Thrifts and Atari -- How are your waters?

[Flack]

This past week I decided to hit the local thrifts just to see if I found anything interesting. Along with lots of NES and a few Commodore 64 items, I also found a few Atari games, a set of paddles, two joysticks, and a "light sixer". Oddly enough, the joysticks and paddles were a buck each, but the Atari was only 99 cents.

 

How are the thrift stores in your neck of the woods when it comes to Atari stuff? Still finding loose games on a regular basis, or have the waters all but dried up?

[sandmountainslim]

I picked up three joysticks, a driving controller and eight games yesterday at a thrift store for ten bucks so I guess there are still a few around

SMS

[jetset]

Zip, Nil, Nada, Boopkis, Squat, Zero! NOTHING to be found in S Florida...Only once did I find on my own a few commons (Asteroids, etc...) and the guy wanted $5 bucks a piece. He told me he gets a lot more than that on Ebay, to which I pointed out it was nice of him to sell at his store at such a deep discount when he could be selling them via Ebay.

He didnt appreceate that.

[SteveW]

I occasionally find joysticks, but only once this year did I find any Atari consoles. And I haven't found any games locally, just on trips out of town. There's just too many eBay speculators around here.

[neotokeo2001]

Zip, Nil, Nada, Boopkis, Squat, Zero!  NOTHING to be found in S Florida...

 

That's because I get to them first.

 

I don't even bother with the Thrifts anymore. All they seem to have now are overpriced NES,SNES,Genesis(Sports). But I have found alot of Dragon Warrior 2-3 carts and Shining Force 1-2 for cheap.

[SteveW]

No edit.......

 

I should say, no Atari 2600 consoles. I've found several others, like Atari 5200 and a Lynx, but no 2600 goodness.

[SS]

For all I know they are simply overflowing with Atari stuff because, after a couple of years of finding absolutely nothing at all, I've completely given up on them.

[FireTiger]

nobody checks the thrifts in this area anymore so I find stuff my pitiful collection dosn't have yet.

[Room 34]

I don't go "thrifting" very often, but the last time I ever found anything decent was ten years ago at the VA thrift store in Des Moines. Nothing at all... ever... in my experience in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Minneapolis over the last 8 years or so. I did see some interesting items (Intellivision games I already owned, and SMS games I didn't buy because I don't have an SMS) at a thrift store in Iron River, Michigan last year.

 

This leads me to a theory, which I have not had a chance to verify yet: Thrift stores in small towns and remote areas are far more likely to have vintage game stuff than the ones in large metro areas. What do you think?

[ATARIeric]

Zip, Nil, Nada, Boopkis, Squat, Zero!  NOTHING to be found in S Florida...Only once did I find on my own a few commons (Asteroids, etc...) and the guy wanted $5 bucks a piece.  He told me he gets a lot more than that on Ebay, to which I pointed out it was nice of him to sell at his store at such a deep discount when he could be selling them via Ebay.

He didnt appreceate that.

 

 

do you ever goto the thunderbird swapshop in ft lauderdale not to see captain and tenniel or there funky circus but to look for atari stuff ?

you know your big time when your agent books you gigs at the swapshop

[jetset]

Zip, Nil, Nada, Boopkis, Squat, Zero!  NOTHING to be found in S Florida...Only once did I find on my own a few commons (Asteroids, etc...) and the guy wanted $5 bucks a piece.  He told me he gets a lot more than that on Ebay, to which I pointed out it was nice of him to sell at his store at such a deep discount when he could be selling them via Ebay.

He didnt appreceate that.

 

 

do you ever goto the thunderbird swapshop in ft lauderdale not to see captain and tenniel or there funky circus but to look for atari stuff ?

you know your big time when your agent books you gigs at the swapshop

 

I actually have...all I ever found were a few commons, and tons of power plugs, but nothing good. I only went a few times though...I might try this week while Im on vacation...

[video game addict]

No consoles lately, but I have seen around 25-30 loose carts, all fairly common, nothing worth mentioning. All priced at around $1 each. There were a few NES games too at $1 each, I picked up a few about a month ago, & I've passed a few more in the last couple weeks. I passed up an Atari 65XE a few weeks ago too, it's gone now. Maybe someone buys the stuff I leave behind. It's been fairly dry though, not a lot of purchases locally, mostly all ebay nowadays.

[ATARIeric]

Zip, Nil, Nada, Boopkis, Squat, Zero!  NOTHING to be found in S Florida...Only once did I find on my own a few commons (Asteroids, etc...) and the guy wanted $5 bucks a piece.  He told me he gets a lot more than that on Ebay, to which I pointed out it was nice of him to sell at his store at such a deep discount when he could be selling them via Ebay.

He didnt appreceate that.

 

 

do you ever goto the thunderbird swapshop in ft lauderdale not to see captain and tenniel or there funky circus but to look for atari stuff ?

you know your big time when your agent books you gigs at the swapshop

 

I actually have...all I ever found were a few commons, and tons of power plugs, but nothing good. I only went a few times though...I might try this week while Im on vacation...

 

whenever i find myself going there i always seem to screw up and just goto the shell gas station on the corner where the bruthas have this giant BBQ smoked drum and get myself smoked chicken mmmmmmm, i need to go into the swapshop first otherwise im too lazy for walking around

i will see you there this week

 

one more question for you, you live in hollywood, do you know if that french bar "the limelight" is still there?

[snorlaxnut]

The last time I saw anything Atari was in March 2003: a copy of Spider City for the Atari 8-bits for $1.50.

 

After that, nothing.

[jetset]

Zip, Nil, Nada, Boopkis, Squat, Zero!  NOTHING to be found in S Florida...Only once did I find on my own a few commons (Asteroids, etc...) and the guy wanted $5 bucks a piece.  He told me he gets a lot more than that on Ebay, to which I pointed out it was nice of him to sell at his store at such a deep discount when he could be selling them via Ebay.

