^ Obviously. I'm just sticking to Al's and pawn shops from now on..fuck all the rest.

Well after my spending spree on my birthday, I figured I needed to cut back since I didn't have enough money and I was going to have only $6,000 left in my bank account. That's the limit I put on myself...but mom convinced me to come with them today because she'd loan me some cash...I'll have to repay her by selling some consoles..ugh. I am glad she did it though..found a lot of stuff.

Yard sale #1:

Wii Rayman: Raving Rabbids 2 - $5 (CIB)

Yard sale #2:

DS Club House Games - $0.50 (CIB)

Yard sale #3:

Box of old Pokemon toys - $10 (Will sort through them and bring more info)

Yard sale #4:

Original Gameboy - $1 (Needs cleaning, screen is badly scratched and no idea if it works)
PS2 Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones - $1 (missing manual)

Yard sale #5:

360 Dead Rising 2 - $1 (missing manual)

Yard sale #6:

PS2 Harvest Moon: Save The Homeland - $0.50 (missing manual)
SNES Super Mario World - $0.50
GC Super Mario Sunshine - $0.50 (disc only)
GC Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance - $0.50 (disc only)
GC Mario Party 7 - $0.50 (disc only)
GC Harvest Moon: Magical Melody - $0.50 (disc only)
And a few other disc only games not worth mentioning in a Nintendo Gamecube disc sleeve carrying pouch thingy?

Yard sale #7:

PS2 007 Quantum of Solace - $1 (CIB)

Yard sale #8:

The most epic of sales...this older gentleman (and he was a gentleman, so kind and gave me a great deal) had bins and bins full of electronics. Including games and systems...so naturally I dug like a madman.

2600 Unknown cart (label is gone)
2600 Dodge 'em
2600 Target Fun
2600 Casino
2600 Tennis
NES The Miracle Piano Teaching System (the cart only lol..shame I didn't find the piano)
GBA e-reader
GBA Classic NES Series Super Mario Bros.
GBA Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2
GG Battleship
DS Megaman ZX
DS Super Mario 64 DS
DS de blob 2
DS Tetris Party Deluxe

Now the consoles/other things

PSP carrying case with a DS lite in it along with all those GBA and DS games (no idea if the DS works, I don't have a charger )
NES top loader (no idea if it works)
2x NES Zappers (one gray, one orange)
PS1 (no idea if it works)
PS2 Slim (no idea if it works)
Pink GBA (works but missing battery door and screen badly scratched)
Original Gameboy (no idea if it works, the screen is missing the plastic cover thing)
2x GameGears (one turns on and has a nice screen but 0 sound, the other turns on but no sound or picture)
Pretty pinkish light up crystal lamp (I hope it works)

DS Starfox Command - Free (all the paperwork but no game)
DS Cooking Mama - Free (paperwork, no game and cover art is moldy)
Empty DS case - Free
GC Metroid Prime - Free (paperwork, no game and cover art might be moldy, need to check)

All for $35.

There might be more but it's out in the car and I'm lazy lol...I'll add to this later when I find more stuff.

Holy honey pot! Some great stuff in there!

Not as massive as yesterdays haul but still pretty good, got some unusual things..at least in my eyes. And a great story/piece of Nintendo history

Yard sale #1:

First some story. The ad said the sale started at 9 am...I got there about 10 minutes early, but the guy was fine with it. I asked about the N64 and GC stuff from the ad and he starts digging through some boxes. He pulls out 4 N64 games and I quickly sort through them, only to see a Mario Party 3 NFR! I've never owned a NFR so I was very excited and then he pulls out a N64 controller with a arm attached to it. The story goes his buddy used to go to this gamestore and they were closing and selling off stuff, he grabbed a N64 kiosk and some other items from them. Years later he has no idea what his buddy did with the kiosk but he took the controller off of it and the Mario Party 3 was the game in the said kiosk. Shame they didn't have the kiosk...I woulda bought it in a heart beat lol. Oh and I had just bought everything and was walking away when this fat ass reseller came. The look on his face was priceless...ah..I love beating resellers.

Gamecube in the box - $10
N64 kiosk controller - $5
N64 Mario Party 3 NFR - $3
N64 MRC - $3
N64 Blast Corps - $3
N64 Perfect Dark - Free
GC Resident Evil preview disc - Free

Yard sale #2:

SNES Super Gameboy - $2
N64 All-Star Baseball 2001 - $2 (pretty red)
N64 Star Wars Episode 1 Racer - $2
N64 Rampage World Tour - $2
GB Killer Instinct - Free

Yard sale #3:

N64 Funtastic Watermelon Red console - $1

Yard sale #4:

GC Mario Party 7 - $3 (CIB)

Yard sale #5:

DS CSI: Dark Motives - $1 (CIB)
DS Journey to the Center of the Earth - $1 (CIB)

Yard sale #6:

3DS New Super Mario Bros. 2 - $20 (CIB)
3DS Mario Kart 7 - $20 (CIB)
Sonic Colors guide - $3

Payed more then I should have at a yard sale for those games..but I've been wanting them...and that's about ebay pricing.

