When is the right time to open unopened shrinkwrapped boxes?

[KAZ]

I started having this silly thought, and was just wondering what others thought.

 

I have 4 shrinkwrapped Atari 5200 games...

 

And 2 shrinkwrapped Atari 2600 games (god they look so cool in their brand new like state)

 

I have them for display purposes. One of my goals is to have a pretty big collection of loose cartridges and manuals, and hopefully most of the corresponding new boxes...

 

Ideally, if I had two new boxes, and opened one to play from, that would be perfect.

 

The silly question is when is the right time to open and use sealed games? After you get home from going to the doctor, who says you have 1 month left to live?

 

The other reason people like to collect games new in their boxes, is because it retains their value, and so they can sell it back for more later?

 

This is just me rambling on, but I do love collecting new shrinkwrapped boxes, and sometimes I wonder why I do it, or what the point is.

 

Maybe it is the thought that more and more people end up opening these new shrinkwrapped boxes, and thus they become even more rare to find. Like there's not many new heavy sixer 6 switches in their boxes anymore.

 

[ 05-09-2002: Message edited by: KAZ ]

[ATARIPITBULL]

Collecting new shrinkwrapped games for my 2600 collection is something I like to do, but some of the old shrinkwrap start to crush the boxes so those I will remove the plastic, but if your games show no signs of being crushed, I would not remove the shrinkwrapping. Games that are still wrapped just look to good.

[StanJr]

Remove the wrap the second you have the urge to play the game.

[liquid_sky]

thats exactl waht I was gonna say. When you want to play the game, then play it.

[smf_4ever]

That is a nasty personal struggle dude.. I buy them to play them.. If I can get shrink wrapped.. that just tells me that I dont have to hunt for the manual as well..

[KAZ]

Oh I see. Some people get shrinkwrapped games not to display its beauty in being a new game, but rather to ensure that they are getting a quality game (that will obviously work also), and the box and manual and everything will be with it. Loose carts sold on Ebay, for instance, can be in really bad shape. I'm a beginner collector, so I don't know why I'm doing what I'm doing, or why I like to keep brand new games brand new (at least classic games).

 

You mean buy a brand new game and ALSO play it? That concept is foreign to me.

 

[ 05-09-2002: Message edited by: KAZ ]

[KAZ]

I suppose someone could shrinkwrap a cartridge themselves. I used to work at a company that did shrinkwrapping (but it used high heat, which would probably kill a cart inside).

 

But I don't see how someone could fake sealing the box. My two 2600 cartridges are untouched, and I see no evidence that anyone faked them.

 

And my Atari 5200 games are sealed but not shrinkwrapped, but the seal definitely looks real.

 

I like what you guys said about that awesome feeling you get when you take a brand new cartridge out of its box. Especially for such an old system like the 2600.

[smf_4ever]

quote:

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Originally posted by KAZ:

I like what you guys said about that awesome feeling you get when you take a brand new cartridge out of its box. Especially for such an old system like the 2600.

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Yes. that feeling is better than SE... wait.. no it isn't.. but it does feel good.

[Krytol]

I just unwrapped my red label Space Invaders because I lost my loose cart and had a craving to play. Very cool experience pulling a fresh, shiny cart out of the top of the box.

 

Does anyone store their loose carts in plastic sleeves (or the like) to keep them from getting scuffed?

[MattyXB]

I open shrinkwrapped only at the top. Then I can open the box and test the games. First I have long think about this, but then I have open them. Because I want to know, are these games working? Maybe they don't work, and I never know it, when I not open them.

 

Maybe someone has shrinkwrapped it by hisself, so the shrinkwrapped say nothing for me. But I let the shrinkwrapped at the box. So I know that this game was shrinkwrapped.