Starting Atari 2600 collection from scratch, follow my progress :)

[Crazy Climber]

On 1/12/2022 at 2:20 PM, TeddyBear89 said:

Based on your last tally (Current Collection - 475 games Total invested - $2209!!!) your PPG (Price Per Game) is approximately $4.65 each......

 

When you start acquiring some of the above-mentioned titles, those averaging math lessons taught in junior high will really come in handy as your PPG is going to skyrocket lol

 

Opinions will vary but I'd suggest paying the premium that Mines of Minos and Boing! command - they are two outstanding 2600 games.

 

Keep on truckin'

Ha, yeah totally. The days of 50 cheap game lots are gone. Even my easier obtainable list is going to cost me now ? Ive got one or two potential purchase deals in the works/future for a pile of games...but it won't be cheap!! I'm gonna chill for a month before I even think about it. Just snag a game here and there if I've got a little PayPal to burn! 

14 hours ago, Keatah said:

In thinking a little more about this, cards, stamps, coins, it seems these are non-interactive. But game cartridges can be totally interactive. There's a game to play!

 

This is true, and I often tell myself this to justify my collection but I'm well aware since the invention of the SD loaded atari cartridge...I'm never going to play them. 

 

Stamps, cards, atari games...for me it doesn't really matter what they do. In the end I just like the look of the collection I guess ? 

12 hours ago, high voltage said:

Universal Chaos (PAL) is available Telegames UK

Yeah, Im thinking PAL is fine for quite a few...

 - Bomb games

 - rare spectravision (especially mangia)

 - possibly some tigervision stuff

 

I have no idea what NTSC Glacier patrol and Universal Chaos are worth, I didn't count those 2 last time around...

[King_Salamon]

3 hours ago, Crazy Climber said:

I have no idea what NTSC Glacier patrol and Universal Chaos are worth, I didn't count those 2 last time around...

Speaking of the NTSC Glacier Patrol... sigh... I bought that from Telegames online back in the late 90's I think (it was when I started getting back into building my collection) and then I sold it off a couple years later.  It was likely the rarest 2600 title I ever owned (and it was CIB to boot!).  Oh well... I don't recall the gameplay so it couldn't have been all that great so I'm not missing it.  

[Keatah]

10 hours ago, Crazy Climber said:

This is true, and I often tell myself this to justify my collection but I'm well aware since the invention of the SD loaded atari cartridge...I'm never going to play them. 

I've heard folks say the same thing. They use the cartridge display as a big-ass menu and catalog for when they play via everdrive or emulation. They say it helps to pick out games the same way as when they were a kid vs the modern on-screen menu.

 

10 hours ago, Crazy Climber said:

Stamps, cards, atari games...for me it doesn't really matter what they do. In the end I just like the look of the collection I guess ? 

That's a popular way of looking at it all. No pun intended.

[Leonard Smith]

I've been following this thread with great interest.

Not much to add apart from commending you on a focused and organized method of acquiring the various games.

 

Been downsizing most of my games as of late and I do get the occasional tinges of wanting to acquire some of it back.

 

[Keatah]

8 hours ago, Leonard Smith said:

Been downsizing most of my games as of late and I do get the occasional tinges of wanting to acquire some of it back.

This seems a common theme.. Downsizing for practicality, space, extra spending money, decluttering.. And then coming to regret it later. A little or a lot.

 

I'm doing that with my Apple II stuff now (this 2nd half of winter) and seem be proceeding slowly so as not to misstep or dispose of something I may want or need in the future. Trying to set specific criteria such as:

 

1- Keep the stuff I had as a kid.

2- Get rid of frivolous ebay purchases.

3- Keep consumables such as disk drives, spare parts, floppies, custom chips, and other doodads.

4- Organize and maintain original Apple documentation, catalogs, manuals, tech notes.

5- Supplement it all with scans and emulation on modern i9 PC.

 

..and while those are my personal Apple II collection guidelines, a similar short list of criteria might apply to any collector wanting nostalgia and relevance and enjoyment. Complete opposite of the loud megasprawling "game" rooms on youtube. Setups that seem to just consume space and have little personal meaning aside from showing off. Ego bolstering..

