This might be a strange question but I was wondering how everyone keeps their collection on display clean? In my games room I'm constantly finding dust and dog hair over everything. I enjoy having everything on display however am a bit worried that the dust and so on might ruin the boxes and games in my collection. How does everyone else deal with this problem or is it just me

Sandwich baggies are the perfect size for loose NES games!

This is actually a very difficult thing to do, simply because you have to find a balance between keeping your games accessible (you want to play them, right?!?) and not letting the elements destroy them at the same time.

Personally, I try to manage the elements in my collection room moreso than I do per individual game. Granted, my super rare games are in protectors or baggies, but the rest are, for the most part, unprotected. So, what I personally do is close the door to my collection room when I'm not in it, as well as close the heating/AC vents in the room. This keeps the room humidityand temperature at levels that are good for games (~68 degrees).

-Dain

I always hear people mention baggies for the protection of loose carts. I wonder why no one ever mentions dust sleeves or the hard cases?

I also wonder...I know direct light is bad, but what about indirect window or artificial light? Is it best to keep stuff boxed up or in a closet, instead of out on a shelf?

I keep the boxes/manuals/maps and whatnot in the boxes in my closest, and keep the games that I want to play out beside my NES.

I don't care for sandwich baggies myself, I usually buy comics protectors (whatever they're called) to protect them.

JC has a good question about the light is their a special light everyone uses to protect their collection from damaging light UV etc.?

Source 1: http://www.coxrail.com/preservation.htm

With time, light breaks the structure of most chemical compounds. Even plastic. By comparison, paper is terribly easy to destroy. Yet, the destruction might not be as simple as breaking chemical bonds. It may be more like a multi-step process, whereby light first causes photo-degradation. That degradation, might go on to release trapped acids, which in turn destroys paper even more quickly.

Obviously, light causes fading, especially in red-based pigments. Light in the ultraviolet (UV) part of the spectrum is most damaging because it is more energetic than visible light. Up to 25% of sunlight is ultraviolet light. Light from ordinary fluorescent lights can emit up to 7% of their energy in the UV spectrum.

Source 2: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/...ci/eng99/eng99272.htm

Most clear plastics transmit UV if they are chemically pure.
The chemically pure plastics that block UV usually block just a little blue light as well, and therefore have a faint yellow or brown tint. I doubt you will find many of those around.

But I could list specific plastics.
Pure Plexiglass ("PMMA", poly-methyl-meth-acrylate) transmits most of the UV that will give you a suntan.
Clear poly-styrene plastic is chemically simple, just C's and H's (Carbon and Hydrogen), and no big electron clouds. So it transmits UV better.
Poly-ethylene is even simpler, and will transmit even farther into the UV. But it always has scattering, always looks cloudy or milky (translucent).

Source 3: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/.../chem00/chem00539.htm

1 - Can glass completely prevent ultraviolet ray penetration ?
No, not completely but a high percentage can be
prevented. The percentage transmitted can be measured
in a lab with the help of an instrument. At least 70% of the
visible light should be filtered.

As far as light in my collection room, I have the window blinds closed permently, and none of the "leak through" light is near my games. I don't think you have to be overly paranoid about it, but just keep games away from windows

-Dain