What was your greatest game-related find from a yard sale/thrift store?

[Warmsignal]

About 20 minutes before the sale start some middle aged women walks on up while they're setting up and then suddenly the couple doing the sale starting putting these totes on a table. I immediately see games in the ladies hand, so i pretty much just say screw it and run up to the house. The lady was an obvious reseller; she had a spreadsheet in her hand and was trying to match up prices with the games she was looking at.

It never ceases to amaze me how of all things, video games are the freakin' number one money grubbing item for people out there to be after. Listing video games in a yard sale is like saying "we have a little bit of everything, oh and some 14k gold too, various pieces of gold..." People with money on their mind just come salivating for it, whether they've studied up on what's what, or are completely clueless. Who cares about antiques, or power tools, one of kind art pieces, designer clothing, they're gonna have video games!!!! These 'Uhtendo playin' nerds are gonna re-pay me handsomely for these babies! Lord... why?! Find something else to go ruin.

Had a dude buy an entire flea marketer's table of games right in front of me as I was looking through it. I even knew he was gonna be there because I knew his vehicle and we were riding down the highway right beside him the whole time. The flea marketer accepted his offer and so the reseller was like "this is all mine" as I was still looking. So I was kinda like, "well can I buy something from you then?" and he's like it's not getting priced today, I've gotta go look them all up on eBay. So annoying, the people that get into this just for the damn money. Whoop-de-do you found something to flip, get a real job. Hate resellers like this.

I'm still waiting for these scumbags to move onto a new hobby to cannibalize and destroy. It was vintage toys and comics before it was video games, and sports cards before that. These people go where money can be made from collectibles and they've more or less ruined this hobby. We now have people grading games (aka putting a game in plastic with a sticker on it with a giant number and then magically its worth 10x more), which is a whole new low in game collecting. I realize grading collectibles is not exclusive to video games and it's been in practice for decades, but its growing presence and popularity gives me a sick feelings in my stomach. I actually met someone several months ago that not only grades games, but buys a lot of graded games for those ridiculous prices you see on ebay. He admittedly isn't even a gamer, but an "investor." He truly believes his graded games will be worth way more someday like some pre-WW2 savings bond or some rare antique.


I've become more and more convinced that the video game collecting craze will never die, or at least not for a very long time, but the number one reason I hope it does crash someday is so all the resellers and investor types flee the hobby completely since there won't be any money in it anymore. All the bandwagoners will also jump ship leaving only people who genuinely care about and play these games. I pray I get to see that happen someday.


I've noticed video game collecting seems fairly cyclical; it seems like the people that were aged 5 to 15 when a given console was out are the ones that flock to collecting for it once they hit their mid 20s to late 30s. It happened with the NES hard early in the 2010s, then the SNES and TG16, then the N64, and so on. I'm starting to see a massive uptick in PS2 and Gamecube collecting over the past couple years, which aligns with this observation. Sure, people still go crazy for NES and SNES games, but I've noticed the abundance of those consoles that had their time in the limelights have become way more abundant and prices have mostly normalized in recent years. I've also seen a lot of former big time collectors for these consoles either bow out of collecting or downsize significantly as well. So who knows, maybe in 5-10 years video game collecting will be mostly abandoned and people will be chasing NFTs or some stupid bullshit. One can hope.

Yep. When people who don't even care about a given market start throwing around huge money in it, you know it's over. I watched the exposé on the dudes associated with WATA. Bunch of scumbags who are investing huge money just so they don't "miss the boat on the next big collectible thing". Totally out of touch, and out of their minds. Bunch of snobby rich kids who have access to all kinds of cashflow trying to turn a big investment into even more money down the road. Arbitrary grading, arbitrary values, extremely dubious "auction" methodology that basically amounts to fraud. Of course, news reporting eats this stuff up. "Mario is worth a literal million dollars!" No, just no. I'd curb stomp that thing, and dare them to try and sue me for a million over a destroyed sealed copy of Mario 64. It's a fraud. They're not rare artifacts, or one of kind paintings. No body would EVER actually pay that.

If there's one benefit to all digital, it's that the clowns have no real business trying to screw it up. "I've got this hard drive that has the super rare Wii Sports on it." Make no mistake, I'm almost certain that's a thing.

Sorry, had to rant.

[burningdoom]

About 20 minutes before the sale start some middle aged women walks on up while they're setting up and then suddenly the couple doing the sale starting putting these totes on a table. I immediately see games in the ladies hand, so i pretty much just say screw it and run up to the house. The lady was an obvious reseller; she had a spreadsheet in her hand and was trying to match up prices with the games she was looking at.

It never ceases to amaze me how of all things, video games are the freakin' number one money grubbing item for people out there to be after. Listing video games in a yard sale is like saying "we have a little bit of everything, oh and some 14k gold too, various pieces of gold..." People with money on their mind just come salivating for it, whether they've studied up on what's what, or are completely clueless. Who cares about antiques, or power tools, one of kind art pieces, designer clothing, they're gonna have video games!!!! These 'Uhtendo playin' nerds are gonna re-pay me handsomely for these babies! Lord... why?! Find something else to go ruin.