[Leonard Smith]

Well for me it's not really an issue of space or money, more along the lines of offering it up to someone who will enjoy and take care of these items.  I feel like it's a waste to hold onto this stuff and merely store it, while there are people out there who (for a price of course, no freebies!) want it and can maintain and care for it.  
However, I am not a charity, so nothing is given away for free.

 

We never really own anything anyways.  When all is said and done, all your prized possessions merely get thrown out, sold or passed on.  

 

Like the old Patek Philipe watch ads once proudly proclaimed:
"You never actually own a Patek Philipe...you merely look after it for the next generation"

Truer words have never been spoken!

 

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by Leonard Smith

[Keatah]

The main reason I'm downsizing is because of clutter, easy access, and just-too-much. Said it before, too much vintage stuff makes you jump from task to task to task. From game to game to game. It clogs the head. Can't enjoy any one platform/system without being pulled in a billion directions at once.

 

And when I look at a shelf of games, I don't want it filled with filler material. Want it to look nice and curated. Even color coordinated. With each item having some sort of meaning. A story behind it. Everdrives and emulation, to me, are key components in allowing me to have a ton of stuff and reduce the sprawl that can make a nice display look junky.

 

What defines a nice display is very individual and very broad.

[Crazy Climber]

18 hours ago, Keatah said:

I've heard folks say the same thing. They use the cartridge display as a big-ass menu and catalog for when they play via everdrive or emulation. They say it helps to pick out games the same way as when they were a kid vs the modern on-screen menu.

 

Yeah, in a way...it also has a bit of a fulfilled fantasy vibe to it too. When I was younger I always dreamed of having piles and piles of carts. Well, now I'm older and can make it a reality. I guess the physical hoard of carts adds a degree of realism if that makes sense...

 

Actually owning all the physical carts... its like "look at me now younger self, we made it!" Since of course the 10 year old version of myself would definitely deem my future self (who owns 400+ atari carts) as being very successful ? 

 

Emulation is great but it kind of cheats that childhood dream somewhat.

 

People often say if we were kids and had all these multi carts we would have been in gaming heaven/etc but I think its the opposite. I think the abundance of choices would have stopped us from giving a lot of good games a fair chance. Sometimes you spent a lot of time with a game because its all you had and you weren't getting a new one for awhile. To this day I think ET is a great game, it was one of the first games I sought after when reliving my youth and I was blown away at the current hate for it...but I also had to play it a LOT because I didn't have another option. If multi carts were around, I probably would have skipped to a new game after the first pit ? would have lost a lot of great memories...

 

3 hours ago, Keatah said:

 

1- Keep the stuff I had as a kid.

I touched on this above but yeah, my list would probably also have...

 

1B - Keep the stuff I really wanted (but never got) as a kid ? 

 

 

3 hours ago, Leonard Smith said:

 

We never really own anything anyways.  When all is said and done, all your prized possessions merely get thrown out, sold or passed on.

 

This is something thats always been in the back of my mind but never as much as recently when I helped a few people clear out houses of the deceased. Quite a few collections of things, some rather large/valuable ones, just packed in bins with 20+ years of dust...

 

They didn't die rich and probably could have used that money to enjoy themselves while they were alive, or at a minimum had the clear stress free mind of someone who doesn't have an overwhelming amount of stuff eating away at them like a heavy weight on their shoulders (one of these houses could have been on hoarders, it was all good stuff but it was just too damn much)

 

It really woke me up and I sold a LOT of things I've been hanging on to for no apparent reason (and I mean a LOT, had way more things than I thought tucked away) I felt a lot better, didn't miss 90% of it and it allowed me in the end to do this crazy atari cartridge thing without the financial strain/guilt or sheer clutter that would have inevitably stopped me in my tracks before long. 

 

I have pretty much every collectable I currently own in my bedroom and if you take the atari carts away it would fit in a suitcase. Honestly its the only way I can have this many cartridges, (and hopefully add even more) without feeling overwhelmed ? 

 

2 hours ago, Keatah said:

The main reason I'm downsizing is because of clutter, easy access, and just-too-much. Said it before, too much vintage stuff makes you jump from task to task to task. From game to game to game. It clogs the head. Can't enjoy any one platform/system without being pulled in a billion directions at once

100% correct

Aside from other things I've mentioned this is the main reason (well, and their skyrocketing price) I don't own any non homebrew NES or sega games, even though they are very special/nostalgic to me. I had to put my foot down somewhere so there can only be one.. I just picked my favorite and rolled with it ? 

