Amazing Game Collection - But sad at the same time!

[Pleiades10]

I often wonder what our wives/kids would do with the collections that some of us have if we were to kick. I think some of them tolerate the crap in the house just to keep us happy but there are a few wives here that loves the games almost as much as the collector does.
[/QUOTE]


I know that my wife will hold on to Mousetrap, Ms.PacMan, and Arkanoid 2 as those are her favorite games in my arcade collection, but she'd probably sell the rest.

I imagine she'd keep the Atari 2600 collection (as she had one growing up), but would likely sell everything else (NES, Vectrex, Colecovision, Intellivision, etc.)... if my stepson didn't claim it all first!

I understand about looking at a collection differently. In the 90s and early 2000s, when I was hitting yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores every weekend, it was an absolute joy to bring home new additions into the collection. I displayed them proudly and showed them off to friends. It was a rush to hit 20 places before 1pm on Saturday, and drive home with a backseat full of home consoles, carts, add-ons, tabletops and other goodies.

But I'm slowly going through a purging phase now. Mainly because I'm moving into a house at the end of the month and I want to reduce the amount of stuff I have to move. I've already sold two coin-ops and several boxes of home consoles and tabletops.

But also... having all these games in storage for years, untouched, and unloved does nobody any good. I simply don't have the time to play everything, especially since my focus has narrowed to arcade stuff, and I have minimal interest in classic home consoles anymore. I imagine I'll have most of it sold by next summer.

I have a few things on Ebay now including a boxed Bally Astrocade.

http://shop.ebay.com/pleiades/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

Kyle

 

[Tighe]

Tighe

Original 25" bad dudes cabinet? I have a hard time believing that. Do you have pix of the entire cabinet?

Jon

Sure thing:

You can see the outline of the circular Data East Logo on the side:

The Grey vinyl is the same as a Bad Dudes, and it is bare particle board underneath. No paint or older graphics.

Under the MK control panel metal is the original Bad Dudes CP overlay, it fits the whole cabinet.

Here is the front of the cabinet with MK marquee and Control panel overlay:

The monitor:

I have no doubts that this was a Bad Dudes originally with a 25" monitor. If not then it would have to have been some other Data East cabinet that was converted with a Bad Dudes control panel.

 

[Tighe]

Tig, I'm actually kind of surprised that you think the guy in the first video (who passed away and left it to his wife to sort out) was a hoarder instead of a collector. IMO, as it has already been stated, this guy had neat stacks of everything organized by system onto shelves, original boxes, stuff in plastic sleeves, etc. That means he wanted to take care of his stuff. A hoarder basically just gets stuff, throws it in a room, gets more, throws it somewhere to get it out of the way, and continues the process until they're essentially walking all over a pile of stuff (Ever see the "hoarders" TV show on TLC?).

My wife knows my hobby. She knows I have a lot of this stuff...systems, games, collectibles, memorabilia, etc. I've already given her general instructions of what to do if something ever happens to me. If she did it right, and sold some or all of it for what it's worth, she could pay a lot of bills and live pretty decently for a while.

I SHOULD put it everything into detail and organize it better, and maybe give her more explicit instruction for some of the more rare items, but I don't look at it as leaving her a big mess (not to say I couldn't organize storage areas better), but a legacy that will be worth more as time goes by. She's smart and she knows what she's doing; I'm not worried.

That guy's collection is very nice, but he knew he was dying and still kept it all. My father-in-law has a large coin and stamp collection and I know when he kicks it that his blind wife won't know what to do with it all and I will just be a mess and some one will take advantage of her.

I think what makes me feel this wayis that my wife has Multiple Sclerosis and I really don't want he to have to deal with all this stuff.

 

[nesjess]

Unfortunately, these things happen all the time. I'm experiencing it first hand right now with my mother-in-law.

Since my father-in-law passed away 2 months ago to cancer, she's been slowly cleaning and purging things. One of his biggest hobbies was collecting toys and trading cards. He has about 30 boxes and 3-4 cupboards full of toys and trading cards (From 1980s and on) stored in the garage. I'd say about 90% of them are in their original packaging unopened. He also has a ton of sports collectibles including a Willy Mays signed bat and ball.

He left all of his possessions to my mother-in-law to either keep, give away or sell. Most of the toys and cards are going to my brother-in-law, some to me. She's keeping all of the sports collectibles until she decides what she wants to do with them.

Although collecting can become an obsession at times, I think for guys especially, collecting toys, games, etc. is part of what makes it enjoyable and fun. My father-in-law was a respectable man who died at 59, but he was a kid at heart who loved toys, Christmas, Disneyland, etc.

If I knew I was going to die soon, I'd probably give my arcade games, collectibles and toys to my brothers. My wife would maybe want to keep Donkey Kong though. She's not a gamer, but she helped me complete the restoration and it's the only game I've owned that she called "pretty."

