Ever get sick of collecting for this system?

[Trench]

Lots of the games seem lackluster, there are a lot of them, prices go from dirt cheap to expensive, no real middle ground. Most carts will have damage done to them or my fav... spiders or roaches in them or the system. Maybe I just grew up too far past it's prime.

[Shawn]

Started in '83 my intrest has only grown sense then so..Ummm, nope.

[MegaManFan]

Yeah I actually got burned out a few months back but I just recently got back in the groove, so to speak.

[Cassidy Nolen]

I reach stages where I stop buying for a while. I think I am getting into one now. You get to where you have to spend a lot of money to fill holes and its frustrating. If you collect boxed its even worse as the prices of rare loose games is going down, the boxed rares stay pretty high (ex. Crazy Climber, CTCW, SQWW).

 

If you just wait, I would think you will rekindle your interest. Its happened to me about once a year for a few months and then I come right back to it. I have other interests that take my time/money/online board reading to stay current with, and things seem to alternate between interest in each one. Never, for a moment, have I EVER regretted collecting for the 2600. I have sold MANY other collections, but do not ever plan to sell my Atari stuff. Hell, I plan to have a 50th birthday party and open all my sealed box games Wanna come? Its just 17 years and 3 months away. Plan now and I bet you can get a cheap plane ticket to DC

 

C

[Trench]

sweet I'll be there, but I want to smell them as they are being opened. lol

[+Wonder007]

You know Cassidy, I think I would like to witness that.....can I bring a camera????

[shadow460]

If you're going to get bummed out on collecting once a year, the best timt to do so is around Halloween. Stay off ebay until mid January to avoid the holiday prices.

During that time, go local. That's when people are trading in their old stuff so they can have PS3/Wii/next gen stuff for Christmas that year.

[ATARIPITBULL]

I never get sick of collecting Atari 2600 items, but Yes the high prices of the boxed games I still need are getting me down, it looks like I am going to have to hold up a bank to buy a boxed Quadrun or Crazy climber.

 

[Trench]

Anyone ever get insurance on their room of doom?

[airforcejane]

I just started, but I don't ever see how I could ever get "sick of it".

[Lord Thag]

I slowed down a lot now that am looking at less than forty games or so for the set. Too expensive mainly, and I refuse to pay hundreds of dollars for a game. I think I'm gonna invest in a eprom burner and just make repro carts for the really rare expensive stuff. For me, it's all about playing the games, and I do get burned out a couple of times a year. Fall and winter seem to be the main Atari playing times for me.

[+Wonder007]

Never.

[rheffera]

Nope at the moment im happily buying stuff but i do tend to get annoyed...but only when i cant find anything new to buy locally

[Foxsolo2000]

Went through a stage last year where I contemplated selling them due to a proposed move abroad but thankfully never went through with it

[jpfalcon2003]

Got my 7800 in 1988 for Xmas and started collecting about 3 years ago. I wouldn't say I'm sick of collecting for the 2600, but it's getting very costly. Didn't realize there were so many good games out there. I'm up to 192 games for the 2600/7800 with a few of those for the 5200 as well. Keep getting mostly the new homebrews, but am also getting some of the older games I didn't know about that are really good too.

[jboypacman]

So far hell,no!lol.Am having the time of my life collecting the 2600.

[Lonely Mountain Hermit]

When I first began collecting it was definitly more enjoyable. This was mainly due to the fact that there was so much to collect, and just about everything I would find (I'm talking flea markets, yard sales and thrift shops) , I didn't already have. Also, it was more common back then to find five dollar consoles and one dollar games. Nowadays I rarely see consoles under 20 dollars, and games (I'm talking Combat and E.T.) under three dollars.

 

Just yesterday I was at one of my local markets and there was a guy asking for 50 bucks for a 2600 Jr. I think he had a copy of E.T. for 8 dollars! Still, I wouldn't say Im sick of collecting, it's just not what it used to be.

[Shawn]

Anyone ever get insurance on their room of doom?

 

 

Fully insured here. You gotta make sure you note the stuff with my company and with most as normal house insurance (with content insurace also) only covers up to $1k of collectables, I have $10k on my collectables.

[Cassidy Nolen]

Anyone ever get insurance on their room of doom?

 

You bet. If it has zeros after it, you need coverage. Seriously, make sure its replacement value. I have all the arcades, high-dollar boxed stuff and expensive toys insured on a separate rider against ALL damage (even flood, fire, acts of god, etc). The rest is covered against everything but flood.