[Keatah]

1 hour ago, Crazy Climber said:

I touched on this above but yeah, my list would probably also have...

1B - Keep the stuff I really wanted (but never got) as a kid ? 

Yes. Hope you don't mind all the Apple II references. That's ma'baby! However I believe they echo sentiments and ideas that apply to other early 8-bit stuff. Atari? Commodore? Just replace the names.

 

There are some key Apple items I so wanted as a child, but took many years to eventually get. Like the Apple Graphics Tablet and the Utopia Graphic Tablet System software (programmed by Todd Rundgren). Plus the associated manuals, interface card, overlays, and other software. But happen it did.

 

Then there was the Mountain Music System and Alpha Syntauri keyboard. I wasn't sure wtf I was gonna do with it other than play the demo. I got the system cards early on, but took years to get the keyboard. Now it's sitting in a garbage bag collecting dust. But it's so cool! In 2010 I learned they used it in the production of TRON to make sound effects.

 

1B -  remains a toughie because I wanted everything in every catalog I saw. Some ebay sprees took care of that. And now it's a goddamned sprawl all over the place.

 

1 hour ago, Crazy Climber said:

I had to put my foot down somewhere so there can only be one.. I just picked my favorite and rolled with it ? 

My Apple II stuff exists because I managed to hang on to the childhood stuff. So when I really truly decided to collect for one system it was a no-brainer. Just continue on - along with my first PC. I'm not disappointed.

 

The Apple II represented so many moments of real learning and discovery. And it still does today as I read the technicals and amazing Wozniak optimizations & tricks. I remember first getting hooked on the Apple II in the waning days of the S-100 systems. The motherboard was simply awesome looking! All those chips!

 

The documentation of the day (for most any system) consisted of superb tutorials in practical and conceptual knowledge. Some taught how to approach a problem or get in the right mindset to accomplish something. The Theory of Operation was usually one of my favorite appendices. Complete opposite of today's warning-filled booklets written in 10 different languages. And don't get me going on those one-sheet quickstart guides that tell you how to plug in a USB connector and download an app.

 

The 2600 game manuals were great too. We loved reading the first page, enough to learn the controls and basic rules. Then referring back for tips and rule clarification and strategy. All written in a manner kids and adults could understand.

 

I did manage to complete a TRS-80 Pocket Computer 1. The space consumption and cost is negligible at 1 Rubbermaid tub and less than around $700. And I've a TI-59 but it is not complete. And this is as far as I go.

 

1 hour ago, Crazy Climber said:

Aside from other things I've mentioned this is the main reason (well, and their skyrocketing price) I don't own any non homebrew NES or sega games, even though they are very special/nostalgic to me. I had to put my foot down somewhere so there can only be one.. I just picked my favorite and rolled with it ? 

Yes. I was becoming more and more frustrated trying to divide my time up among the many available systems. I don't even know where or how or why the need to collect multiple console became a thing. I can surmise it arose from one system having this game, and another having that game. And to play both one had to have 2 consoles.

 

The 2600 is also a favorite. Though I didn't have the discipline and foresight back then to save everything. And I don't now to start again. Thankfully Emulator Stella has me covered quite nicely. It's always a hoot to play Flag Capture or Superman or Canyon Bomber on a chilly winter night with snow blowing around out there. All cozied up in the den with hot soup.

 

And the technical aspects are still stunning to imagine. All those limitations! All the trickery! Such primitive hardware. It's amusing to make parallel observations between the 2600 and a modern PC. The TIA has around 10,000 transistors, and the 6507 about 3,500. Today's PC's also have GPUs that are multiple times bigger than the host CPU. But the software environments couldn't be any more the opposite. PC has layers upon layers of bloat. The 2600 has 0 layers, just a microscopic bit of ROM that triggers things in the TIA/6507/RIOT, and so little RAM. No framebuffer. Everything is realtime. Least lag of any system out there. Games easy to figure out. And ones that bust your butt. Love it!

