Is Collecting for INTV Only About Having Enough $?

[boxpressed]

Just a thought for discussion. Given the fact that even super rares turn up on eBay multiple times a year, I was wondering if collecting for Intellivision is only about having enough money to buy them. I don't mean to diminish the achievement of obtaining the "125," but a dedicated speed collector with the right contacts could grab them all in about a week. I've never pursued the 125 goal, but I could be there pretty quickly if I wanted to spend about $1,000.

 

I wonder if Intellivision collecting is different in this way from, say, 2600 collecting or NES collecting, where it would be much, much harder to collect using this brute force method.

 

How else might we measure "success" when it comes to Intellivision collecting? There's always variant collecting, sealed collecting, or both. One interesting measure would be total cost to obtain the 125. But I'm not sure we would be able to itemize our collections in this way.

[Fushek]

For the most part, you are correct. Usually, it's about the cash, although I think that I've, for the most part, acquired most of my collection at a discount (either buying lots and reselling extras) or watching for cheap BIN's from people who don't know any better. Only for a few of the big ones have paid closer to "market value".

 

I definitely have more pride in an item that I got on the cheap than I do for one that I paid full price for!

 

Finding the bargain makes collecting more fun!

[Certifiable]

I used the sheer money/brute force aspect for 5 months last year. I ended up replacing all my original core games and getting all the way to 116 of 125.

 

The last 6 months I've tried to be patient and find bargains but lately it seems sellers on ebay are too lazy to know what they have and everything I bought is going for much less now...

[boxpressed]

I think I'm bringing this up now because my collecting plan used to be very similar to Fushek's: buy in lots and sell your doubles or wait for that BIN from someone who didn't do research. I rarely bought individual titles unless they were being given away for a song. However, these days, I've been spending more and more for individual titles to fill in some gaps, and while I'm sure that I'm still getting a good deal (in the current market, at least), the experience isn't nearly as satisfying. Rather than building a collection, I feel more like I'm just buying stuff on sale now.

[+Lathe26]

Short answer is the old phrase: time is money.

 

In other words you can throw a lot of money around and build your collection fast (a few months) or you use more of your time to find the deals (a few years).

[Atari_Bill]

This is exactly how I see Intellivision collecting differing from other retro systems. Provided you have the bankroll, you should have little difficulty in flying through a complete standard collection. Pretty much every game in the original 125 is fairly easy to obtain for the right price. I've seen it happen over the last few years with multiple folks on these boards. This differs from say the Atari 2600, 5200, Colecovision, and even the 7800 to a much lesser degree. There are games for each of those collections that rarely ever see the light of day at any price. I'm going into my 20th year of collecting for the Intellivision. Finished the 125, but still working on boxes where I can. Finding bargains is much of the enjoyment for me. I don't get any pleasure out of just accumulating as much as I can as quickly as I can.

[+JasonlikesINTV]

For me, one measure of a collection's completeness is the purity/homogeneity of the collection. On the surface, the 125 is much less pure if composed of a mixture of Mattel, Intellivision Inc, and Sears titles. It sort of is from a title only/loose cart perspective because all the playable titles are there, but when you start looking at CIB, the heterogeneous box mix irks me. I love the appearance of the various networks displayed all together where all of the boxes are uniform. Same with Sears. Same with Intellivision Inc. I took it a step further by replacing all of my Hong Kong versions of Mattel games with USA (when applicable...Word Fun, for instance is only Hong Kong). I'm also apparently starting a Hong Kong collection. This is overkill for most people, but I think that shooting for an all Mattel with no Intellivision Inc collection is pretty doable and worth the investment.

[+save2600]

Boxes are through the roof right now for some reason or is some seller speculation to blame?

[maximebeauvais]

over 10 maybe 15 years now of collection intv.....CIB and sealed game (50%-50%)

 

got all my game at a cheap fair price, except congo 200$, learning 1 100$, learning 2 200$......i think that all other game were below 50$.

 

just missing spiker, still waiting for a nice cheap CIB that will show up somewhere in my face LOL

 

I do remember at the beginning, spiker was at 350$ and the new in bag was at 200$....but at that time, I was not spending that kind of money on game

[voltron]

I was a speed collector, but I was also new to buying on ebay and uncertain about rarity. When I first came to AA I had found out a few weeks ago my folks had tossed my system anf my entire collection which was 125 from ages ago. I was oh crap, so I went on ebay to get the games. Eventually I got to the final ten and the only thing I knew was there are some games that seldom come around. So when they did I went gun ho on them. Now I know that these rare games arent as rare as I had taught in the beggining, like Spiker. But would I do it the same way again if I had to re do it. Yes bc I did pick up some real rare items that I could have missed like Robot Rubble and the robot rubble prototype cart. and league of light. Now im not as gun-ho bc as I got to know people here I found out I was basically up bidding with the same few members here, especially Cmart so we made an arrangement not to up bid ourselfs. Unless it was a true rare item like the Playcable, which did come up and we still manage to work that out and I think we all have one now. Presently im just looking to collect variants, and this is trickier bc I dont know about them unti I come across it. Or Cmarts exposes a new variant.