Had a dude buy an entire flea marketer's table of games right in front of me as I was looking through it. I even knew he was gonna be there because I knew his vehicle and we were riding down the highway right beside him the whole time. The flea marketer accepted his offer and so the reseller was like "this is all mine" as I was still looking. So I was kinda like, "well can I buy something from you then?" and he's like it's not getting priced today, I've gotta go look them all up on eBay. So annoying, the people that get into this just for the damn money. Whoop-de-do you found something to flip, get a real job. Hate resellers like this.

I'm still waiting for these scumbags to move onto a new hobby to cannibalize and destroy. It was vintage toys and comics before it was video games, and sports cards before that. These people go where money can be made from collectibles and they've more or less ruined this hobby. We now have people grading games (aka putting a game in plastic with a sticker on it with a giant number and then magically its worth 10x more), which is a whole new low in game collecting. I realize grading collectibles is not exclusive to video games and it's been in practice for decades, but its growing presence and popularity gives me a sick feelings in my stomach. I actually met someone several months ago that not only grades games, but buys a lot of graded games for those ridiculous prices you see on ebay. He admittedly isn't even a gamer, but an "investor." He truly believes his graded games will be worth way more someday like some pre-WW2 savings bond or some rare antique.


I've become more and more convinced that the video game collecting craze will never die, or at least not for a very long time, but the number one reason I hope it does crash someday is so all the resellers and investor types flee the hobby completely since there won't be any money in it anymore. All the bandwagoners will also jump ship leaving only people who genuinely care about and play these games. I pray I get to see that happen someday.


I've noticed video game collecting seems fairly cyclical; it seems like the people that were aged 5 to 15 when a given console was out are the ones that flock to collecting for it once they hit their mid 20s to late 30s. It happened with the NES hard early in the 2010s, then the SNES and TG16, then the N64, and so on. I'm starting to see a massive uptick in PS2 and Gamecube collecting over the past couple years, which aligns with this observation. Sure, people still go crazy for NES and SNES games, but I've noticed the abundance of those consoles that had their time in the limelights have become way more abundant and prices have mostly normalized in recent years. I've also seen a lot of former big time collectors for these consoles either bow out of collecting or downsize significantly as well. So who knows, maybe in 5-10 years video game collecting will be mostly abandoned and people will be chasing NFTs or some stupid bullshit. One can hope.

It's not just games, though. It's most hobbies. It was already happening before COVID, but COVID made stuff just go through the roof. Comics, trading cards, and VHS are all things I collect as well that have gotten out of control.

[undertakerprime]

It wasn't a thrift shop, but a mom and pop video rental store.

It was just a little hole in the wall, so they didn't have much space, so in 1997 when I rented Chrono Trigger, they told me to keep it because they were getting rid of all their SNES stock to make room for N64 and Playstation. Best $1.99 I ever spent.

Well, if we’re including video rental stores, I might as well tell my little story again…

In the early 2000s my local Blockbuster was selling off their rental inventory of N64 games, along with other old stuff like VHS tapes. Saw Clay Fighter Sculptor’s Cut and I knew it was a BB exclusive so I jumped on it…and now it’s the most valuable game I own. They also had another exclusive, Transformers Beast Wars Transmetals, but I only got the one. At one point I think I saw Final Fight Guy available for sale when they were getting rid of their SNES stuff but that may have been a different sale.

About 20 minutes before the sale start some middle aged women walks on up while they're setting up and then suddenly the couple doing the sale starting putting these totes on a table. I immediately see games in the ladies hand, so i pretty much just say screw it and run up to the house. The lady was an obvious reseller; she had a spreadsheet in her hand and was trying to match up prices with the games she was looking at.

It never ceases to amaze me how of all things, video games are the freakin' number one money grubbing item for people out there to be after. Listing video games in a yard sale is like saying "we have a little bit of everything, oh and some 14k gold too, various pieces of gold..." People with money on their mind just come salivating for it, whether they've studied up on what's what, or are completely clueless. Who cares about antiques, or power tools, one of kind art pieces, designer clothing, they're gonna have video games!!!! These 'Uhtendo playin' nerds are gonna re-pay me handsomely for these babies! Lord... why?! Find something else to go ruin.

Had a dude buy an entire flea marketer's table of games right in front of me as I was looking through it. I even knew he was gonna be there because I knew his vehicle and we were riding down the highway right beside him the whole time. The flea marketer accepted his offer and so the reseller was like "this is all mine" as I was still looking. So I was kinda like, "well can I buy something from you then?" and he's like it's not getting priced today, I've gotta go look them all up on eBay. So annoying, the people that get into this just for the damn money. Whoop-de-do you found something to flip, get a real job. Hate resellers like this.

