Pre-1984 video game era finds in the wild are a thing of the past

[birdie3]

When I say pre-1984, I am talking about Atari, Coleco, Vectrex, Intellivision etc..

 

I don't know about anyone else here but I am am not finding too much of this sort of thing in the wild anymore. I have also been reading alot of similar threads where people seem to be saying the same thing. Could it be that there is a definite lull/downward trend in these sorts of finds ? Is there still tons of this sort of thing still waiting to be discovered as it sits in peoples basements or is it possible that the majority of the finds have been snatched up by the collectors? I would love to hear from others on this.

[Jess Ragan]

The reason is because collectors have bought them all. Not everything mind you, but most of the good stuff.

 

I've found over the years that collecting works in a cycle... five to ten years after a game system is released, people become disinterested in it, and it becomes incredibly easy to find. You can pick them up at a low price practically anywhere! Then, five to ten years after that, the console gains popularity with collectors and games become a bit harder to find as the competition rises. Five years after that, the console's games become nearly impossible to find in the wild because collectors have already picked the supply clean.

 

I call it Ragan's Theory of Collectivity. It's not always bullet-proof... backwards compatibility seems to affect the results a little, giving players an incentive to hold onto their older games longer than they normally would. Nevertheless, it's fairly consistent.

 

I recall ten years ago, back when the NES was at the stage where supply was at its highest and consumer interest was at its lowest. You could go into a used electronics store and find the systems stacked to the ceiling! Now, that's not even close to being the case. You're lucky to find one or two of them at your favorite pawn shop!

 

JR

[Bill Brasky]

I've never seen anything for the Vectrex in the wild, nothing , ever. And I was looking at flea markets, garage sales way back in the early-mid 90's. I also recall being in pawnshops that had stacks of NES systems and NES carts stacked waist high for 20 feet, no joke. I didn't give a shit about the NES then or now though.

[superjudge3]

I found 12 sealed intellivision games recently. The guy just gave them to me!

[Pixelboy]

Don't forget the eBay factor. For example, I see ColecoVision consoles put under auction every day of the week on eBay. What you're less likely to find in the wild, you're more likely to find online.

[birdie3]

Don't forget the eBay factor. For example, I see ColecoVision consoles put under auction every day of the week on eBay. What you're less likely to find in the wild, you're more likely to find online.

 

 

Right.. But where the heck are they finding the stuff?

[christianscott27]

..tis the friggin ebay dust bowl

 

I started my hardcore collecting around 98 and in years since the ebay effect has pretty much picked the wild clean of finds. I mean no its not the only thing going on, time is a factor too but the out and out pouncing on any collectible is totally because of ebay. It hurts that ebay sellers are trolling the thrifts and it hurts that sellers have gotten "gold fever" at the flea markets and so on. The playing field used to feel a lot more level, like Christian has a ton of stuff because he's always out looking, now its hardly worth the trip since things get snatched up so fast. I cant build a collection from online auctions, its just not my style or budget.

 

Interestingly I heard another view on the ebay blight, a former Hot Wheels seller was talking about how ebay put his breed all but out of business. It used to be that serious collectors would meet at conventions and come with money to buy their personal holy grails because they'd never see the things otherwise. Now he says its just not breaking even to set up a table since he has to compete with every real or imagined ebay auction his customers heard about. No one will pay the $400 for a car if they think one went for $275 on ebay last month...

 

I'm sure I sound like an old man bitching, its true that theres nothing we can do about ebay, cept hope it plays it self out and things in thrifts return to normal again. The days though of a shoebox of Atari for $10 are probably gone forever though. Maybe we'll see cheap Playstation stuff but I really doubt it will be the same as Atari since gamestop and ebay have sucked up so much of that generations cast offs.

[Crazy Climber]

I read in a thread here somewhere, might of been one of the "dumpster diving" ones....can't remember, anyways they were saying that Goodwill just throws Atari and other pre NES stuff in the trash due to lack of interest. I still see some of these things for sale but it always way overpriced crap, I've never found anything good here in MN. I also never remember seeing any Vectrex stuff either, Ebay was the first place I saw any of it for sale since Toys R Us about 20 or so years ago.

Edited November 4, 2006 by Crazy Climber

[Student Driver]

I read in a thread here somewhere, might of been one of the "dumpster diving" ones....can't remember, anyways they were saying that Goodwill just throws Atari and other pre NES stuff in the trash due to lack of interest. I still see some of these things for sale but it always way overpriced crap, I've never found anything good here in MN. I also never remember seeing any Vectrex stuff either, Ebay was the first place I saw any of it for sale since Toys R Us about 20 or so years ago.

