Break the Seal?

[StanJr]

A very cool person sent me a very cool package and in it were 2 sealed Atari games. That's the good news. Now I need some advice. Should I break them open and play them (I really want to) or should I leave them sealed and wait for open carts in the wild? Neither one is super rare or anything (although most everything here could be considered rare), but these are the first SEALED carts I've ever had and the fraction of a collector in me says leave them be.

 

What to do?

 

Dilemna Stan

[StanJr]

Ben, you is no help. Did you not read that I am of two minds about this? At least I have Zaxxon and Ptifall II to keep me busy until I decide what to do!

 

Quandry Stan

[Albert]

My advice is if you want to play them, break the seal and play them! The difference in value between a shrinkwrapped game and a mint game in the box (but not shrinkwrapped) is not that great. Personally I'm not crazy about leaving the shrinkwrap on since the shrinkwrap continues to shrink over time, crushing the box. I open boxes so I can take out the cart (if I don't have it already) and manual to store separately. Easier access to the carts means easier to play!

 

..Al

[Lemmi]

what are the games? im dying to know

 

and i agree with albert on the shrinkwrap crushing the boxes

 

and you could always go to classicatari.com and pick up a few games shrinkwrapped for 2 bucks

 

I bought 10 games from them and there delivery is really quick i had the games within 10 days max and i payed by money order

[StanJr]

Yeah. I think I'm gonna break the seal. I mean if push comes to shove, I could be a total weasel and re-shrink wrap them. I must play them, they are calling me. The gamer in me smashes the collector in me, easily.

 

By the way Lemmi, the games are Jungle Hunt and Gravitar. (no, not the silver one)

 

Thanks for the help, guys.

 

Stan

[Ze_ro]

I agree with Albert... I don't like the idea of being a stingy collector. It just reminds me of all those comic book collectors who store their comics and won't let anyone read them. For me, it's the games first and the collection second.

 

When I bought a dozen games from O'Shea's, I immediately unwrapped all but two of them (Battlezone and Realsports Baseball, which I already had)... though I did have your dilemma for a short while

 

--Zero

[moycon]

I never had the problem. I had bought about 160 boxed games from O'Shea's a few years back... It was when they first got them in...and they were like .80 a piece!!I had all the games already loose tho. I used to sell the boxed ones as part of big lots on Ebay. I'd sell a cleaned up Atari 2600 with 100+ games. I'd always throw in one copy each of the games I got from O'Shea's. The auctions would net me about $120+ I didnt make a ton of $$$ but it was cool just finding and cleaning up those old systems. Of course at that time I had a small apartment and it looked like a videogame warehouse. (I was also selling ColecoVision, Intellivision, 5200 Etc..)Looking for a joystick to send to Stan...I didnt realize how much stuff I still had. About 3 Coleco's, 6 2600's, 3 5200's, And a bunch of those boxed games....About 40. Also about 150 loose games (Only 90 different one tho)Also a few other suprises. About 20 old school Atari 2600 games boxed, 4 5200 games boxed... Including Mr Do's Castle, And a bunch of Odyssey games boxed including the Quest for the Rings. I probably still wouldnt have realized I had all that if Stan didn't complain about not having a proper joystick! Thanks Stan!!! Jr

[StanJr]

THANK ME? Thank you, moycon! You rock. by the way, check yer e-mail.

 

The games are open and are a total blast! WHEEEEEEE!

 

Happy Stan

[Joel D. Park]

Those two games are definately a good choice for playing anyway. Both are good ones.

[King Atari]

SHRINKWRAP SHRINKS MORE OVER TIME?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! MY POOR "DARK CJHAMBERS"!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How long does it take for this to happen? Why does this happen? Great, another thing to worry about.

[moycon]

It might depend on either A.) They way its stored. or B.) The type of shrink-wrap used. I've had original games in their original shrinkwrap from back in the day...14,15 years ago where the shinkwrap was fine. But in the same breath I bought some carts from O'sheas a few years back (Like 4)...And I noticed on some, the shrinkwrap...Had shrunk. And yes...It sucks!

[Atari-Jess]

blarg, jungle hunt is pretty good.

blarg, shrinkwrap stinks

blarg, blargo!

[StanJr]

um. what's a "blarg?"

[King Atari]

Wonderful, my "Dark Chambers" is, of course, from O'Shea's. Did this happen on all of them, or just on some boxes, Moycon?

[Lemmi]

I think it all depends on the kind of wrap used theres the soft kind (o'shea's) and theres the brittle hard kind (only example i can think of is VCR tape wrappers)

 

theres prob more kinds then just those but are the ones i deal with the most

[liveinabin]

Anyway, just because it's shrinkwrapped, doesn't mean that its original shrinkwrap. I used to work at a big record/games store, we'd get some evil mad woman who'd refuse to take this copy of whatever Playstation game because it had been apparently used. We say "I'll get you a new one then". take it out back and shrinkwrap it. haha.

So if we could do that, theres no reason why people selling old games can't shrinkwrap em to make a few extra cents off the deal. Its not hard.

Anyhow, if it IS original shrinkwrap, you've GOTTA open it - nothing more retro than the fresh smell of a game thats been hermetically sealed for 20-odd years

[King Atari]

Yeah, but all of O'Shea's are original shrinkwrap brand new, right? Didn't they buy all the unsold stuff, which added up to millions of copies or something?