 

[thebman80]

Tig, I'm actually kind of surprised that you think the guy in the first video (who passed away and left it to his wife to sort out) was a hoarder instead of a collector. IMO, as it has already been stated, this guy had neat stacks of everything organized by system onto shelves, original boxes, stuff in plastic sleeves, etc. That means he wanted to take care of his stuff. A hoarder basically just gets stuff, throws it in a room, gets more, throws it somewhere to get it out of the way, and continues the process until they're essentially walking all over a pile of stuff (Ever see the "hoarders" TV show on TLC?).

Honestly I think the guy was a hoarder I saw multiple copy's of a lot of stuff (who needs over 30 Atari 2600 systems). The stuff on the shelves was hardly organized, yes some games where stacked near their appropriate game system but for the most part that stuff was just pushed in there ceiling to floor. The guy had board games and toys mixed in he also had games stacked behind his laundry soap for Christ sakes. I saw repeats of game stacks all over the place if it was organized one shelf would be NES only another Atari only and so on but everything was everywhere. If that was organized the games would be on a bookshelf or something so you could clearly see all the game ends all alphabetized. Take a look at AVGN's NES collection its massive and organized He has a lot more than this.

This is organized: http://cinemassacre.com/2009/03/07/my-nes-collection/

 

[gamefixer]

Collecting is fine and all that but when it gets to a point to where your holding onto stuff "just to have it" thats where you lose me. I get the whole childhood memory thing but come on.

Theres nothing in my house that doesnt see occasional use from some one. If its sitting there longer then two years its outa there!

 

[Broodwich]

I understand what gamefixer is trying to say but what happens 2 years from now when you want back your copy of Night Trap for Sega CD or your Mint Splatterhouse PCB?


I've gone the route of selling off my old systems back in the day only to want to play them again years later. Then i get pissed because i have to go back out and most likely spend more money to get back what i had in the first place.

I'll agree Tighe has a HUGE collection and definitely some duplicates (even if the packaging or contents are different) and i too would prolly slim down a collection like that If absolutely needed, but i don't see that being his case and therefore if it's not broke why fix it.

I have a now "Classic" car in my garage, i haven't really driven it in 2-3 years yet i wouldn't get rid of it unless it was dire need (ex. losing my house or family illness). Now i'm sure a lot of you would say a car is different but it all depends on what your interests are and to each their own.

 

[Tighe]

I understand what gamefixer is trying to say but what happens 2 years from now when you want back your copy of Night Trap for Sega CD or your Mint Splatterhouse PCB?


I've gone the route of selling off my old systems back in the day only to want to play them again years later. Then i get pissed because i have to go back out and most likely spend more money to get back what i had in the first place.

I'll agree Tighe has a HUGE collection and definitely some duplicates (even if the packaging or contents are different) and i too would prolly slim down a collection like that If absolutely needed, but i don't see that being his case and therefore if it's not broke why fix it.

I have a now "Classic" car in my garage, i haven't really driven it in 2-3 years yet i wouldn't get rid of it unless it was dire need (ex. losing my house or family illness). Now i'm sure a lot of you would say a car is different but it all depends on what your interests are and to each their own.

Just to be clear, that photo is Spoonmanx's collection and the video is my collection.

 

[sandmanx]

Wow, I just don't get large collections like that, where you won't have a chance to play it all. I have my arcades and a few consoles that I owned growing up, with less than 100 games between all 5 of them. I'm happy with using an emulator on my pc for the rest of the games/systems I occasionally want to play.

 

[gamefixer]

I understand what gamefixer is trying to say but what happens 2 years from now when you want back your copy of Night Trap for Sega CD or your Mint Splatterhouse PCB?

I can say without a doubt that NOTHING will happen because I dont have it in me to get stressed out about it. Besides, Splatterhouse for the 360 is way over the top cool and it comes with SH1, 2 and 3 (unlockable).

Sega CD??? Ugh...

I have some awesome games for the XBOX1 that I'm giving away today. VooDoo Vince, psychonauts, Odd World.... the list goes on and on. I've finished them so I'm done with them.

Next....

BTW, I can happily say that I don't collect anything! The only thing I'd like to be able to collect is money but some how that seems to keep going away.

 

[jeffsgames]

1. The easiest thing to get rid of will be the video game mags and strategy guides. A lot of the classic 1980 mags have been converted to PDFs.

So what mags are in PDF's? All I've seen are Joystick mags, but would love to get copies of others.

