So I have been hitting my local DI (deseret industries similar to your goodwill back east but ran by the mormon church here in Utah) a couple times a week for months I never find anything.  The closest I have even come was being 5 minutes late on grabbing a Ninja Gaiden for $5 (and thats not even that great of a steal).  But I bought some items off a seller on facebook marketplace no real stellar deals I got about $100 worth of games for $75.  So I am at the DI last week and lo and behold there is the seller making sure they have no games, clearly he hits the DI then throws them up on marketplace for a profit.  Thats frustrating makes you think you'll never get a good deal unless you are there at the right time.  And they throw $5 price tag on every single game they stick in their cases doesn't matter if its a sports game or something else all $5.

Occasionally I'll find a half decent game at say a pawn shop but I am pretty sure they do an ebay search before pricing them.  So frustrating.

Keep hunting. You'll get lucky once or twice.

I check goodwill's, value villages and any pawn shop, antique store, reseller I can find and 95% of time I won't find anything except the occasional PS2 or xbox 360 sports game. The stores that will have retro games behind the shelf are usually so overpriced it's laughable. The times that you do find a good deal make it worth it though. I think I'm a little addicted to finding a good deal which makes me keep going back time and time again.

If you spend enough time searching for deals you are going to run in to them eventually but if you find it frustrating I wouldn't bother. I enjoy looking through thirft stores and pawn shops to see what junk people get rid of but if you are only looking for deals on video games most of your time will be wasted. The hobby has become so saturated with people doing the same things that the finds are getting slimmer and slimmer.

Anyways, good luck searching for that deal and if you do please post about it. I enjoy reading about other peoples finds too.

People make a big deal out of awesome finds precisely because they are so rare.

Best I can say is getting a few minor things for half of market value, and nothing over like $70.

Big finds are getting harder and harder to come by. I stopped hunting 5 or so years ago because I would spend hours and find nothing.

Now I just buy here or ebay, and am much happier getting exactly what I want when I want it.

People write about it when they find some good deals, not failed attempts at goodwill or other stores. I rarely find anything at all. I would guess like 1 out of 25 times i see a good deal, which i might not even want/need. Well just a number out of the blue. But i like too check, there is possibility if you go at all

My last big find was in 2012 and I stopped trying about 2 years ago. Way too much time invested for scraps and leftovers after the competition exploded in late 2012/early 2013.

Yeah, the best I've found was an N64 for $15 at the Salvation Army and Azure Dreams in decent shape, but with a faded cover for $3. That Azure Dreams is a pretty good deal and the N64 was alright since it didn't have a controller.

Of course, you could have "bad luck" for years but then one day you find that someones dropped off a load of extremely rare games that some left after they passed away, or maybe an older couple could clean out their attic and find a gem mint, CIB SNES or NES that they've kept in the attack because it "wasn't the one their kids wanted" and decided to throw it in the yard sale pile. You never know. It's rare, and unlikely, but if you keep it up, eventually you'll find a fair deal.

For every great deal someone has found, they have probably looked hundreds of times and found nothing. What you are describing is common for nearly everyone.

Typically happens when you least suspect it. I gave up on hunting locally years ago and just ran across a $200 score for under $20 last spring at an estate sale that my wife went to for a quilt. You just never know.

Hunting is 95% disappointment

I don't go out of my way to do it, but I certainly keep my spots in mind when my travels take me directly by them

I’m going to jinx myself but I rarely get skunked. I’m not finding kid klown for $5 every time but I can usually scrape up a few disc titles for $1 a piece. With the price of gas and time spent it’s not always a gain but then there are those killer finds in between. 

I try to go every weekend (Friday is kind of a scout day) Saturday 6am lets go! That being said I do agree that you can NOT EXPECT ANYTHING. Also I’m the kind of guy who’s day is made if I find a any single videah game for less than $3
 

Took me a year of craigslist stalking to finally get 2 good deals, back to back as well.
I also yard sale every weekend at 7:30AM here in WA (April-September) and have only found a couple of game related deals. Most people want above retail for their PS2/Wii stuff here, anyhow.

So far its been 100% disappointment for me I am batter a perfect 1000

 

Persistence is key. Other posters are right - 95% of the time I leave without purchasing anything. Yesterday I got lucky - I found a bag full of Leapter carts, but sprinkled among them was a NDS cart, GBA game, and a Pokemon Red for Gameboy. Got the whole bag for $6, and my sister is pumped about getting 6 new carts for her son's Leapster. And I got a $15 Gameboy cart. Win! Not a huge win, but a win.

Honestly, your best bet with thrift stores is to go there every single day (good), make friends with the owner/manager (better), or get a job there (best).

I feel your pain I have to hit up dumpsters these days to find anything  

Unless you'd rather not work at a thrift store...

 

I try to make that 99% disappointing for you personally....     

 

I haven't gone game hunting in like 3 years. Not worth the effort

Probably why all my success is in Missoula

 

its hard finding stuff out in the wild any more and when you do the price is comparable to ebay. the time of getting deal is kina a thing of the past but once in a blue moon it still happens. juust keep looking!

What MrWunderful and Bert said.

Well, you mentioned you've been doing it for "months."  That is part of the problem.  You need to be looking for years before you can really start to complain about not finding anything.  Otherwise, what you are describing is no different than what 99% of us go through every time we hunt.  

Way too many collectors these days. I'm going to say 99.9% of the time I find nothing. If you want to find anything you have to get really aggressive and always be on the hunt. It also helps to stay ahead of the curve and collect for less popular consoles.

Yup, not even worth your time. Finders Keepers is pretty much proof of that. Even the really good finds on here are few and far between let alone for a single person.

It's just depressing now and has been for some time. OG, yellowed Gameboy for $50, beat up SMB $20.. basically stuff that would have been more or less free 5-10 years ago just sits and collects dust. My local Value Village is way worse than any pawn shops... just take some ridiculous BIN ebay listing that hasn't sold as reference.