Yard sale #7:

360 Kane & Lynch Dead Men - $5 (CIB)
360 Kane & Lynch 2 Dog Days - $5 (CIB)
360 GTA Five - $2 (Discs only in a generic case)

Also got a interesting Relic watches store display case for $5 with the keys. It's perfect size to show off some games. About 2 NES games side by side can fit on the shelves and theres 4 shelves per side. I plan to try and scrape off the Relic name from the sides and slap some Nintendo decals on there...I think that would make it look nice. No idea if I want to use it for the best games in my collection, my handhelds or to show off a series like Mario or Zelda...or Kirby.

My prizes have got to be that Mario Party 3 NFR with the kiosk controller, Mario Party 7, N64 Watermelon console and that Relic display case. I don't really care if the Mario Party 3 NFR is one of the most common NFR games or if it's not worth much..in my eyes it's always going to be worth a lot because I have that great story to go with it and it's a piece of Nintendo history I think.

If you are looking for deals, check out the Seattle Retro Gaming Expo, on June 28-29 at the Washington State Convention Center.
Get your ticket by June 16 to get in 1 full hour early, that is the best way to get deals at the show. www.seattlretro.org...
Tons of vendors and most of them save up stuff to sell at the show!

I've heard about it...I doubt there will be deals. Most of those cons or what have you are just a bunch of retro game shops marking up their hard to sell stuff to extreme amounts. I've heard first hand from a game shop owner that, that happens. I'd rather spend all day on ebay.

Wow. Why not go and see for yourself? I've gotten great deals at every convention I've gone to. Also everyone will haggle.

I'm just surprised. One would think you would be first in line, being a Seattle area collector who's this passionate.

I know I'm going both days. These conventions can be fun even if you don't spend much and pretty much everyone shopping is expected to haggle. Plus I get to complete murals on my 3DS.

No deals at conventions? Really?
I got a working PC10 counter top model for $150. Fully loaded.
That is the best score I have gotten between the 3 conventions over the 4 years...but the number of other scores are endless.

Yeah, you won't find Stadium Events for $3.99 (hee hee ) but you will be able to fill gaps in your collections very easily.

Crowds...they freak me out. Well people in general just freak me the fuck out...but get a lot of them in an enclosed space..I don't think they make drugs powerful enough to calm me down. Besides how much can you haggle a price down? He'll just sell it to the next person who doesn't waste his time haggling.

@Benihana See how much I spent at game stores on the 4th? I never want to do that again. If I go to this con I'll spend $15 to get in, maybe $20 for lunch, plus gas money and god only knows how much I'll spend getting "deals" from resellers or game stores. I really really REALLY doubt I'd get any deals, what $2 bucks off of a $30 game? Not a deal, I could get more off on ebay I bet.

I don't see how anyone could get deals from game store stalls. An owner even told me what goes on at those places...plus Game Gurus is sponsering the con and their going to have a stall there...their prices are shit. If they charge that much, whats to keep other stalls from doing the same? No game store is going to lose money just to give some random person a deal.

You guys go, then come home, go on ebay and look up the prices of the games you just bought and tell me if ANY of you saved money by going to this con.

I don't spend money for the "experiance" or to hold the game in my hand as soon as I buy it. I buy games that have deals on them so I can buy even more games with the money I saved. Cons are probably the worst place for me because of that.

All I know is if it were not for the local conventions and reseller stores, most which I am friends with now because I frequent and support the cons, I would have a complete ntsc licsensed NES collection...and pretty damn close to a SMS CIB collection. These guys have been great to me..m.that is why I go back.

Also, i could use your argument against ebay. A bunch of dirty resellers marking up game prices. Taking fees from me just because i want to buy a game? All i know is there is a "Ebay Rant" here on NA will hundreds of negative posts....and multie convention threads with nothing but positive reviews. The masses have spoken. Collectors likeconventions over Ebay any day. You can sit at home behind a computer by yourself getting fat or you can go out and meet people (in person) that enjoy the same hobby you do. k

If you are legit freaked out by crowds, I could see that as a reason you might not want to go to a convention. But everything else isn't true. Yes, absolutely, there are game stores who go to conventions and set up booths, but there are also many collectors who buy tables with significantly better prices. Last year at the Portland Expo, among many other things, I remember snagging a mint in box Zelda DX for $30. I think I got a loose Stack-Up for... $15? Some dealers even bring along their giant boxes full of loose manuals and sell them for $1 each.

Believe me, we're not going to be spending stupid money that we could save if we bought things on eBay. I'm not an instant gratification guy. Conventions just have the best prices, full stop, especially if you haggle like crazy, pay sticker price when it's gonna disappear, and *know how to walk away from a deal*.

Yeah i think i sold chris one of the nicest copies of sonic adventure 2 LE at portland. The guy knows how to haggle

I personally have never bought a game at a con, but I've bought comics and other things at cons and the booths kind of vary. Yeah, maybe one booth is a "professional" game reseller and they charge 50%+ more than retail or whatever, but another booth might be a dude that just had tons of stuff in his basement and thought the convention would be a good way to unload it all. It sounds like you don't try to haggle because of the social factor (seeing that you say crowds freak you out) so you say that haggling isn't possible to give you an out.