 

[InsaneDavid]

When faced with a moving then not moving dilemma this past July, finally deciding to stay in our studio apartment, I went about making some changes. Originally the whole thing with the larger place (in the same complex) was that I could put everything on display, pull things out of storage, out of boxes in the closet, it would all be out. Then when we weren't moving I realized in that bigger place I'd have everything out but the usage would be the same. So we moved a bunch of furniture around, removed some smaller bookcases for larger ones, reworked some shelving in the closet and came up with a floor plan that flowed better. Then I came up with the following criteria to ask myself about the games:

Have you played this in the past five years? Yes / No

Will you play this sometime in the next five years? Yes / No

Do you have another attachment, story or specific memory tied to an item that is neither of the above? Yes / No

This got me to whittle down a sizable chunk of stuff I had been carting around for 15+ years for really no specific reason. Answering "no" to all of the above meant that the item should go. I got rid of nearly all my Sega CD filler, PlayStation longboxes that aren't games I actually play (you can have my copy of StarBlade Alpha when you pry it from my cold, dead hands), all the US release Pico stuff, most of the 3DO games, piles of extra controllers and accessories, spare consoles that I know how to fix if my primary one goes down (Virtual Boy's mainly), most of the Master System stuff, most of the Intellivision stuff, GBA's I installed afterburner kits in years ago, all my duplicate NES cartridges, bunch of JAKKS Pacific plug and play joysticks, boxed PlayStation consoles and accessories, my Dreamcast Pop'n Music stuff (exclusively play the PS stuff now), etc.

I ended up with a few huge boxes of goods that I ended up selling to someone locally for a crazy bargain price, just to have it all gone at the same time. I still have a lot of games but what that most recent clearing did was allow me to get to and enjoy the games, that I actually enjoy (or games that I seriously plan on getting to), far easier without them being surrounded by fluff that I picked up over the years.

I still have plenty of crap, none of the non-duplicate NES games, PS1 (not much crap there anyway) or Atari 2600 cartridges went anywhere, but I have a nostalgic / specific memory / other attachment to those items. I've played more games in the past two weeks then I have in the past two years, just because everything is right there and easy to get to without having to dig around or move this to get to that.

As for the whole "what's going to happen to all of it once you die" issue, a few items have been requested to go to specific people or places, everything else is up to whatever the family wants to do with it.

 

[Broodwich]

as i said to each their own

hoarding is dirty, collecting is normally fairly clean/neat.

I personally will never get rid of my Midway Arcade Treasures discs. What you do with your stuff is your business and your welcome to do whatever you want with what you have including burn/piss on/give away/store neatly in boxes/ect.

 

[kencinder]

I used to collect console stuff in this manner(see; hoarding...they ARE one in the same) until I realized that 99% of the stuff I was keeping, I never even looked at let alone touched, and wasn't worth anything.

It's all gone now, I don't have boxes and shelves full of useless and worthless crap, and I have room for more important things.
I cringe when I see people with masses of this stuff, and people paying ridiculous sums for console kiosks and game storage shelving from retail stores, they don't have a general worth to anyone but hoarders.
I don't see the point anymore of having shelves lined with old games that aren't worth a dollar or two in most cases...my space is worth more than that.

It's cool seeing complete collections, but once you get past that initial cool factor...it's just a bunch of shit to look at, taking up space in your home. You look like the crazy aunt you have with shelves full of little statues and trinkets, only with game carts etc.

 

[Sectorseven]

Getting good games cheap is one thing, but what is the appeal of collecting exactly?

 

[Tighe]

It's cool seeing complete collections, but once you get past that initial cool factor...it's just a bunch of shit to look at, taking up space in your home. You look like the crazy aunt you have with shelves full of little statues and trinkets, only with game carts etc.

Personal fear revealed.

 

[Umortal377]

I've got a stack of XBOX1 games that I'm GIVING away today. I've lived in this house for almost 3 years and neither of the XBOX1's that I had were plugged in.

I just dont see the point in keeping anything that I have not touched in years.

Collecting/hoarding... Ugh...

Thats funny because I have been trying to buy xbox games locally. Not a big selection around here though. Everyone who sells them around here seems to think they are still worth alot. I am just looking for some kid oriented type games for the kids. Teen ratings and lower.

 

[Broodwich]

lol, i don't see many kids running away from old console systems honestly.

only problem i see with collecting mass amounts of console stuff is the fact that there are MILLIONS of copies of most of them everywhere (making them not so rare).

 

[Umortal377]

Getting good games cheap is one thing, but what is the appeal of collecting exactly?

I use to collect a bunch of misc stuff. Transformers, Star Trek, He man, etc. I have noticed that by the time I am ready to get rid of it, they arent worth but so much it seems. So I got rid of most of it all. I still got my memories of playing with that type of stuff as a kid, so I dont need the toys collecting dust.

I try not to collect stuff anymore because I do go a little overboard when I do.

 

[Tighe]

I use to collect a bunch of misc stuff. Transformers, Star Trek, He man, etc. I have noticed that by the time I am ready to get rid of it, they arent worth but so much it seems. So I got rid of most of it all. I still got my memories of playing with that type of stuff as a kid, so I dont need the toys collecting dust.

I try not to collect stuff anymore because I do go a little overboard when I do.

Oh no! I forgot my Transformers collection! I have bins and bins of those!

This is all I display, but I had to move them because I had to move the shelf for more arcade games!