 

Some thrift stores won't sell anything electronic due to (IMO unfounded) fears that products may be unsafe; a large number won't sell anything that they can't test. With the relative difficulty of testing consoles and retro computers (gotta have a switchbox, known-working cart, controller, power supply (hopefully nothing lost by the donor or the thrift store employees), and the know-how to hook it all up, many just chuck the stuff or sell it as scrap to the emerging electronics salvage companies-- in terms of manpower and return on cost, it's more profitable to clutter the shelves with greasy, used kitchen appliances, ancient TVs, and flaky hair dryers.

 

I used to work part-time at a thrift store, and was the only person who knew how to hook-up and test older equipment; every day a huge pallet of stuff would be waiting, and I'd churn through as much as possible... and even as a fan of the stuff, I'd get so behind or frustrated that I'd pass on a lot of stuff that could conceivably have worked with a little attention. If it was really rare or interesting, I spent the time necessary to get it to work, but when I had a dozen TI-99-4/a's, C64s, and 2600s to go through, only the cream of the crop made it to the salesfloor. In the time it took me to do one system that might sell for $5-10, I could test and price a dozen toasters, and make $24 for charity. Imagine the same thinking guiding a normal Goodwill employee-- one who won't know that the Vectrex sitting in the "test or throw out" pile would be worth spending time on.

[BassGuitari]

I find Atari 2600 cartridges semi-regularly. They're almost invariably dirt-common, but still...

 

They aren't as common an occurrance anymore, but there are still some Atari/Intelly/whatever finds out there to be had. With Goodwill though, sometimes they just put the stuff on eBay. It never even gets to the shelves.

[Retro Rogue]

I've never heard that about Goodwill (not accepting Atari). The main distro center by me still gets 2600, INTV and Coleco stuff - though I will say not as many as it used to.

 

Part of it (IMHO) is the time period/generation - most of that stuff wound up in thrifts and garage sales because the parents of those generation's kids clean out their house (kids long gone, married, etc.), they're old and moving (retirement), etc. etc. The most common thing in thrifts now by me is NES and Genny. We're on that generation of families now, getting rid of stuff, clearing out for the same reasons, etc.

 

I have been lucky enough to get the bulk of my collection at thrifts. I have one main one I always get computer material at, and a few other I get my console stuff at. I rarely do the garage sales, because they're usually dissapointing. And I stay away from the fleas now because of the opposite reason Christian mentions - I've found more often than not that its the sellers that have jacked up their prices because of the "ebay factor".

 

On a side note, the one change in Goodwill around here happened about 2 years ago - they no longer accept computers. It was a bummer because I got several of my MIB Atari computers here. Their excuse is that they won't take it because of recycling issues. Anotherwords if it doesn't sell then they have to get rid of it and supposedly have to go through a recycling process. Bunch of BS, since they still take every other kind of electronics including consoles (which are essentially computers themselves).

[Dusk2600]

a lot of this stuff has just been tossed out as well, people always throw stuff away and many think vintage games are worthless or dont work and they get tossed out.

[RJ]

Nahh, I see VCS carts all over the place all the time. Just about every local store I frequent has 'em. Same for most of the other "vintage" systems. I dont buy them as I have them already.

[birdie3]

Well.. I have to admit that I do occasionally find the odd common game but it's like nothing in comparison to say even four or five years ago. From what I can make of it, the nineties were the real cherry picking time for this era of video game finds in the wild. I keep thinking that maybe I will need to resort to more complex measures if I wish to keep finding stuff locally.

[+swlovinist]

While I mostly agree, I still find pre crash items in the wild. I too, started my collection in the mid to late 90's. Just this last week I found:

 

A colecovision with game console cover

A boxed Microvision and three games

A boxed TI-99 4/A computer

A 2600 vader with RGA Game selector

Amiga Joyboard

 

Now, I consider my thrift finds to be abnormal(95% of my collection is from the wild), but I guess it comes down to how ambitious someone is to go to find things locally. I usually look within a 40 mile radius of where I live, when I can. Things are still out there, they are just harder to find.

[AussieAtari]

I found that placing notices in the local Community newsletters and newsletters at work yeilds quite well. Most people simply need the prompt to remember some old system and/or games in a cupboard somewhere and they will gladly off-load it, usually for free.

 

I have been the lucky recipient of a complete C64 system with software and all peripherals, a complete 6-switch woody, SMS mark I, SMS Mark II, some N64 cartridges and various obscure home computers.

