Where have all the good (rare) games gone?

[+johnnywc]

I've been involved in collecting 2600 games for over a year now (mostly through eBay, trading, and begging friends and family) and I've noticed that the more rare games don't seem to be up for auction as much as they were just 6 months ago, namely Waterworld, Crazy Climber, Q*Bert's Qubes, Quadrun, etc.

 

My only guess is that collecting old Atari stuff is becoming more popular (or at least more popular than a year ago) and people are snatching the stuff up and not re-selling. I'm starting to get worried that I'll never get to own some of these games...

 

Any thoughts on this?

[ATARIPITBULL]

Yes, all the good games are getting hard to find, and I have been into it for two years now, but its good to have this slow down, because it gives people like me a chance to save up my money for the rare games, when they come around.

[King Asmo]

I don't think that's really the case.. I've noticed these things go in cycles.

 

One thing to remember is that since we're in winter, garage sale season is over north of the Mason-Dixon and in Canada. Since a large portion of "finds" are made at garage sales, it's not too surprising that things tend to dry up quite a bit during winter. There's also a number of flea-markets which are only open in Summer, so this decreases the number of finds.

 

I've only have one really hugely insane item in my 2600 collection.. Music Machine. I'm always worried that someone is going to find a warehouse full of new-in-the-box copies of these things, and their rarity and value will plummet. It could happen.

[Lost Monkey]

quote:

---

Originally posted by King_Asmo:

I'm always worried that someone is going to find a warehouse full of new-in-the-box copies of these things, and their rarity and value will plummet. It could happen.

---

 

That exact thing happened with one of the "Holy Grails" of the PC Engine/TG16 collector community last year.

 

A game called "Circus Lido" which had only been sold in book stores originally (circa 1990) was thought to be one of the rarest Pc Engine games and had sold for > $1000.00 on eBay and Yahoo Japan, suddenly showed up as "In Stock" on Amazon.jp for the equivalent of $50.00USD.

 

The first few copies that showed up on eBay went for ~$800.00US then quickly kept dropping and dropping in value.

 

One closed yesterday at $35.00US.

[MattyXB]

I have too only WaterWorld. Adn collect now for some years. And in germany its a bit harder to get these games, because here they never release.

But I hope I get the other too someday.

[jahfish]

they're all here. i am hiding them in my cave ...

 

 

 

no, but i think there's great ammounts of trades beeing done in the last 2 years ... it's the case with me .... most of my rare games came and went that way. from cakewalk to springer ... all that stuff is better used in trades to get the stuff you can't pay on ebay ... i only bid up to 100$ when it's something i haven't seen in any tradelist, or when i have the feeling it's not gonna pop up more than 1-2 times a year ..... but mostly it's useless (as on scott's venture2 for example)

 

people often think that you'll get the most out of ebay ... wrong. it's the people desperately looking for UR carts that will give you the best deal ... for example i did a trade last year with jerry, and he gave me a second extra TCM on top just because i could fill one of the (for him important) holes in his collection.

 

so all the good games are still there, you only have to find them ...

[Marco(2)]

I think it's time to put forward my theory on rarity again! In my view, 95% (or even more) of the games turn out to be common, i.e. will be part of every 2600 collection. It's just a matter of time or paying the bucks. You can buy a Crazy Climber, Waterworld or Chase The Chuckwagon almost any time on Ebay.

 

There's just a handful of really rare games, that I guess we all know: Magicard, Video Life, Air Raid, Eli's Ladder and Gauntlet. These games, together with prototypes, boxes, obscure variations and unusual hardware will make up for the differences in collections.

 

And while I'm at it: if you have followed the prices on Ebay recently, you have noticed that prices on most items are coming down quite rapidly. There are just not enough collectors compared to the heinous amount of games available. This is the main reason that 95% of the games will be easily available to the collectors' community at large.

 

So, you better save up for the good stuff if you want to be special

 

Cheers,

 

Marco

[jahfish]

quote

My only guess is that collecting old Atari stuff is becoming more popular (or at least more popular than a year ago)

 

well, i think that's a point that made a good chance in the last year to resell consoles with classics for a pretty good price.

 

see, i often buy complete set with 10-20 carts, because it's cheaper to get some rare games that way. often those titles alone sell for more than included in a set with a console, sticks and about 10-20 other carts.

 

for example my first miners 2 costed 40$. a month later i had seen one on ebay ending for 90$. half a year later i sold mine for about 70$ because the guy just didn't stop asking and offering. then another month later, i bought a complete set for 35$ including my (so far best conditioned) miners 2, a sixswitch with 6 sticks and paddles, 15 other common titles, and as bonus, he offered me another 10 atari 800xl carts for free, as he had no more 800xl computer. i put the console with the common games up on ebay a month later, and guess what? i made 10$ more on the set than i payed for it. so i had my miners2, 10 bucks and no expenses. but bira-bira had planned something else for me: i put up these 800xl carts, on ebay after i found the bag again a month later, not knowing what it's worth, thinking this is some useless stuff probably laying around on every fleamarket. well i was wrong and these 'useless' carts brought another 150$ (!!!). i had never ever dreamed of that.

