http://nintendoage.com/forum/ -Sqooner http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=168636 2018-06-07T17:44:13 -05.00 rlh 18 http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=168636 2018-06-07T15:05:34 -05.00 rlh 18
That said, I think I managed to get at least half of those from one seller early on who had an extensive GB list for sale. I managed to get probably 50-80 carts from the seller and I think every one was in the 8-10 range. I guess he bought a lot from a very serious collector who really cared about condition.

Interesting enough, and not entirely related, I've found that often rarer games are easier to come by in 9-10 shape. My guess is that there's a reason why they are rare-- no one wanted them so most you find weren't played much. My copy of Felix the Cat is a 10. However, after picking up a ton of duplicated, the only "1" rarity I have based off of the NintendoAge list is Alleyway that's a 10. All of the other's are 8s or 9s, even though I've found many of them. In fact, I don' think I've seen a perfect Tetris and if you collect GB, you know those are a dime a dozen. ]]> http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=168636 2018-06-07T14:26:56 -05.00 rlh 18
If I remember right, you were making sort of a condition scale for your collection, so that you would know if you could reasonably give a cart a 10, even if it wasn't perfect. Well, like you said, a "perfect" cart doesn't [commercially] exist, so "reasonably/realistically perfect" should be what gets a 10. I'd even give a 10 to carts with more scrapes on the back, (and I think you agree) as long as the label is clean and centered, and the plastic isn't yellow. It really is weird to see a cart with so few scrapes. I'm used to that area being completely hashed on every cart. Even when I come across an Infogenius cart in very good condition, that obviously never saw much use, it still has way more than these Wheel of Fortune or Chalvo 55 carts.

That really would be a crazy find. An original cart that never entered any device ever.

Edit: I'll take pics of the "bars" tonight ]]> http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=168636 2018-06-07T14:01:36 -05.00 rlh 18 Originally posted by: Splain

Necro-bumping this thread with some relevant pictures. There's a used game shop near me that had some NIB copies of a Japanese GB game, sitting there for years with no buyer. So they were cheap, and I grabbed them. These games were never shrink-wrapped, so I went ahead and carefully opened each one to take pictures. These carts have never seen a Game Boy, aside from whatever device is used for testing, before they leave the factory. No such thing as a "perfect" GB cart.
 
From what I can see, it looks like your cart is in about the same condition as mine was i.  Do you see any scraping down the smooth "bars" like I pointed out?  I've found some carts in my collecting that had obviously never been used or possibly not used more than once.  After looking at hundreds of carts, I've not seen a single one without it.

My initial post was one of my first, real information contributions to this site.  Looking back, I see the value in doing what I did, documenting the Wheel of Fortune game but I now wonder if my game was still less than "perfect".  For one (and as was pointed out) notice the label peeling.  I wonder what specifically causes this.  I assume these labels were put on the games by hand. This means that maybet the assembler simply gave a quick thumb-swipe and never pressed down the edges.  Or, maybe the adhesive degrades on the edges of most labels, first.  With time, most labels will start to peel.  I also wondered if my game had set in a hot warehouse for a while.  I don't think you can see it but the plastic tray was definitely starting to yellow.  Yellowing, as we know, if often attributed to plastics setting out in the sun, but I never recall opening a game as a kid and seeing it set in a yellowish plastic tray.  I can't help but wonder if time and heat degraded the plastic tray and if it verifies this game was in a hot environment, did that effect the label?

I certainly don't consider your cart, or mine, to be "perfect".  However, as was my original intent, I see these examples as about the best as one can realistically hope to find, with the exception of maybe a better-centered label with no lifting.  If you don't find the minor scuffs, scrapes and finger prints that I documented, I'd be shocked.  These games were all hand assembled and they no doubt when through some quality control checks, which would have certainly left their mark.  A legit, pristine example would have had to have been assembled with gloves and skipped QA.  I just don't see that happening. ]]> http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=168636 2018-06-07T13:50:12 -05.00 rlh 18
Normally I'd shrink the pics a little for a more thread-appropriate size, but this thread is all about the details. You can see the Chalvo 55 box in the background of the 2nd pic:






]]> http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=168636 2016-11-16T17:02:17 -05.00 rlh 18 ]]> http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=168636 2016-11-16T15:10:15 -05.00 rlh 18 http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=168636 2016-11-16T15:07:40 -05.00 rlh 18 http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=168636 2016-11-16T14:58:31 -05.00 rlh 18 http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=168636 2016-11-16T12:08:25 -05.00 rlh 18
Just proves they have no confidence in what they are doing to me, what if you broke the seal....touched none of the contents, sent it in unharmed, perfectly cared for and they give you a 9? ]]>