Edited January 15, 2022 by Keatah

[CaptainBreakout]

1 hour ago, Crazy Climber said:

Yeah, in a way...it also has a bit of a fulfilled fantasy vibe to it too. When I was younger I always dreamed of having piles and piles of carts. Well, now I'm older and can make it a reality. I guess the physical hoard of carts adds a degree of realism if that makes sense...

 

Actually owning all the physical carts... its like "look at me now younger self, we made it!" Since of course the 10 year old version of myself would definitely deem my future self (who owns 400+ atari carts) as being very successful ?

?

 

Nice said.

 

As an intellectual exercise, I like trying to break down exactly why I collect carts. The quote above is a really great way to describe one of the motivating factors.

 

Part of doing this is to appease the 10-year-old-me. Like as if I could go into the past and say... Hey! I know know you like video games a lot... This is the best stuff.  Have fun.

 

That's all part of it of the appeal... knowing what me at age 10 would think and experience.

 

As an adult, however, another part of the appeal is associating every game with a different memory. When I look at my stuff, I don't just see game titles... I see flashbacks of where I was when I first heard of the title. Also who my friends were when I played it. Where I was... The game store... The homework I had to do that night... The magazines I had that talked about the game, the ordeal of trying to find a way to play it... The mall that had it... My bike I could ride to the arcade that had the game... It goes on and on.

 

I suppose it could be described as nostalgia... But the actual experience is so much richer than that. I look at a title like R-TYPE and it links to a hundred different memories... From playing with my middle school friends in the cowboy-themes burger pub in Belmont, CA... To pouring over Nintendo Power on a porch in the Sierra Mountains overlooking a lake with my belly stuffed with pancakes, to trying to explain to my aunt how many shades of grey the Gameboy could display, to the endless long drives that I spent with car camping with my parents and my game gear...

 

These games are touchstones to the past. Like pop songs or mad magazine. That's an extreme reason for the appeal of these to folks like us who experienced them at key points in our lives.

 

This part of the legacy of our collections will be lost on our kids, or most future generations, when they end up inheriting all our stuff. That just a fact.

 

Sure, one or two out of a hundred grandkids might take the time to research the titles and their role in culture when they appeared, and have flashes of insight into the experiences of our lives. For the most part, these will be commodities that will retain their value only so long as the ones who experienced them new survive.

 

After that, they will go the way of snuff boxes, sheet music, and daily comicstrip treasuries from the 30s. (Does anyone living care one iota about a rare Gasoline Alley hardbound edition?)

 

Sad to say. The rarest titles will have an associated legend and may be valuable, and even slightly well-known, in places like museum collections. For the for most part tho... Meh. Even my recently acquired 32x Tempo cartridge, that has been in my possession for less then 24 hours... I know that's for me. Not my kids. Wishful thinking and all my attempts aside to try to get them into stuff like that.

 

I just hope if they don't want it, that they can sell it while the people who want it are still alive.

 

All this dark talk tho, this is just a perspective on a part of why these physical games are interesting and collection is part of our lifestyle....

 

I want to point out finally, that perhaps the coolest aspect of these things is their interactivity. It was mentioned just recently in this thread. That's really important. It's like a comic book or sheet music in that regard, but much moreso...

 

All these games have the ability to transport any of us as players to a field of reality... A game field. Just as potent as they ever were.

 

That requires us to maintain some working hardware.  That's important.   If anyone here likes games, and is prepared to show them off... TAKE NOTE!... If you aren't prepared to launch them and bring someone into any of these games with little more effort then a sidelong grin... You are missing a MAJOR component of this hobby.  I would even call it a responsibility.

 

If they want to play Asteroids, or Rampage, or Tekken with you (wherever your likes converge), an avid game collector should be prepared to make that happen real quick.

 

I have to remind myself of this a lot. It's a bit of a personal shame that my pinball games aren't up and running. Working on it. As my buddist friend like to say- Everyone is perfect... But there is always room for improvement.

 

Cheers!

[Keatah]

2 hours ago, Crazy Climber said:

Actually owning all the physical carts... its like "look at me now younger self, we made it!" Since of course the 10 year old version of myself would definitely deem my future self (who owns 400+ atari carts) as being very successful ? 

Aww that's so nice.

