Fairchild . . . Deal? (in Dallas)

[+wongojack]

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/vgm/4751531575.html

 

Local seller offering a Fairchild VES apparently in box for $90. Is this an AA members offer?

 

What would be a reasonable counter offer? I know nothing about the Fairchild VES, what questions should I ask about it?

[Jess Ragan]

Does it work? That one's important. I was in diapers when the Fairchild Channel F was released, and I'm no spring chicken. I've had a Fairchild before but my system didn't work worth a hill of beans.

 

I would counter with fifty dollars. That's only if the system works and you really want it. It's not as impressive as the 2600, that's for sure.

[CatPix]

And don't let the seller bullshitting you about having no games - the Channel F come with two onboard included games.

Edited November 15, 2014 by CatPix

[christo930]

The Channel F really isn't worth even $50 if you ask me. My cousins had it when I was a kid and it was so far behind even the Atari 2600. I have one, not sure if it works, but IIRC, I paid like $2 or 3 for it. I also have a bunch of carts, but they are "put away" at the moment (have no idea where). The controllers are really weird too and not very reliable.

[CatPix]

Except that unlike he Atari 2600, you won't pay here for performance, but rarity and "market value".

I looked on eBay multible times for US consoles and carts (I have an Euro model and carts - but there are 6 games that were not released here). and Oooh boy, this shit is expensive

I think there is a market issue here - people oversell them because "it's the first console" but yeah, I think the overall demand and "quality" aren't worth those 90$. But heh, that's just my idea.

[Blazing Lazers]

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/vgm/4751531575.html

 

Local seller offering a Fairchild VES apparently in box for $90. Is this an AA members offer?

 

What would be a reasonable counter offer? I know nothing about the Fairchild VES, what questions should I ask about it?

If the seller is calling it the Video Entertainment System then he must have the very first model from before it was renamed Channel F. I would highly consider picking this up, and be willing to go to around $75 and possibly the full $90. Also ask if he has any of the additional Videocarts.

 

The Channel F can be difficult to hook up, unless you use an RF cord to coaxial adapter and in turn run that signal through a quality VCR or other way of getting composite output. I've encountered several supposedly broken or not working or untestable systems that actually worked just fine once they were correctly hooked up.

 

As for the play value, Channel F is a VERY great two player system, even with just the built-in hockey game. I'll go on record as saying it is worth owning just for that game alone. The controls are really easy to pick up and play, especially for non-gamers. Your girlfriend (or wife?) would enjoy playing this with you, and this is a very kid-friendly system too.

 

There's also the excellent Multicart you can get from e5frog here in the Marketplace if you don't want to hunt down individual games.

 

Overall, I think you should pick this up, and if I were near Dallas I would do so.

[TheObscureGamer]

The system alone is worth twice what he's asking and the fact that it comes with the box and it's the Video Entertainment System(what it was called before it was called the Fairchild Channel F) system buying it is a no brainer.Unlike what some would say,it has some decent games and a great 2 player console.I'd say go for it

[christo930]

From a collectability standpoint it might be worth it, but I still say the game library sucks, although there is a modern home brew version of pac man that is REALLY good (WAY better than the 2600 versions), especially given the hardware (though according to Wikipedia is has 2KB of ram dedicated to video, which I find odd as there is only 64bytes general purpose ram). I really don't think the games hold up from what I recall the last time I played some of them. I suppose they were interesting for their time, but I don't think anyone would want to play them very long. A lot of the 2600 and Intellivision games hold up and are playable today and are still fun to play. But I guess to each their own, lots of people would say the games I like don't hold up.

[+wongojack]

Well, you've convinced me to at least contact him. At first, I wasn't interested in trying to bargain someone down from 90 to 50, but it seems from some of the later comments that this MIGHT be worth up to $75.

 

I texted him and we'll see what happens. Thanks for all the responses

 

Although, I know there are a solid handful of AA'ers in Dallas, so someone else may be onto this now.

[NinjaWarrior]

You better be careful posting stuff like this

 

Someone might backdoor you & get a great deal

[+wongojack]

You better be careful posting stuff like this

 

Someone might backdoor you & get a great deal

 

You just keep your ninja staff away from my backdoor and everything will be fine.

[NinjaWarrior]

Lol

 

Did he respond?

[+wongojack]

Not yet. The post was a few days old when I found it. If someone was actively looking for this, they would have already found it days ago. I'm not going to be upset if I miss out. I just don't think opportunities come up like this one locally very many times, so I wanted to research it a bit.