 

Success is what you want of your collection for me it was just replacing the 125 my folks threw out. And I meet that goal, my second goal was the keyboard component and that was not to hard to get bc I happened to be at the right place at the right time, and thats when I found AA. I think myfirst post was in the want to buy section where I just asked for any info on the KC and someone send me a lead and I got it. So for me success now is getting all the digiplay stuff, that been the most elusive since I was banned from Brazil. I have the intv one console but i want the intv2 digiplay variant and the games. And the brazillian schockvision games.

 

I dont collect atari nor NES bc to me they are crap. Intellivision was way ahead of its time and thats what appealed to me when I was a kid and presently. I remember when I first got the intellivoice it wa the coolest thing my console could talk.

 

As for money it helps, bc if you are sniping and you place a high bid and there is another sniper and he bills just below you, well you still need to pay. So you can get burnned sniping if you dont have the money to back it up. Of course you can burn other snipers too. I sort of shilled Revs auction one time with out him (Rev) knowing I was going to do it. The week where he put up his spiker on auction. I knew a certain sniper was going to be there and I had figured out what he likes to bid and I bid one dollar shy of the snipers max and he paid a lot for revs games. I know this is bad, but I wanted Rev to do well in his auction bc he had mad dental bills. But if my tactic had backfired I would have paid Revs dental bills.

Edited February 11, 2014 by voltron

[wolfy62]

How about those of us who already have the 125 help or allow the others who do not have certain games to finish their collections?

[voltron]

How about those of us who already have the 125 help or allow the others who do not have certain games to finish their collections?

I dont hoard. So you seldom see me bidding on games I already have, and the duplicates I had I traded. So I have helped other try an complete their collection.

[boxpressed]

I forgot to add hoarding as another possible measure of success.

[wolfy62]

over 10 maybe 15 years now of collection intv.....CIB and sealed game (50%-50%)

 

got all my game at a cheap fair price, except congo 200$, learning 1 100$, learning 2 200$......i think that all other game were below 50$.

 

just missing spiker, still waiting for a nice cheap CIB that will show up somewhere in my face LOL

 

I do remember at the beginning, spiker was at 350$ and the new in bag was at 200$....but at that time, I was not spending that kind of money on game

Wow, you have done an amazing job!

 

My friend Steve is still a little too cheap when bidding, and he still needs 15 rare games.

 

I am done trying to help him because when I arrange an awesome deal he still says it is too much.

 

I never paid more than $200. for any one game because I acquired most of the rare ones from Telegames in 1997 before they sold out of them. I was very lucky!

 

Great job by you to not overpay, superb collecting job!

[wolfy62]

I have no duplicates! Traded all I ever owned to get the super complete collection I have.

 

Damn, I want my spare Choplifter! Back.

[+JasonlikesINTV]

I forgot to add hoarding as another possible measure of success failure.

 

FIFY

[mr_intv]

Not all my games are CIB. Some are loose, some have the boxes but I'm at 124/125 and have only broke the $100 mark on a game twice. With Spiker being the last cart I need I'm sure I will pay greatly for it if and when I ever purchase it. I'm fairly patient and every so often I find a jewel in the wild. The Edmonton area has been very kind to me in my intellivision collecting as well as here on this forum and early on in the ccgc forums. With all the game variants I doubt I will ever finish this journey....

[boxpressed]

FIFY

I know that this is a little self-deprecating humor on your part, but it is a point worth making nonetheless. What happens to a community when all of the super rares are available multiple times a year AND that community has hoarders? And if the hoarding is made to seem like an amusing quirk rather than as a practice that makes it more difficult for folks to complete a collection? The point I am trying is make is that hoarding happens because it's too easy to collect for Intellivision if you have the means. The only true grail is the Tutorvision.

[+JasonlikesINTV]

I know that this is a little self-deprecating humor on your part, but it is a point worth making nonetheless. What happens to a community when all of the super rares are available multiple times a year AND that community has hoarders? And if the hoarding is made to seem like an amusing quirk rather than as a practice that makes it more difficult for folks to complete a collection? The point I am trying is make is that hoarding happens because it's too easy to collect for Intellivision if you have the means. The only true grail is the Tutorvision.

From what I can tell, most collectors follow a pattern of initially bulking/stockpiling/hoarding followed by a pruning phase. Hoarding seems for most type be a temporary event. I have many duplicates....too many. I'm not sure how I'm going to unload them yet. I'd like to hold on to the rarest for trade bait. Others, I'd like to use too recoup some of the cash I've blown over the years. My eventual goal is to have one of everything...except Worm Whomper. I want them all.

[+BBWW]

Patience, knowing when to pull the trigger, trading? Trading is my favorite way to fill my collection when I can. Sadly I'm to the point where what I need, rare home-brews, most of those folks have what I have. I love upgrading to better than what I have and reselling. I find it a game. MOST of the time. If I had a lot of money, I'd pay a high price for stupid things I don't need like a Videoplexer and the Play Cable.

