Speculative FS: Damn Near Everything!

[Mindfield]

I'm sure most people probably come to a point where they take stock and realize that things are a bit stale and, perhaps only right at that moment, there are other things that have edged up on the priority list. Combine the two and you start thinking, "Hey, y'know, I could maybe sell this stuff and clear out some of those suddenly higher priority stuff, and maybe get back to it later on."

 

Well, I'm sorta standing on the brink of that. Life creeps in, there are things you start looking at and realizing that there are things you've been wanting/needing to get over the course of the last year or two and you've continuously put them off because other things -- Atari collecting, say -- have gotten in the way of that.

 

Not that I don't enjoy collecting Atari of course, but I've reached a point where what I need to fulfill certain goals is either prohibitively expensive and/or extremely hard to get, and scores are few and far between and I'm not in that position to really afford those remaining few things.

 

And I like the thrill of the chase. The rush of the win. The feel of getting good deals or fun games.

 

I miss it.

 

So here's what I'm thinking of doing.

 

I'll keep a small, core set of the games I really like, plus the stuff I know I'll probably never get again or just don't want to part with (the homebrews/repros for example) and sell off the rest.

 

Given an approximate remainder of the stuff after I've set aside my favourites, we'd be talking about 700-800 carts, of which about 130+ would be either boxed, complete-boxed or sealed, plus some nice rares and stuff.

 

I've attached my current list-o-stuff to this post as a zipped Excel spreadsheet. (Ignore the other Atari platforms in the additional sheets in here; they're irrelevant) Anyone care to spec out what everything would be worth, leaving out the homebrews, repros, and let's say a generous 50 commons-to-scarces? And who'd be interested if I went ahead and just sold it? Feel free to make offers on lots, singles, the whole ball of wax, whatever. I'll give it all due consideration before making my final choice.

Mindfield__s_Atari_Collection.zip

[Trade-N-Games]

Thats all you have! I would just pack it all up unless bills are going to kill you and in a few years see where the hobby fits in your life.

I do agree the hunt is the fun part and with all the people with deep pockets and the crazy resellers winning all the good stuff its not very much fun.

[Mindfield]

Thats all you have!    I would just pack it all up unless bills are going to kill you and in a few years see where the hobby fits in your life.

I do agree the hunt is the fun part and with all the people with deep pockets and the crazy resellers winning all the good stuff its not very much fun.

1002279[/snapback]

 

Oh, it's not that I'm frustrated at all the deep pockets, and though I regard the career resellers (defined as those who buy and sell solely for profit, not for love of the hobby) as bottom-feeders they don't factor into my possible decision. The fact is I feel like I just might want to do this. It's not even that it doesn't fit in my life right now -- I am hard pressed to think of a situation not involving the desperate need for money where it wouldn't. It's really just that while I love playing some of the games, a lot of the fun of collecting has gone out of it. Aside from a few new (and most excellent) homebrews, I've obtained maybe two or three new games that I didn't already have in as many months, and it's still slowing. While I would love to strive for those few handfuls of carts that I'm missing to complete various sets just so say that I did, the thrills would be few and fleeting and likely at great sacrifice to my wallet. When the same thrills I got winning a lot of 20 commons for $5 costs me $100 for a single cart it starts getting a little stale, and while I'd have no trouble paying that $100 for a single cart and feeling no regret, I sometimes wish it was another lot of 20 for $5.

 

I know my wallet does.

 

In any event, my collecting has often been at the expense of other things in my life put off for what at the time was the greater desire. Now the coin has flipped and what I have put off has begun to nag. Couple it with the waning enjoyment of the scarce few scores I still make in the hunt and it becomes a little clearer: I sell of what I have and it ends up being its own long-term win-win. I get to pull all that long-suffering back-burner stuff to the fore by selling off most of my collection, and then later I get to rebuild my collection and have the thrill of the hunt all over again.

 

What's that old saw? It's not the destination, it's the journey.

[AtariAger]

[Mindfield]

 

1002304[/snapback]

 

[atwwong]

Sort of on topic - Mindfield, thanks for the carts. They came quickly and in great condition. They'll be put to good use, I promise!

 

Cheers,

Tony

[birdie3]

I can't seem to unzip this for some reason but I will definately check this out when I get home from work tonight. Save some stuff for me please.

[n8littlefield]

I'm not ready to buy (yet) but just wanted to tell you I know exactly where you are coming from. Until late last year I collected Starwars toys and had to give that up for pretty much the same reasons - the hunt was no longer fun, my wallet was empty, my apartment was full and I was frustrated that all the good stuff was being ebayed by people who sell toys/hotwheels for a living.

 

When I switched to actively collecting Atari & NES games, my resolution was to NOT go "Pokemon Gotta Collect-em-All" on games, which is why I have my list of must owns and stick to it very strictly.

[Voch]

I too understand where you're coming from. I'm trying to keep my collection very finite and am resisting the temptation to branch out into systems that I don't play.

 

I've limited my collecting to Atari 2600/5200/7800/8-bit, Intellivision, and ColecoVision, and am even now picking-and-choosing purchases after a several-year ramp up where I bought pretty much everything I didn't have. I'm now just purchasing some games Rarity 7 and above and choosing them very carefully and spacing them out and am asking myself things like "will I really play this" and such. I'm also collecting a few backup items (extra 2600s and one extra 7800, for example) for the future.

