Air Raid Goodwill Auction

[Keatah]

Are these increasing or decreasing in value?

 

I remember correctly or incorrectly they ranged in price from 3000 to 40,000. Or am I completely mistaken?

[Keatah]

13 hours ago, kennybrooks said:

Bad when a 'charity' (goodwill is not a charity) has to implement a reserve for greed.

Maybe not. It seems to have blown past the reserve. And will likely keep going. It does demonstrate greed on the part of the seller. But in reality it's destined to go beyond the reserve. And that makes the reserve pointless especially with a bidding war.

 

And, anyhow, once word got out in the comparatively small hobby of VCS cart collecting, well.. The sky's the limit.

[+DrVenkman]

13 hours ago, Jstick said:

 

" It's worthless. Ten dollars from a vendor in the street. But I take it, I bury it in the sand for a thousand years, it becomes priceless... Men will kill for it. Men like you and me."

Belloq! I thought your face melted off back on that Aegean island … 

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

10 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Well, obviously I'm out. Going into the realm of the most dedicated buyers, currently at 2k. I am honored to have been the $500 and $600 highest bidder for a while. Might be the last time I ever get to bid on an Air Raid cart. Good luck to all the bidders and I look forward to keeping an eye on it. 

I actually got to hold onto a legit Air Raid and even play test it over a year ago. It had come from a barn find along with quite a few other rares. I only mention this because the card was intact but I recall the label had a small blemish in one corner and the PCB itself, frequently would jostle loose and fall inside the cartridge because it didn't seem like the cart shell was that tight. It also had a broken peg on one side used for opening the dust door on the cartridge slots. However, it sold for well over 2k in less than a month to another local collector. (Not I though). So, I would say with that one being in better shape than the one I held in my hand, that the price is pretty fair. Also, the one I'm talking about sold at the price it did before the pandemic was a thing. Retro game prices have gone up quite a bit since C-19 so, yeah the price seems in line to me. But GW has been aware of the value of their games for some time now. You will often find high end games that fetch more, being listed individually on SGW so they have someone or someones that are tracking the market on these retro games and picking out ones they know will fetch good money on their own. This one having a reserve is one of the first times I have seen them do that though.

[Mockduck]

2 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

I actually got to hold onto a legit Air Raid and even play test it over a year ago. It had come from a barn find along with quite a few other rares. I only mention this because the card was intact but I recall the label had a small blemish in one corner and the PCB itself, frequently would jostle loose and fall inside the cartridge because it didn't seem like the cart shell was that tight. It also had a broken peg on one side used for opening the dust door on the cartridge slots. However, it sold for well over 2k in less than a month to another local collector. (Not I though). So, I would say with that one being in better shape than the one I held in my hand, that the price is pretty fair. Also, the one I'm talking about sold at the price it did before the pandemic was a thing. Retro game prices have gone up quite a bit since C-19 so, yeah the price seems in line to me. But GW has been aware of the value of their games for some time now. You will often find high end games that fetch more, being listed individually on SGW so they have someone or someones that are tracking the market on these retro games and picking out ones they know will fetch good money on their own. This one having a reserve is one of the first times I have seen them do that though.

Neat! Yeah, the price for this is going to be fair whatever it ends up at. Yesterday I was guessing somewhere 5/6K, now I'm thinking maybe higher, like 8ish. We'll see!

[jhd]

16 hours ago, Keatah said:

I'm not a cart collector or anything. I once was years and years ago. But I was simply wondering what about this cart ties knots in collector's heads.

 

I'm with Keatah on this. I simply cannot imagine spending one month's rent on a single video game cartridge, let-alone six months (or more) worth. 

 

The most that I have ever spent on a single game was like Cdn$50 for a PS 2 RPG. That works out to less than $1/hr for the amount of playtime I get from the game. To achieve the same ratio from a $2,000 game, I would have to play the game full-time for a sold year! 