He didnt appreceate that.

 

 

do you ever goto the thunderbird swapshop in ft lauderdale not to see captain and tenniel or there funky circus but to look for atari stuff ?

you know your big time when your agent books you gigs at the swapshop

 

I actually have...all I ever found were a few commons, and tons of power plugs, but nothing good. I only went a few times though...I might try this week while Im on vacation...

 

whenever i find myself going there i always seem to screw up and just goto the shell gas station on the corner where the bruthas have this giant BBQ smoked drum and get myself smoked chicken mmmmmmm, i need to go into the swapshop first otherwise im too lazy for walking around

i will see you there this week

 

one more question for you, you live in hollywood, do you know if that french bar "the limelight" is still there?

 

Hmm...I've always wanted to try that place, but the er..."chef's" look to me like they're on a work release from prison!

Where in Hollywood is that bar? I've been married 12 years w/2 kids, bars are a thing of the past for me for the most part.

[ATARIeric]

if the swapshop is open tuesday im going!

 

 

[email protected] work release prisoners, im more worried about the guys running upto the car wanting to sell me something , but when they see you goto the BBqpit they back off and usually the cook would chase them off with his tongs.

 

i pull up as close as possible to the pit then get out

 

 

the limelight would be on the beach, US1 i believe, i havent been there since 89, bought my first legal drink there and my second was at the dollhouse in ft lauderdale, amazing it was on the same night

 

 

im ready to go for a drive to ft lauderdale, im hungry. "dirty ernies"

[Lord Thag]

Due to a lot of ebay sellers and two *very* avid collectors, N Cal thrifting hasn't paid off much in years. I have better luck picking up NES games at Gamecrazy/EB games etc. It used to be where I could walk into a thrift, and walk out with (for example) 30+ intellivision games with over half of the lot rare, for 10$. It's never been very good for atari up here due to a collector/retailer who has been avidly collecting since atari began. He's got most of the local sellers in his stable, and the pretty much sell him everything 'behind the counter'. Nowadays, I'm lucky if I find 16-bit stuff. Fortunately, I happen to be friends with one of those avid collectors (we're talkin' 4000+ games in his room ), so he occasionally hooks me up. I got a stack of 10 or so games yesterday from him, including a couple of the rare Fox games, all of the atari 'kiddie' games (snoopy! yay!) and an R7 Xonox double-ender

 

I guess I can't complain

[dvdguy]

nobody checks the thrifts in this area anymore so I find stuff my pitiful collection dosn't have yet.

 

Oh you're finding things here? Let me put my shoes on...

[Brad2600]

I bought up most of the Atari stuff that was thrifted in this area. It's now been dry for months.

[Cobra Commander]

Never found anything in my area, except for a localy owned game store that has few atari items. I got a couple dozen commons I didnt have, a couple controllers, a few manuals including a 1977 VCS owners manual. Pretty slim pickins.

[+uosipa llamxew]

Only Sega Genesis consoles and NHL Hockey cartridges for about two years. A few weeks back I stopped at my favorite thrift store to find a VCS clone with 5200 joysticks and twelve or fifteen common VCS cartridges. Unfortunately I was about 5 minutes too late. A 12-yr-old kid and his grandma had the console in their hands and were picking through the games. That's how my luck is most of the time with thrift stores. I guess for now I should stick with eBay and the Atariage Marketplace.

[+RandomPerson]

I live in a VERY small city of about 25,000 people, I find all types of stuff on a very regular basus for next to nothing. I never pay more than 5 - 10 bucks for consoles (atari,nes,snes,genesis,sms) with the most common find for consoles being NES by far, with atari a close second. My local goodness of games has funded my whole collection for free!! I have only collected for 2 or 3 years seriously and I owe it all to local wild finds & pawn shops selling stuff for cheap.

 

My local pawns charge 3 dollars each for NES, SNES, GENESIS games, 1 dollar for atari & 10 bucks for PS1 games. For example I got a hevey sixer, 2 paddles, 2 joysticks in the summer with 15 games for 20 bucks at a pawn shop and one of the games I got was Spider Maze Yep I got spider maze for about 25 cents canadian...lol.. then 2 months later, while still finding lots of stuff in the wild and such, my sister brought her friend to my house to trade mesell me some games and she drops a CIB Final Fantasy 1(hot seller) & Bearinstien Bears (R9) on the table and asks me if I would give a copy of bugs bunny NES (r1) & SMB 3 (r1) and 20 bucks for both her games and 2 NES setups

 

So ya I guess there is some stuff still floating around my neck of the woods (every day).

[Atari-Jess]

8 dollars for Atari carts at my normal thrifting haunts.

 

I'm gonna write a thorough letter of disgust with them as soon as I find

an appropriate address to deliver it to.

 

_8 DOLLARS FOR SOMETHING THEY GOT FOR FREE_

 

Oh, and incase anyone was wondering what game, it was Combat I kid you not.

[FireTiger]

@ dvdguy....not saying that...*quickly looks into getting a stal to sell of of her duplicates...* except that working 5200 at the Beach Blvd flea... too bad I can't afford that tabletop pacman at the Peacn flea...

[Big Player]

This leads me to a theory, which I have not had a chance to verify yet: Thrift stores in small towns and remote areas are far more likely to have vintage game stuff than the ones in large metro areas. What do you think?

 

I agree with this statement. I have never found much of any Atari stuff in the Thrift stores around here, so I don't go into thrifts anymore. But then, I know there are quite a few collectors in the city and maybe they get everything before I do. They used to beat me to all the 2600 close-out games at Odd Lots back in the early 90's.