 

38 minutes ago, CaptainBreakout said:

As an adult, however, another part of the appeal is associating every game with a different memory.

For most I take the flyover view. And different sets of games grouped by the varying catalogs, the early 2600 catalogs, set the tone and meaning. Everything up to the silver catalogs and those godawful posters was too cool for school.

 

We had fun making up stories and examining the cartoonish illustrations - when we were done playing and could absolutely play no more. Or when the TV set was unavailable. Or during a game of Video Pinball - some games seemed to go on for hours!

 

2 hours ago, Crazy Climber said:

Emulation is great but it kind of cheats that childhood dream somewhat.

For me it seems different. Got into emulation very early on around 1994. So it's a way of life. Had an obsession with getting the most games packed into the least amount space. And then..

54 minutes ago, CaptainBreakout said:

If they want to play Asteroids, or Rampage, or Tekken with you (wherever your likes converge), an avid game collector should be prepared to make that happen real quick.

And I am. Nowadays I use one of those Intel NUCs. We get talking about vintage games and then with great showmanship I announce a few for play. Getting to any one specific game can happen instantly.

 

Then I up the ante and become THE Master Impresario! Maestro Extraordinaire even! "How would you like to play those ancient, pre-historic arcade cabinets?" Pull out the X-Arcade and away we go! And for the encore I explain how they, too, can have it all.

 

3 hours ago, Crazy Climber said:

People often say if we were kids and had all these multi carts we would have been in gaming heaven/etc but I think its the opposite. I think the abundance of choices would have stopped us from giving a lot of good games a fair chance.

That's very possible. And I heard it from many. But I had tons of boxes of Apple II disks with multiple games on them. I never experienced the urge to go from game to game to game. Could stick with 3 or 4 all evening long. Lesser if it was a text adventure - taking days to complete. The same applied to my 2600 and Intellivision carts. And I had way more than the average kid. Don't remember the count, but all together had to be more than a few hundred.

 

The "delivery method" of having to go to a major department store and breathing all the gas fumes from being stuck in traffic really set the pace. But I was smart! I bought computer books and EGM and other reading materials with. It was a once a month gig. Interspersed with "special" excursions when a hot game was supposed to be out. Each trek was filled with anticipation and adventure. All sorts of pre-purchase discussions ensued. It was a way of life.

 

Having experienced all that was quite heartwarming, a'specially when gramma and grandpa would spring for a bag'o games. They always had M O N E Y ! !

[BetwixtThieves]

Just to touch on the idea of too many choices making it hard for kids to give a game a fair chance.
 

My kids have grown up with way too many choices - since I have allowed them access to my systems and games. They actually both (Daughter 10, Son 7) end up normally playing 1-2 games almost consistently, and only branch out now and then. They are actually more narrow in their approach than I was as a kid. 
 

Not sure if it impacts it, but we don’t allow them to play Phone or Tablet games (we just don’t let the kids use those items in general). 

[AtariAger]

“Yeah, in a way...it also has a bit of a fulfilled fantasy vibe to it too. When I was younger I always dreamed of having piles and piles of carts. Well, now I'm older and can make it a reality. I guess the physical hoard of carts adds a degree of realism if that makes sense...

 

Actually owning all the physical carts... its like "look at me now younger self, we made it!" Since of course the 10 year old version of myself would definitely deem my future self (who owns 400+ atari carts) as being very successful ?”

 

‘EXACTLY’.

 

I just recently watched, “8-Bit Christmas”.  I was cracking up.  I’m sure the movie version was toned down a bit to be more PG…so I purchased the book.

 

Growing up as a paperboy on Long Island…Mom was stay at home until my sister became old enough and Dad drove for UPS.  Rented a house for about 20 years…you kind of appreciate and take care of everything you were lucky enough to have.

 

Everyone’s 10 year old self had different wants and dreams of this and that.  It just so happens that us lucky gents all had similar wants and dreams.

 

For me personally…Baseball cards, Video Games, LEGOs, Action Figures & BMX bikes (Mongoose mainly).

 

So…of course…my 10 year old self would think I am the most, “RAD Dude” ever..!!!  Hahaha…a little RAD the movie quote never hurts.  My kids favorite quote, “You over rotated”…”NO $&!@“.