 

C

[Crazy Climber]

Don't ever sell your rare shit, you will only regret it.

I need to look in to this extra insurance thing, I would hate for my stuff to get damaged and not be able to replace it....that would just suck balls man.

I don't think I would be able to start over again.

[Rik]

I am beginning to feel my interest in actually playing classic games, 2600,INTV,CV,slip away,and this I am pretty not happy about.I am now beginning to get more into the nostalgia of it all,and reading old articles from the 80's about that period,guess it must be age,pretty crummy thing to say,I know,but i cant help the way i feel!,I hope its just a phase,and my interest will come back.But i STILL treasure my collection of games and consoles though!

Edited November 13, 2006 by Rik

[philowar]

I don't understand the whole collecting craze. I really, really don't. I own my consoles to play the games I really love, from Atari to Intellivision to Genesis to PS2. What a waste of time and money to compulsively buy everything you can whether or not you're going to play it. I mean, it just sits on a shelf for you to stare at. I don't understand it at all. OCD, maybe? How many games that you own do you actually enjoy? If I don't like a game, I resell it, no matter the console. I have two Atari 2600 systems and about 20 games that are my favorites, and that's all I feel I need. I've never paid more than 5 or 6 bucks for an Atari game, with shipping. I hate collectors, because they've really driven up the prices on things that should be worth a nickel, just so they can have a whole wall of their house crammed full of big ugly cartridge boxes and dusty old peripherals that never get used.

[philowar]

I am beginning to feel my interest in actually playing classic games, 2600,INTV,CV,slip away,and this I am pretty not happy about.I am now beginning to get more into the nostalgia of it all,and reading old articles from the 80's about that period,guess it must be age,pretty crummy thing to say,I know,but i cant help the way i feel!,I hope its just a phase,and my interest will come back.But i STILL treasure my collection of games and consoles though!

 

 

 

How old are you? I ask because if you didn't grow up with an Atari, you're likely never going to really appreciate or enjoy the games as much as you do those of modern consoles. Me, I've been playing Atari since age 8 (well over two decades ago). The nostalgia factor isn't what keeps me playing it today; it's the fact I really enjoy playing Atari games, moreso than I do anything on my PS2, and likely will even when I'm 70 years old and this whole trendy "retro" phase has long died out.

[Rik]

I am beginning to feel my interest in actually playing classic games, 2600,INTV,CV,slip away,and this I am pretty not happy about.I am now beginning to get more into the nostalgia of it all,and reading old articles from the 80's about that period,guess it must be age,pretty crummy thing to say,I know,but i cant help the way i feel!,I hope its just a phase,and my interest will come back.But i STILL treasure my collection of games and consoles though!

 

 

 

How old are you? I ask because if you didn't grow up with an Atari, you're likely never going to really appreciate or enjoy the games as much as you do those of modern consoles. Me, I've been playing Atari since age 8 (well over two decades ago). The nostalgia factor isn't what keeps me playing it today; it's the fact I really enjoy playing Atari games, moreso than I do anything on my PS2, and likely will even when I'm 70 years old and this whole trendy "retro" phase has long died out.

I am old enough to have purchased pitfall when it first hit the shelves,and i dont think that just because you grew with something,necessarily means you'll never get tired or outgrow interest in it,people change,thats one reason why the divorce rate is so high.

Edited November 14, 2006 by Rik

[fsuinnc]

I have just about every a2600 game there is except for the really really rare games (and I have some of those too). I also have most every game for the astrocade (and some prototypes), every game for the APF MP1000, most every intv game and just about all the Channel F games. Oh yeah, I think I have all the US O2 releases and a couple of forign releases. I like haveing them so I can play them. I guess it would be fun to show rhem off to other collectors but I don't know any other collectors and the people I could show have no appreciation (and not interest). I also like old arcade games but I only buy those that were my personal favs as a kid (and I have a nice Atari Steeple Chase that appealed to me because of it's age).

 

Anymore, I don't hit the thrift stores and rarely go the flea markets. For the most part I limit my collecting now to the homebrews. I try to buy as many of them as I can. (more to support and thank the authors than to really collect but the newest games are just so damn good that I love playing them).

 

Back to the original question. I never get sick of collecting for this system (or any system), at least not yet. I do get sick of not having time to play the games though.