I'm still waiting for these scumbags to move onto a new hobby to cannibalize and destroy. It was vintage toys and comics before it was video games, and sports cards before that. These people go where money can be made from collectibles and they've more or less ruined this hobby. We now have people grading games (aka putting a game in plastic with a sticker on it with a giant number and then magically its worth 10x more), which is a whole new low in game collecting. I realize grading collectibles is not exclusive to video games and it's been in practice for decades, but its growing presence and popularity gives me a sick feelings in my stomach. I actually met someone several months ago that not only grades games, but buys a lot of graded games for those ridiculous prices you see on ebay. He admittedly isn't even a gamer, but an "investor." He truly believes his graded games will be worth way more someday like some pre-WW2 savings bond or some rare antique.


I've become more and more convinced that the video game collecting craze will never die, or at least not for a very long time, but the number one reason I hope it does crash someday is so all the resellers and investor types flee the hobby completely since there won't be any money in it anymore. All the bandwagoners will also jump ship leaving only people who genuinely care about and play these games. I pray I get to see that happen someday.


I've noticed video game collecting seems fairly cyclical; it seems like the people that were aged 5 to 15 when a given console was out are the ones that flock to collecting for it once they hit their mid 20s to late 30s. It happened with the NES hard early in the 2010s, then the SNES and TG16, then the N64, and so on. I'm starting to see a massive uptick in PS2 and Gamecube collecting over the past couple years, which aligns with this observation. Sure, people still go crazy for NES and SNES games, but I've noticed the abundance of those consoles that had their time in the limelights have become way more abundant and prices have mostly normalized in recent years. I've also seen a lot of former big time collectors for these consoles either bow out of collecting or downsize significantly as well. So who knows, maybe in 5-10 years video game collecting will be mostly abandoned and people will be chasing NFTs or some stupid bullshit. One can hope.

Yep. When people who don't even care about a given market start throwing around huge money in it, you know it's over. I watched the exposé on the dudes associated with WATA. Bunch of scumbags who are investing huge money just so they don't "miss the boat on the next big collectible thing". Totally out of touch, and out of their minds. Bunch of snobby rich kids who have access to all kinds of cashflow trying to turn a big investment into even more money down the road. Arbitrary grading, arbitrary values, extremely dubious "auction" methodology that basically amounts to fraud. Of course, news reporting eats this stuff up. "Mario is worth a literal million dollars!" No, just no. I'd curb stomp that thing, and dare them to try and sue me for a million over a destroyed sealed copy of Mario 64. It's a fraud. They're not rare artifacts, or one of kind paintings. No body would EVER actually pay that.

If there's one benefit to all digital, it's that the clowns have no real business trying to screw it up. "I've got this hard drive that has the super rare Wii Sports on it." Make no mistake, I'm almost certain that's a thing.

Sorry, had to rant.

Yeah, that shady WATA garbage came to mind for me too. One of the top guys in that scam did the same thing with collectible coins back around 1990 and was prosecuted for it (artificially inflating the value and then selling for way over the true value). Clearly just a pathetic scumbag who does this with one collectible market and moves on to the next big thing.

[xsuicidesn0wmanx]

Count me as one of those with too many stories of thrift/sale finds from the golden age.

The top two that come to mind, Conkers Bad Fur Day still sealed for $20 and a LaserActive with the Sega Pac S-10 for $7.

[Warmsignal]

I have my own story for Conker 64.... managed to snag it well outside of the "golden days", probably around 2018? A reseller was selling someone else's games that day, think it was a lot with system and other games, I forget how much. I just wanted the Conker, the guy knew nothing about it. So I made a sort of generous offer of $20, to try and coax him into the sale. He thought about it for a minute, then accepted. At the time I think it was going for about $80 / 90. I bet the owner of that stuff wasn't too happy with him.

I found the Live & Reloaded Xbox version a few years prior at a pawn shop I used to frequent. All of a sudden one day there were some unexpected Xbox games on the shelf and bam, there was Live & Reloaded; a very clean and complete copy, with a $5 catch-all price tag. Good times.

[Cartagia]

If there's one benefit to all digital, it's that the clowns have no real business trying to screw it up. "I've got this hard drive that has the super rare Wii Sports on it." Make no mistake, I'm almost certain that's a thing.

Let me introduce you to PT (Silent Hills) on PS3.

[Warmsignal]

Found a copy of Shaolin Monks today for $2. I guess I'd rank that somewhere in top 50? Realistically, I never would have paid what it's asking nowadays. MK just isn't capable of coaxing much from my wallet.

[pzeke]

Sadly there aren't many places to hunt where I live, but on the one flea market that's nearby, I scored Castlevania Chronicles (complete), Skies of Arcadia Legends (complete), and Earthbound (cartridge only) for $5 each. On that very same flea market on a different day I found Ninja Gaiden Trilogy, but didn't bother picking it up because I was an effing idiot. I still beat myself for that to this day.

While replying to another topic, I remembered back when I joined GameStop's rewards program, the very first game I bought as a member was Blood Will Tell. I can't remember the actual price I paid, but it was between $10-15 ($9-13 after discount).