 

I was 10 in 1985-86…December baby.  Best time to be a kid…in my opinion.

 

I love how this thread keeps evolving.  All started by trying to obtain all NTSC 2600 carts.

 

Back to, “8-Bit Christmas”…I knew that kid who owned the first NES and had everything you can think of for it as well.  Luckily he was a super nice kid, one of my best friends and lived around the corner.  Divorced parents…Dad felt bad and got him the coolest stuff…super hot Mom also.  That is another story!

[CapitanClassic]

 

[AtariAger]

Hahaha…”Fountains” above..!!!

 

Sad he passed away…I remember hearing it on the radio on the way to work…Scott Shannon…talking about how nice of a guy he was.

[Crazy Climber]

21 hours ago, Keatah said:

 

 

My Apple II stuff exists because I managed to hang on to the childhood stuff. 

 

The 2600 game manuals were great too. 

 

 

Yes. I was becoming more and more frustrated trying to divide my time up among the many available systems. 

Ha, the only thing I kept was my 2600 manuals...not sure why but when I sold the system/games I wanted to keep the manuals. I still cringe at what I sold the games for, I believe I ended up with a dime bag and a football in the end for exchanging a great portion of the tools that sculpted my early childhood...

 

Unfortunately I lost those original manuals sometime in the early 2000s, mistook them for spares/trades when internet collecting/selling was suddenly a thing. I have no idea who ended up with them... For some reason the ones you actually owned make a difference. Remembering a coffee stain, or punching 3 ring binder holes in them....

 

Yeah, problem with multiple systems for me is when you hit a wall with one you go balls deep on a different one, etc... before you know it you have piles and piles of mediocre stuff... several half assed collections that I couldn't quite display yet, didn't know where to go with them,, would almost turn into a job instead of fun ? 

21 hours ago, CaptainBreakout said:

 

As an intellectual exercise, I like trying to break down exactly why I collect carts. 

 

Thanks man!

 

Yeah, I touched on it pages ago but my mind (like many others, probably all collectors haha) can get a little overactive if I live in the woods too long (which is basically the equivalent of not collecting anything) Its like sure, there's a pretty damn good chance we're living in a simulation right now but you know, these atari games are pretty fun so thats okay ? 

 

But on a serious (dark?) note, I have no intention of leaving any collectables behind. There will be a day when I don't want/need them anymore and that will be that. I'm sure I'll always have a little something but one of these days I'd like to just set sail without the anchors and see where it goes. At least I tell myself that ? I've learned if I don't have some big dream/goal on the horizon I get a little bored

 

The memories/touchstone thing is kind of hitting me a second time with a lot of these games. I have my original nostalgia of course, but I'm getting a second wave remembering the first time I tracked a lot of these down 15 or 20 years ago. For instance when my secret santa sent me Polaris, that one really brought back some early collecting memories...kind of a trip that much time has passed...and I thought atari was "old" back then ? Hell, I thought I was old back then...

12 hours ago, BetwixtThieves said:

Just to touch on the idea of too many choices making it hard for kids to give a game a fair chance.
 

My kids have grown up with way too many choices - since I have allowed them access to my systems and games. They actually both (Daughter 10, Son 7) end up normally playing 1-2 games almost consistently, and only branch out now and then. They are actually more narrow in their approach than I was as a kid. 
 

Not sure if it impacts it, but we don’t allow them to play Phone or Tablet games (we just don’t let the kids use those items in general). 

Well, I get what you're saying but it would be more the equivalent of your kids getting a 1000 in 1 nintendo switch cartridge (or whatever current system they have) that had basically every game ever made, etc...

 

Someday this might exist if some weird kids are still playing nintendo switch 30 years from now and a bunch of them will probably mention how great it would have been to have that as kids...but then they would have missed out on those few diamond in the rough games they gave a chance because grandma bought them for their birthday and they had no other options

 

 

10 hours ago, AtariAger said:

 

 

Everyone’s 10 year old self had different wants and dreams of this and that.  It just so happens that us lucky gents all had similar wants and dreams.

 

For me personally…Baseball cards, Video Games, LEGOs, Action Figures & BMX bikes (Mongoose mainly).