 

If I keep it in my mind that I'm more of a player than a collector it reallty puts things in perspective. I really need a MacBook Pro sometime in the near future to replace my old TiBook (I'm a Java software dev who's starting to do some work at-home), but will also not pass up a good offer on a copy of Q*Bert's Qubes or Crazy Climber...

 

Voch

[Christophero Sly]

I understand where you're at. I've also reached the point with my collection where the thrill of the hunt is all but gone and it's hard to justify $$$ for what's missing from my collection. I have higher priority interests in my life that I would rather use that money for. Much of the motivation I have for collecting is rooted in nostalgia, but now that I really have everything I ever wanted and more Atari-wise, I find it difficult to continue actively collecting. You know, what I really miss is in this hobby was thrill of finding stuff in the thrift stores when I first started collecting. Except for one or two dead commons, I haven't seen anything Atari in the thrifts for nearly 2 years. I do collect label variants and there is still some excitement in tracking those down on ebay, but it's very time consuming to turn over every stone to find them, so I haven't added much to my collection in that area lately. I'm content with my collection though. I'd have to be hard pressed to sell any of it.

 

Perhaps you should step away from your collection and AA for a while and try to find a broader perspective on where collecting fits in your life, especially if you're unsure about this. You don't want to part with your collection and regret it later. I think once you sell, you'll never rebuild your collection again. I don't think I would. Unfortunately, I don't think it's possible to recapture that initial thrill a second time around.

 

If you do decide to go through with this, I put dibs on Mines of Minos and Sears Asteroids picture label.

[Red 5]

I just did the same thing.

 

I looked around and decided it was out of control.

(I was collecting any video game related item I could get my hands on.)

 

When I decided to sell it all off, I thought I would really miss it.

Now that it is all gone (with the exception of Atari, CV, INT, O2, Vectrex) I don't miss it at all.

 

I used the money to build a movie theater in my basement that my whole family enjoys. InFocus projector, theater seats, 7.1 surround sound, and some great family time have replaced an area filled with NES, SNES, and Sega and tons of other systems and games that I barely used.

 

The funny part is, I now look at the CV, INT, O2, and Vectrex stuff as next on the chopping block.

 

I would like to think I wouldn't part with the Atari stuff, but before where I would see it as never being an option, I think someday I may part with it.

 

It is almost a relief to see it all gone, and pretty liberating.

[King_Salamon]

I've noticed it is extremely liberating to sell off a bunch of stuff. At one point a little over a year ago I had all 3 current gen systems and was saying to myself: WHY? I'm down to one and I'm enjoying it.

 

I also obliterated the classic gaming stuff and now I'm getting back into the 2600 only. What psuhed me back to vintage gaming was the simplicity of it... have 10 minutes to play... you can play a couple games or 1 long game if you're good at it. Also, playing games like Kaboom! on the PS2 made me want a 2600 with paddles.

 

Getting rid of stuff is a good feeling and you won't miss much of it.

 

Heck, I wonder if all my 'toys' were gone... would I miss any of it? Not likely.... damn... I think I'm growing up! LOL!

[Mindfield]

Growing up? No, no, it's just the inverval between childhoods.

 

See, that's sort of what surprised me a little. Perhaps it was the excitement and anticipation of being able to get a few things I've been dying to get over the last while, and perhaps it's the relief that I can sort of hold off on any serious Atari collecting for a while (which, being that the vast majority of it is through eBay accounts for a lot of saved frustration ). PRobably a combination of both. All the same I don't think I will miss the items themselves too terribly. They are all replaceable, and at some point I'm sure I will get back into it and indeed replace them.

 

I mean Atari fits just fine in my life; as I said I plan to keep a core collection of good stuff -- this is not a complete purging, just a significant rolling back with an eye to putting the money to better use at the moment. I am not financially hard up; if anything I'm pretty stable if quite average. Collecting doesn't really get in the way of my lifestyle except insofar as I would tend to collect instead of buying other things I also wanted, if not quite as much. It's not even that I have any sort of significant shift in my priorities; I'm quite sure the priorities are more or less the same, it's just that I think what I would get more enjoyment out of at this particular point in time is those things I've put off to buy Atari stuff for. It's just one of those things I need to get out of my system. A sort of materialistic catharsis if you prefer.

 

I'm sure that once I've at least gone through that part I'll probably be ready at some point afterwards to perhaps rebuild the collection. I'll likely be a little more picky about what I buy though; as much as I am habitually a collector, I am emotionally a gamer, and I think that's what I sort of have to try and focus on when that time comes.

[birdie3]

I knew early on in my experience with collecting that this sort of thing had the potential to become more than I wanted. I remember having boxes of stuff that I never used just sitting there collecting dust. Eventually I discovered that I had a huge pile of trade bait and money if I ever needed it.

 

My collecting philiosophy has remained the same pretty much right from the beginning:

 

***Only buy the games that are fun to play. Sell the rares if they are not fun to play. Don't be too greedy with trading. Always try to give the other person the better deal especially if you found it dirt cheap.

 

Alot easier said than done but it works for me.

Edited January 18, 2006 by birdie3