 

Really though I've had great fun since I this forum and did the Portland Show.

[mojotv67]

I say it's definitely all of the above. Our reasons for collecting may vary but the process is undoubtedly similar once you get to a certain level. When I first stated collecting back in '09 I just wanted a system and some games. Then it was boxed system and boxed games. Then it was the late INTV releases and the other rare titles. I admit now I don't get the same rush I used to when I picked something up that I didn't have but recently I won three auctions that were definitely in the bargain category and that really brought the excitement back. The most I ever spent for a game was $750 for a CIB Spiker, a lot of people passed on it because it was a new seller so I figured it was a gamble worth taking. A couple of years ago I remember LF1 and LF2 going for a bit over a hundred and thinking that it was too much. Boy I wish I had picked them up then.

 

Anyway, I collect for pretty much every other classic system out there (except Vectrex and Neo Geo) but not with the passion that I have for the Intellivision.

[+Lathe26]

... that been the most elusive since I was banned from Brazil...

Is there an interesting story behind this to share? Feel free to ignore this request if it is a personal thing.

[+cmart604]

As usual, Boxpressed has asked yet another thoughtful question. As someone who started collecting for the Inty in 1998 (or 1999, apparently my memory is failing in my old age), I originally just wanted to get back into playing the games I'd owned in my youth. That soon led me to a Digital Press guide and the hunt for 125 was on.

 

My collection went through the same process that many others have gone through (or will).

I started with just wanting the games in any form and I wasn't really that interested in paying what I saw as a ton for some of these games. In fact, as crazy as this sounds now, I remember hesitating on some of the original homebrews at $50 or so. Eventually the collector in me took over, and then loose evolved into CIB and I've been refining it ever since. Read "refining" mostly as branching out into almost any variant you can imagine, although I believe I was the first on AA to mention collecting the "true" Original 125, which I define as collecting the earliest release version of all the boxes. (Apologies to Jason's significant other for launching him down that path.) (and curses to Steve for being the Godfather of cataloging Inty variations)

 

To the original question, at this point it does seem that one could speed collect even 125 CIB within a fairly short time span. This wasn't always the case, as a few years back there hadn't really been any Spikers in about a five year time period. I suspect the reason for the availability change is twofold. Firstly, a couple of auction results in the $1500 range seems to motivate folks to dig out their copies as it's now "worth their while" to sell. Secondly, a number of us Inty collectors are getting older and have decided to sell and leave the scene for various reasons. (Not me.)

 

On to the topic of hoarding....for me personally, my "over accumulation" tendencies (that's the term we prefer to "hoarder"), began in a quest to always be upgrading my collection, as I do gain some satisfaction out of "curating" the nicest collection possible. There are MANY occasions I can think of where I simply acquired extras copies of game XYZ because there was something in the lot that I wanted/needed (hard to tell the difference sometimes when you're in it). Many of those extras have made it into the bands of a few dozen fellow AA'ers, usually at less than what I paid for them as I like to help out folks when I can.

 

To this day I have still not sold anything on ebay and I'm not sure I will, although as others have mentioned, I'd really like to prune my collection but given my very busy real life I find it difficult at times to do so. There are a number of you on my very long to do list. (Insert joke by Rev here)

 

As I've moved on to collecting CIB hardware variants, Inty ephemera, and more software variants than you can shake a stick at (sometimes, even though I'm from Canada, I use expressions from the South just so Rev will understand what I'm talking about), I find that the thrill of the hunt still draws me in. Admittedly, I will sometimes buy lots just to see if I stumble across a new box, or cart, or manual.....man this is a sickness at times.

 

Great topic.

[Intellfan]

I started collecting in 1999 Getting a bunch of games I never knew existed. It was so fun . I think I started again, to take me back to the early eighty's when I first moved out on my own . My house was the party house we would play Intellivision all night long LOL . I have always been more of a player then a collector. I am starting to sell off some of my games that I have but never play and I don't see me ever playing them . Let someone else have it and play with it. LOL I will keep buying the new home brews always fun to get something new. but I may sell them in time if i don't play them . To me some of the rarer games are not that great. But some are . Like Worm Whomper or River Raid . I gave my brother and two of my nephews systems and games to keep it alive I will pass my collection off to my youngest daughter when it is my time. My oldest could careless about Intellivision. Where did I go wrong? LOL

[+BBWW]

For me one of the fun things is that my son started the collection as a remembrance of the good times we had has he was growing up. I was a very young father and I enjoyed playing as well. As he got more into it we partnered up again to get a full collection. As a joint father / son thing even if we once or twice went over what we should have…it's just part of our staying connected as adults and remembering that me spending $25 bucks on a new game in 1980 was a BIG deal. Inflation adjusted that $25 dollars would be about $100 today.

 

Jay