 

 

I was 10 in 1985-86…December baby.  Best time to be a kid…in my opinion.

 

I love how this thread keeps evolving.  All started by trying to obtain all NTSC 2600 carts.

 

Back to, “8-Bit Christmas”…I knew that kid who owned the first NES and had everything you can think of for it as well.  

Hey this guy gets it ? 

 

Yeah, we're about the same age so looks like we saw the same movies and commercials, although I never got too crazy with the LEGO stuff and I'd replace that mongoose with a nice chrome HUTCH

 

I had a friend growing up who got everything he wanted on day one. NES, SNES, 3DO Even a neo geo, not to mention tons of non video game stuff.. Yeah, we all kind of hated him (he was an ass sometimes, only letting one kid in at a time to see the new stuff, making the rest of us wait outside... its cold here in MN but damn right I want to see the NEO GEO so I waited... ) 

 

In the end I felt bad though, his dad was out of the picture and turned out his Mom was dying of terminal cancer so she basically spent her life savings making sure he had everything he could ever want. Of course a 12 year old is going to have a little power trip when every kid in the neighborhood suddenly wants to be his best friend (and a 17 year old that inherited a paid off house a few years later) If anyone of us won the mega millions tomorrow you better believe anyone we've ever met would be stopping by to say hi ? 

 

As the years went on we became pretty good friends though and still talk to this day. He's a good guy and now that I better understand the situation it makes more sense. 

[Keatah]

55 minutes ago, Crazy Climber said:

For some reason the ones you actually owned make a difference. Remembering a coffee stain, or punching 3 ring binder holes in them....

They do. The originals I actually had are a big stink with me. Ever important. The worn out security blanket. The teddy bear stitched together. And yup I have a number of Apple II baggie inserts with hole punches!

 

All that survives of my original VCS is the grey TIA, confirmed, made in early-mid 1977. And possibly the RIOT, and less-possibly the 6507. Just threw them in my 70's IC box and there they sit. I like to imagine one day, somehow, inserting it into a modern PC or a real VCS and having choir music emanate from hidden speakers while a wave of blue & green laser light washes over everything - flooding the area with the aura of 1977. Operating outside spacetime itself. Like a warp bubble snapping.

[Keatah]

1 hour ago, Crazy Climber said:

..several half assed collections that I couldn't quite display yet, didn't know where to go with them,, would almost turn into a job instead of fun ? 

After speaking with several high-profile collectors (noisy youtubers), a common trap is to keep going. Believing it will become fun again. Just get that next batch of whatever and everything will be ok. It just pushes the problem into the future where there's gonna be more of it. So defined limits seem to be a must. But to keep it interesting and active, stuff has to be added from time to time.

[schuwalker]

Great comments here... I believe the majority of us when you first start collecting a niche hobby - we want to obtain *everything*. As we get older and more pragmatic, that mantra about getting everything loses it's luster. As others stated here, I'm focusing on particular items that had a heavy hand of nostalgia in my life. Not necessarily meaning to one game, it even could be a certain company or manufacturer. Those late '70s Sears Telegames releases brings right back to childhood and my first entry into home gaming. Seeing that box art brings me back to the electronics department  at Sears in the late '70s with dad, hopefully picking out the next game purchase! (I wish I hadn't scoffed at Sears Math Gran Prix - last one I need boxed.) I have the same emotional attachment with the early NES black box series of games. Dad is no longer around, to think about it, the majority of these stores I picked these games up from are no longer around. That's why for me... seeing these boxed and displayed on shelf, I get a memory of dad playing or what store I recall getting it. Something emulation can't replicate for me...

 

Crazy Climber, it's nice to see another arcade collector on here.

[AtariAger]

“I'd replace that mongoose with a nice chrome HUTCH ”…

 

Haha…I own a little over 125 Mongoose bikes at the moment going all the way back to 1975.  Still have my 1st ever…1986 Californian TC in chrome…purchased with my paper route $$$.

 

But…I do have quite a few chrome HUTCH bikes here and there thrown in…along with some other colors they put out…

 

To think back on those days a typical week & weekend was…

 

-Wake up

-Go to school

-After school…baseball, hockey & football

-Deliver Newsday

-MAYBE do my homework

-Video Games til 3:00 or 4:00am

-Then up for school all over again

 

That was just Monday - Friday..!!!