 

I find that it is a nice and passive way to add to the collection.

[Wester]

There is stuff out there still, but yes you have to be more persistant than you had to be ten years ago.

Example:

 

I've been going to a local place for a couple of years now and all that has turned up are a few NES and Genesis games. But I dropped by the yesterday and he had two boxed 2600's (one of them a Heavy)with some games, a boxed Genesis, and a stack of CED's. I didn't have the cash to get them but he is holding them for me untill I come back.

[Bill Brasky]

It's not only easier, it's cheaper to just buy what you want off ebay than spend days and tanks full of gas driving around searching for stuff. Even if the stuff was still out there in the wild, I wouldn't want to go looking for it. I never found anything super rare or valuable in the wild to make it worth the time and gas. I much prefer just getting exactly what I want off ebay.

 

Example:

 

"A colecovision with game console cover

A boxed Microvision and three games

A boxed TI-99 4/A computer

A 2600 vader with RGA Game selector

Amiga Joyboard"

 

 

A bare Colecovision with no games = $20 on ebay

A boxed Microvision and three games = $15 on ebay

A boxed TI-99 4/A computer = $5 on ebay

A 2600 vader with RGA Game selector = ?

Amiga Joyboard = ?

[Flack]

I went to half a dozen thrift stores last weekend and found either Atari 2600 or Intellivision carts at almost all of them. None of them were super rare (or even "sorta rare") but it was all there for the taking.

 

I agree with most of what's been said; lots of the stuff that used to end up in garage sales or thrift stores has either made it's way to collector's hands or on to eBay. Let's face it, as time goes on, less and less of these things will be for sale because more and more people will have snatched them up.

[Wester]

I agree with most of what's been said; lots of the stuff that used to end up in garage sales or thrift stores has either made it's way to collector's hands or on to eBay. Let's face it, as time goes on, less and less of these things will be for sale because more and more people will have snatched them up.

 

Until we start to die off and our significant others/families start putting our collections in garage sales or donating them to thrift stores.

[MCHufnagel]

I agree with most of what's been said; lots of the stuff that used to end up in garage sales or thrift stores has either made it's way to collector's hands or on to eBay. Let's face it, as time goes on, less and less of these things will be for sale because more and more people will have snatched them up.

 

Until we start to die off and our significant others/families start putting our collections in garage sales or donating them to thrift stores.

While you may be right about that, I'm afraid that most of this stuff will be thrown out if our kids don't play with it. I mean 20-30 years from now the only people interested in 1970 - 80's technology will be museum directors and hardcore collectors.

 

How many people collect radios, record players and records from the 1930 - 40's now? And how much of that stuff still works?

[AussieAtari]

 

How many people collect radios, record players and records from the 1930 - 40's now? And how much of that stuff still works?

 

There are more stores selling valve radios and records than old video game systems now, so maybe in 20 years the video games will replace the radios and LP's. Here's hoping anyhow.

Edited November 9, 2006 by AussieAtari

[Brian R.]

When I say pre-1984, I am talking about Atari, Coleco, Vectrex, Intellivision etc..

 

I don't know about anyone else here but I am am not finding too much of this sort of thing in the wild anymore. I have also been reading alot of similar threads where people seem to be saying the same thing. Could it be that there is a definite lull/downward trend in these sorts of finds ? Is there still tons of this sort of thing still waiting to be discovered as it sits in peoples basements or is it possible that the majority of the finds have been snatched up by the collectors? I would love to hear from others on this.

 

Birdie, I cam to the conclusion you just reached about 8 years ago. Stuff just dried up. Vanished. Gone. No longer to be found.

[narutofan]

This isn't my problem though. I can just wait until eveyone dies and take thier ataris

 

Nah, just kidding. I agree with the topic. I can't find anything, anywhere. It seems the only place to turn now is the internet.

[birdie3]

When I say pre-1984, I am talking about Atari, Coleco, Vectrex, Intellivision etc..

 

I don't know about anyone else here but I am am not finding too much of this sort of thing in the wild anymore. I have also been reading alot of similar threads where people seem to be saying the same thing. Could it be that there is a definite lull/downward trend in these sorts of finds ? Is there still tons of this sort of thing still waiting to be discovered as it sits in peoples basements or is it possible that the majority of the finds have been snatched up by the collectors? I would love to hear from others on this.

 

Birdie, I cam to the conclusion you just reached about 8 years ago. Stuff just dried up. Vanished. Gone. No longer to be found.

 

 

Right on bud.