[The Mr. Video]

6 minutes ago, jhd said:

I'm with Keatah on this. I simply cannot imagine spending one month's rent on a single video game cartridge, let-alone six months (or more) worth.

Super rare games like Air Raid are treated like status symbol more so than regular Atari games, and some people are more determined to own these status symbols than others and have wallets to match.

[John Stamos Mullet]

23 hours ago, The Mr. Video said:

I don't know why someone would have deliberately donated a game they know is rare when they could have sold it themselves and easily make a few grand off of it. It could just be someone who donated a box of random Atari games they found in the attic. Meanwhile, I'm having war flashbacks from the spray painted Atari cart with a pvc pipe glued on top.

 

Taxes

[jhd]

1 minute ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

Taxes

 

Does Goodwill even give tax receipts? Granted, I have never seen any big-ticket items for sale in their stores that would have merited a receipt. 

 

Here in Canada, the tax credit is based on on the "fair market value" of the property being donated. The challenge is that above a certain (low) threshold, the appraisal must be done by a recognized professional. It would be a significant challenge to find someone whose qualifications are accepted by the Canada Revenue Agency to appraise a video game! 

 

(I worked in the heritage sector for many years, and dealing with tax appraisals/receipts was an annual event -- and one that I do not miss at all!) 

[+thanatos]

 

38 minutes ago, The Mr. Video said:

Super rare games like Air Raid are treated like status symbol more so than regular Atari games, and some people are more determined to own these status symbols than others and have wallets to match.

 

A status symbol amongst game collectors.  Yeah, not a group I'm really concerned about impressing. 

 

[Mockduck]

So, I get the price is crazy dumb, but we're talking rarest of the all time rare here, and for those of us who have spent years collecting, having this in the collection would be an incredible moment. 

[Atari_Bill]

2 hours ago, jhd said:

 

I'm with Keatah on this. I simply cannot imagine spending one month's rent on a single video game cartridge, let-alone six months (or more) worth. 

 

The most that I have ever spent on a single game was like Cdn$50 for a PS 2 RPG. That works out to less than $1/hr for the amount of playtime I get from the game. To achieve the same ratio from a $2,000 game, I would have to play the game full-time for a sold year! 

I had that opinion for years myself.  Over time I’ve realized that let’s say 5k is a lot different to some folks than it is to myself.   I would personally never consider that either, but for some the ratio might be like me spending $200 on a game.  It doesn’t happen often, but I have spent that on a few occasions.  Outside of a freak find, I know I’ll never have this one in my collection.  Amazing things can happen though if you’re persistent.  I just found something Ive been searching for for years at an amazing price.   Waiting to say what it is until it’s actually in my hands though.  ?

[John Stamos Mullet]

1 hour ago, Mockduck said:

So, I get the price is crazy dumb, but we're talking rarest of the all time rare here, and for those of us who have spent years collecting, having this in the collection would be an incredible moment. 

I would understand this sentiment if the game was also really good and worth owning from a gaming/playability standpoint.

 

The only thing that makes it rare is it's scarcity. And it's scarcity is only really due to the game sucking hard and no one buying it.

 

I just don't understand why something that objectively sucks is held in such high esteem.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

1 hour ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

The only thing that makes it rare is it's scarcity

Yep. That's what rarity is.

 

1 hour ago, Atari_Bill said:

I just found something Ive been searching for for years at an amazing price.

That's way more exciting to me. I get the appeal of owning something rare to some extent, but it's way more interesting to me if someone tracks it down or stumbles across it than when they just throw a bunch of money at it. I don't think I've ever spent more than $50 on an individual 2600 game, and the biggest single purchase I ever made was getting Gas Hog, Master Builder and Bumper Bash together for a little under $100. Finding 3 pretty rare games (one of which I genuinely enjoy playing) for $30 each was more exciting for me than blowing several thousand on one crappy game, even if that game is one of the rarest of the rare, would ever be.

[CPUWIZ]

19 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Might be the last time I ever get to bid on an Air Raid cart.

