of a muchness but up close the boxes looked a different texture on the card. Is this just a normal variation? The Spiker & Super Pro decathlon were almost like a canvas finish if you get my drift,kinda like a fine cross hatching on the surface. I noticed other boxes were smoother .

 

The SPDecathlon was pretty rough but the Spiker near mint. The Mud Buggies was also a bit rough too and had the same sort of finish. All looked to 'have age' .The instructions inside were a bit coloured on the outside folds ,the internal folded sections being much whiter as you'd often find.

 

The carts - here Im struggling! On the rear of 'standard' Intellivision games I see on some ~ Mattel 1979 and copyright Mattel etc yet on others just a plain white label on the cart and nothing on the rear. Is this again standard ? These carts were all plain on the rears .

 

Among my other collecting obsessions Im stumbling on Intellivision stuff,happily from some Nintendo collectors Ive dealt with for years,but where I can talk with authority on Nintendo stuff Im flamin' struggling on Intv gear. Im probably missing bargains & paying too much for other bits but in a grim kinda way its a perverse part of the appeal. Not that I'd be excited to have missed a Congo Bongo at £50 of course but Im enjoying the learning curve-steep as it's proving to be.

 

I didn't expect to find such rarity here in the UK given worldwide mythology surrounding such games nowadays but Im also concerned and don't want to be a complete plum and rush in and buy a flippin' pirate game.

 

Any tips? These games aren't going anywhere as the chap owes me a few £hundred for some gear I sourced him so he's 'in my pocket' (I wish!) Anyway I just had to ask,I was a bit loathe to start asking to take pics as I had forgotten my camera and even phone so it'd have been taking the Michael to ask to borrow his camera but I can try to get some tomorrow or the day after.

 

Its burning my butt knowing there are titles like that round the corner,OK he's not giving them away but if theyre genuine hopefully theyre a good buy at UK (daylight robbery) prices! Its hard to find anything definitive as to what I should be paying for a Mud Buggies or Spiker (or pro decathlon) so again any help would be very much appreciated!!!

 

Its half past stupid o'clock here in the UK now so Ill check in tomorrow and see if I can pop some pics up if I can get time to go chase the guy down for a few minutes among the stupid work stuff that blights my life

[Rev]

I will need you to send them to me for proper verification!

[+cmart604]

We can take some close up pics of ours for you. There is a Spiker reproduction box out there that Oliver made but they are usually advertised as such. Pics of that might be useful to you as well.

[+intvsteve]

I've seen the 'canvas' texture on some of the INTV Corp boxes. IIRC Stadium Mud Buggies boxes are like that. Since I don't have a Spiker box - - aside from the reproduction set - can't speak to that. There are tons of variations of the labels and manuals. Yellowing along the edges of manuals is relatively common. Labels vary in size, color, font, shape and even content. E.g. some copies of a game have smaller, rounded corners on the sticker, while others are square-cornered. Some labels have a copyright date, others don't. The cartridge shells varied, too. The copyright dates changed, or were simply blank or nonexistent; some used Philips screws, some triangle head screws, some none at all.

 

Like rev and cmart say - pics will tell the story. The descriptions you gave superficially sound like authentic items, but your caution is well-placed.

[+JasonlikesINTV]

For a quick reference, here (website below) are some pics that should be authentic and includes many authentic variations. Steve may be able to help more

 

http://www.intvfunhouse.com/intvcorp/

 

I'm pretty sure the Spiker is fake, buy lucky for you I collect fake Spikers.

Edited August 5, 2013 by JasonlikesINTV

[Oldtimer]

[Oldtimer]

There's a few pics,I tried about half a dozen times to upload Spiker pics but they kept failing.Well under max. size but after 5 mins getting them on they then repeatedly failed to upload so I gave up in disgust. Our Internet's coal powered out here so hiccups are far from uncommon !!!

 

Anyway,I think one pic shows the box texture well,the box is in good order with a few creases + dings to the sides and rear but overall it balances on the good side I reckon.

 

Does this all look legit? Having one of you guys say the boxes do look like that reassured me greatly and pushes me more toward thinking theyre just in good order and a find

 

Price wise he wanted £500 for the pair,guess that's about $750 ish,but following negotiations we got to £400 and there's a Thunder castle and Super Pro Decathlon in the pot too. Decathlon is missing the booklet though. Seems a good deal as Ive come across history of dealers asking £500 for a Spiker apparently I the UK. We're held to ransom a bit on rarities usually so this is a good deal by UK standards,albeit with much chicanery over the trade side of it where Ive supplied him with some sealed UK Gameboy titles. Im not sure what you guys can pick up over in the States,the Nintendo market is much freer and cheaper than ours,Im sure there's more Intv stuff there too .

 

Is there a reliable rarity price guide anywhere? I get heaps of people offer me lots of stuff with 'this is worth £2500.00 ~ look on rarityguide.com - it SAYS it there' But it's hopelessly out of touch on current prices so I use my own experience but as ever on Intv Im still at the fledgling stage of being a mark for somebody with anything I haven't come across before :mad:

 

Once again guys cheers for the help,what a great site. Had a mooch round a few other format forums but soon ended back here

 

The chap who has these had a few overlays from uncommons too-he had a bit of an inflated idea on price but I saw a White Water I needed.He had Dreadnought x2,Jetsons x1,Scooby Maze x 2,Blockade Runner x2 among the usual shrapnel-whats the going rate for one or a pair?

[Intymike]

Stadium Mud Buggies looks good to me. My box has such a texture too.

 

I need one Jetsons overlay. If you come to a trade...

Edited August 5, 2013 by Intymike

[+JasonlikesINTV]

Here's my take on going rates (eBay pricing, so these may be a little higher than trade prices):

 

$1500 Spiker (CIB, good condition)

$250-500 Stadium Mud Buggies (CIB)

$30-50 Thunder Castle (CIB)

$40-75 Super Pro Decathlon (CIB)

 

Most of those overlays would sell between $2-10/pair, but a CIB Jetsons in good condition is $120-200, so overlays would fetch a premium. I have a copy of the Jetsons missing an overlay as well, and would personally pay $10/single or $18/pair in mint condition.

[+intvsteve]

The Stadium Mud Buggies box surface looks virtually identical to the ones I have, so I'd say it's absolutely legit. If Spiker is similar, my gut would trust that, too. The repro box obviously *should* have a tag, but if a stealth repro, carefully consider the smoothness (or not) of the material.

 

I've been away from the active market for a long time so I won't speak to the prices other than to say: Yikes! Guess I need to find a rich relative to get that Spiker box.