 

The weekends were even crazier.

 

If I tried that nowadays…eeesh…I wouldn’t even be able to function.

[AtariAger]

I was just thinking about, RAD.

On October 14th last year…I brought my kids to the 35th Anniversary showing of, RAD.  One show…One night…7:00pm.

 

Never understood the movie..???  You have Cru riding a Mongoose the entire movie…then winds up on a Team Murray at Helltrack..!?!?!  All the while Mongoose are the, “Bad Guys”.  Don’t get me wrong…I love it.  Own the VHS, Laser Disc, Vinyl sound track, cassette sound track…all the new dvd this and that stuff and an original movie poster.

 

I also purchased Bill Allen’s one of a kind prototype bike back in the summer of 2019.

 

Had these made up for the movie…

 

 

[Crazy Climber]

On 1/16/2022 at 9:11 AM, AtariAger said:

 

Haha…I own a little over 125 Mongoose bikes at the moment going all the way back to 1975. 

Woah!! Now I see why the price of BMX bikes is so high these days haha, just messing with you man!

 

I usually have one BMX for my daily driver and one to mess around with during the winter (here in MN we don't get a lot of time to ride unless you are one of those weirdos that rides all winter) I of course also have the obligatory "box of parts" out in the garage. I wouldn't say I'm a collector of them but I did tend to carry a few more....a lot more... "back ups" about 10 or 15 years ago when the cool ones were considerably cheaper. People used to make fun of me for riding them, now they all want to stop and check it out haha.

 

This is the only thing Mongoose I have, don't know much about it. I'd guess midschool (90's?) or maybe even newer. I got it for free and thought it was cool that is was so light (aluminum)

 

 

 

I might have an old mongoose neck/stem somewhere at my parents place too from the 70's...with the prices of parts lately it might be in my best interest to go dig it out haha

 

I'd say about 20 years ago when the first wave of childhood nostalgia started hitting me is when I got back into BMX. I never went full boar with it but I always have at least one to putz around on. I still take my BMX to the fishing docks 2 or 3 times a week in the summer, some of the areas are not very accessible so a newer mountain bike would be far more practical but I don't know, there is just something bad ass about pulling up on my BMX and something so lame about the mountain bike. Besides, with all the covid stuff fishing the docks have become pretty wild, it's more like a local bar now with regulars, crazy characters, etc.. Me and my insistence on riding an old BMX there just help keep it a little weird I guess

 

[Crazy Climber]

Collection update!

 

Picked these 2 up this week for $45 shipped, most of that price was Exocet ($35/$10)

 

 

Almost done with Froggo...just need Spiderdroid!

 

 

Panda I'd like to just get over with haha. It is what it is I guess... They definitely have a unique look, I want them, but just not super excited for them...

 

 

 

 

Okay, so that would have brought my total to 478 games and $2284 spent but lots and lots of duplicates, hardware, manuals, etc have moved on to new owners...

 

I also made the choice to stop collecting Sears Picture label games. It was a tough call but ultimately there just wasn't enough difference in them to justify the shelf space...not to mention, some of them get VERY expensive (gunslinger, superman to name a few) and even some not so rare ones are VERY expensive (baseball, basketball, asteroids....night rider costs $52?? WTF?) I kept The exclusive Submarine commander and the rest have been sold.

 

Long story short, after the sale of roughly 5 lots of stuff I get to knock an additional $268 off my total spent since all of these recently sold items were included in my total spent from lot purchases/etc...but, with the subtraction of my Sears pic label games I'm also down to 458 games now.

 

Current Collection - 458 games

Total invested - $2016

 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by Crazy Climber

[+Nathan Strum]

14 minutes ago, Crazy Climber said:

 

Current Collection - 458 games

Total invested - $2016

I'm watching to see where you end up once you've spent $2600.  

[Atari_Bill]

I agree about Panda titles.  Possibly the ugliest carts in existence.  I’ve never made them a priority so I still need a few myself.  
 

I can understand not liking the cost of the Sears picture labels, but personally, that’s my absolute favorite subset that I have.  I have them all and if it weren’t for stupid Math Gran Prix, they would all be boxed.