 

Do you really believe that with a custom mold like that, there are not a whole bunch more somewhere?

[Mockduck]

11 minutes ago, CPUWIZ said:

 

Do you really believe that with a custom mold like that, there are not a whole bunch more somewhere?

Surely there are lots of fakes, but whether true ultimately or not it seems like the real deal on this one. Anyway, realistically I'll never be the top bidder on one anyway, so being the top bidder for a few hours was a goofy joy.

[Mockduck]

3 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

I would understand this sentiment if the game was also really good and worth owning from a gaming/playability standpoint.

 

The only thing that makes it rare is it's scarcity. And it's scarcity is only really due to the game sucking hard and no one buying it.

 

I just don't understand why something that objectively sucks is held in such high esteem.

Don't conflate "esteem" with "rarity" is the problem, nor "esteem" as the sole determiner of value of a collector's item. It's just a cool museum piece, and if I could afford it, it'd be MY museum piece.

[+DrVenkman]

7 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

And it's scarcity is only really due to the game sucking hard and no one buying it.

[John Stamos Mullet]

6 hours ago, KaeruYojimbo said:

Yep. That's what rarity is.

Yes. But scarcity alone does not import value, collectible or otherwise.

 

Kevin Federline was married to Britney Spears for like 15 whole minutes. Because of this he made a hip hop album that is just as rare, because it completely sucked and nobody bought it. Nobody is selling it for $3,000 on an auction site - BECAUSE IT SUCKS.

 

I would argue that the perceived "value" of rare retro games like this is more based on clout chasing in collectors circles, than it is by anything even remotely connected to the games themselves. In my opinion, that's not just a bad investment - it's bad for collecting of works of art in general.

[John Stamos Mullet]

5 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Don't conflate "esteem" with "rarity" is the problem, nor "esteem" as the sole determiner of value of a collector's item. It's just a cool museum piece, and if I could afford it, it'd be MY museum piece.

There's no "esteem" in being capable of affording, and lucky enough to time your outbidding of the last guy in an overpriced auction sniping event. Esteem is a measure of quality, not of auction bid timing and pathological desire to be #1.

Edited June 12, 2021 by John Stamos Mullet

[CPUWIZ]

6 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Surely there are lots of fakes

 

I am not sure what that has to do with the original mold, but whatever.  And I've never seen a decent fake before.

[Cebus Capucinis]

Those of us who are in the bidding past this level aren't going to try to justify it....

[+DrVenkman]

8 hours ago, Cebus Capucinis said:

Those of us who are in the bidding past this level aren't going to try to justify it....

But here you are commenting anyway … 

 

[Cebus Capucinis]

15 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

But here you are commenting anyway … 

 

True!

 

[+KaeruYojimbo]

9 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

Yes. But scarcity alone does not import value, collectible or otherwise.

True, but you didn’t say value, you said

18 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

The only thing that makes it rare is it's scarcity

which is like saying “The reason that guy’s overweight is he’s fat.” They’re synonyms. Besides that, scarcity is often a large part of what determines collectible value. If the T206 Honus Wagner card hadn’t been pulled from production, thus making it exceedingly rare, it would still be valuable because Wagner was one of the greatest baseball players of all time, but it probably wouldn’t be the most sought after card in the hobby.

 

18 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

And it's scarcity is only really due to the game sucking hard and no one buying it.

There are other factors, like a game being created by a small company running out of the back of a toy store that didn’t have the resources to produce and distribute large numbers of games. Maybe a better game could have overcome that, but there’s no guarantee.

 

10 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

There's no "esteem" in being capable of affording, and lucky enough to time your outbidding of the last guy in an overpriced auction sniping event.

I actually agree with you there. Maybe that wasn’t clear enough in the rest of my first post, or maybe you didn’t read it all. But if it makes someone happy to throw thousands of dollars at a video game and their kids don’t have to go without food for a week or anything like that, then it’s their money, let them have their fun.