 

so everytime i look at an auction for a single cart, i think twice before bidding, or actually search for the specific title name (that's how i found my miners2).

 

fish

[atari70s]

i sold my Crazy Climber on ebay for 75.00 but the guy never payed about 5 months ago since then i kinda just held on to the game. water world is somethin im still after but some day. QBER Qubes was a rare find and i get extremely lucky that it didnt cost me an arm and a leg. Quadrun is gonna be my last game to get i think unless a miricle happens. marco you got a helluva collection dotn worry youll get the games sooon enough. never know a trade might be doable if you really want Crazy Climber but i dont know what i want.,

[Ugclone]

stuff is harder to find because i own it all!!hehehehe..heh..he.umm....i lied

[Cassidy Nolen]

Just like the DPG says, sometimes you gotta trade rare stuff to get rare stuff. My problem was getting rare stuff to trade with. I can remember being so intimidated in Vegas when you walk around and there are suitcases full of SQWW's CClimbers, Qberts Qubes, you get the point. There must have been 10 Chase the Chuckwagons in the room and not one for SALE. All were for trade. Signed protos, etc. I have to wonder sometimes though, how could you ever get anything these guys want?

 

My suggestion would be to buy some of the reasonably prices Rare's on ebay. Rubiks Cube and Video Cube go for 20-35, Crazy Climber for around 75, and SQWW for around 100. That way, if you really want a rare one, you can offer some trade bait instead of saying "huh, heres 150. Will you take it for Quadrun? Huh.)

 

By the way, the above conversation was me about a year ago. Needless to say, that was not how I got mine!

 

 

Good luck.

 

BTW, the very recent rare drought on ebay I think is the time of the year. All of my auctions are going low. Nobody spends after they blow it all during the holidays. Give it a month or two and tax refunds will usually bring out some goodies........

[NE146]

quote

I'm always worried that someone is going to find a warehouse full of new-in-the-box copies of these things, and their rarity and value will plummet.  

 

Why would that worry you? As far as rarity, I'd think it'd be a GOOD thing if more copies of any rare game were found don't you think? I guess I'm struggling to understand I mean whats the big deal of the 'value' of a cartridge unless you're going into the re-selling business? (or did I just answer my own question heheh).

 

Lets say I managed to snag a rare cart for 2 bucks a couple of years ago and then saw it's value surge to a couple hundred bucks.. then later it's value plummeted back down for whatever reason... heck it wouldn't matter to me, as I don't give up my carts for anything.... well...ok, maybe if it was a REALLY crappy game that I missed out on getting MUCHO cashola for

 

I guess I just don't understand as I still look at these things as cool games to pop in a 2600 and play, which is where their value comes through for me. On the other hand I guess it has been true for a good number of years (and esp. recently with the Antique Roadshow segment) that the 2600 inevitably had to fall into that "antique collectible" category where it's desirable to obtain all the hard-to-find games, crappy as they may be.

 

Oh well.. I guess I'm just in this mindset probably because I've never really been that much of a collector in the first place. I'd say that 90% of my carts were bought for Full Price back when they were new in the stores and I've bought less than 20 or so used carts within the past 10 years.

 

So if I missed the boat maybe it's high time for me to get in the game eh?

[jahfish]

who said that rare games are expensive?

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?V...item=1320598627

[MattyXB]

Wow, what a Luck for The_Jek.

 

I will pay $10 for that, will you sell it Jek?

[MattG/Snyper2099]

Hmmm, I do tend to agree with Marco here on his system of rarity. However, I don't think it's quite as cut and dry as he makes it seem. I could state that I WILL eventually be able to obtain ALL of the games on my want list, but at what cost is the real question. They will all come eventually, I'm sure. It all works out to the following two equations; More Time *times* Less Cost = Fewer Games OR More Cost *times* Less Time = More Games. I think I have a decent collection, not having to break the $100 mark for any of my games yet (I have come close though). But it is true, I know I'll have 95% of the library before I'm officially *DONE* collecting for the VCS.

Kudos

 

[ 01-15-2002: Message edited by: MattG ]

[dwh]

Things are getting harder to find because a lot of the stuff is in my walkin closet,along with odyssey2 boxed games,star wars cards,and a few skeletons to boot!I have collected on ebay,and have seen weird prices.For example, I paid a lot for miner 2049er I & II,but every so often there is a glut of these and the price is really low;or you can bid on five copies and get lucky.The one cart I went round and round with was time pilot;I was outbid five times by a penny!I have bid on a lot of rare carts that are on my 'want list',but the bids just get way too high.So lately I have updated my lists and gotten common items that I overlooked,thus saving some money for the more expensive items.Keeping in mind that I am only getting the carts,not too many boxes or manuals,the "collecting" aspect of this hobby is not even near it's end.

[MattyXB]

Wow, look what I get for a very good price.

 

Atari 2600 mit 3 Spielen (with 3 games)

 

The seller has not write which game, but look on the picture. I see Motorodeo, a pirate Pitfall and 32 in 1. I have not ask before, but I think this must these games.

 

My luck was, that he has write nothing in the describtion, maybe someone has not found it.

 

And thanks to all german Atari Fans that nobody overbid me.

 

[ 01-19-2002: Message edited by: MattyXB ]