I don't understand all the hate for resellers, either... I mean, we're all just trying to do what we can to make a little extra money for the most part, but just like you, I have met resellers that are douchebags and I will not buy from them. Plenty of "resellers" are just collectors that sell what they don't want/don't need (myself included) so they have the means to actually buy things. I consider resellers my competition as well, like most people here, but why so much vitriol? You don't like a store's prices, don't buy from them anymore. You should try making friends with resellers... there are plenty of cool people out there that resell games because it lets them dabble in a hobby while making money, and if they are fellow collectors they will help you out and cut you deals.

Oh, and even as someone that buys and sells on eBay regularly, I don't see how you could think you're getting good deals by buying the majority of your stuff there. Good deals on eBay don't come by often, that's for sure.

I would not call myself a reseller by any means. When we table s at PRGE or Cowlitz....I intentionally mark my doubles and extras under ebay by at least 10%. Mostly because I want the stuff out of the house. And by I want, I really mean the wife wants.
being the cheapest table at the convention is an easy way to rid of product....and the buyers get a deal too. Everybody is happy, and by everybody, I mean the wife.

Yes crowds do freak me out. I get panic attacks, I'm working with my shrink on facing it and calming myself down but it takes a while to work through it.

So collectors can have tables too then? At least it's not all game stores..

IF I went and thats a huge if, I'd have to borrow my moms smart phone and look up every single price..i'm not going to get fucked out of my money again. Or just print out sheets of prices for the games i'm looking for and just stick to them..that'll be fun...

My half brother and his family are coming up from Nebraska (I think) for the 4th of July so till then mom said no more yard sales because we have to spend every day cleaning the house to get ready for them..fun fun.

Right in the middle of yard sale season ffs. Well it'll give me a chance to finish cataloging my games and to sell some things. I'm almost finished cataloging...I just need to do my PSP, PS2 and Master System collection..and maybe a few odds and ends. So I won't be updating unless I rope my parents into going to a thrift store or something.

Ok maybe this didn't count but made me depressed because it got my hopes up. So dad dragged us to dumbfucknowhereville to buy a van (yet another one ffs), and any time he drags me along on a CL deal he sets up, I ask the people selling the item, do you have any games. Mostly it's no, or used to, or gave them to my brother...usual shit. This time his brother was into games but just left (guy said he does flea markets so...reseller most likely) but his kids had some "Wii stuff". So I wait a few minutes while he digs around...comes back with a very dusty stack of games (nothing for the Wii lol), just sports crap for PS1, GC and a random DS kids game that was missing from the case. He wanted $20 for like 4 games lol...nope. *sigh*

He might have had more stuff but I didn't want to bother...

However I did find a NES game I forgot I picked up a few weeks ago...nothing special.

NES Nascar Challenge - $1 (with plastic protective case, label is starting to peel up and someone wrote their name on it)

MEH! I need to hit a thrift store god damn it.

I convinced my parents that we should go to yard sales this weekend so we went out today but because it was supposed to rain (not) and it was a Friday..I found nothing. But I did get my dad to stop at my favorite pawn shop. I just needed a DS Lite charger and was going to check out their games...no charger and I ended up buying a stack of games..lol..that place is addictive. But I put a limit on myself, to spend no more then $10 on a game unless it was a really good game or it was on sale. For the most part I followed the limit..even put a few games I wanted back because they were to much.

Pawn shop:

NES Faxanadu - $9
NES Captain Comic - $13
Genesis Wacky Worlds Creativity Studio - $7
N64 Hybrid Heaven - $5
N64 Mickey's Speedway USA - $6
N64 Turok - $6
N64 Mace: The Dark Age - $7
N64 F-Zero - $8 (Top of cart is yellowed and label is discolored/faided)
Wii Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz - $5 (CIB)
GBC Magi Nation - $6
GBC Perfect Dark - $6 (Got this one mainly since it's one of those big GBC games)
GBA Crash Bandicoot The Huge Adventure - Free (Buy 2 get 1 free deal, this one has some bad label wear)
GBA Golden Sun The Lost Ark - $10 (Got the guy to take $5 off of it)
GBA Phantasy Star Collection - $10 (Label is worn and part of it is ripped)
GBA Sonic Advance & Sonic Pinball Party - $10

SNES Mario Paint mouse - $10 (Finally found one lol)

I saved a few bucks here and there and made a deal but I think in the end I even out to what I would have spent on ebay minus the shipping of course..oh well I like them. Most of the time they give me a better deal but the guy who rang me up isn't the lady I usually check out with who gives me deals.

It was nice and sunny today so imagine my surprise when there were shit all for yard sales! And it was Sat too not Sunday..the fuck. Not a lot today...and not a ton of retro stuff..shame.

Yard sale #1:

SNES Donkey Kong Country - $2 (The cart needs a good cleaning, the label is ripped on the top edge and it's heavily sun faided, needs some TLC)

Bundle of wires with at least 3 DS chargers and a PSP charger - $2 (It's all tangled up and might have some more stuff...idk)

Yard sale #2:

360 Fallout 3 - $3 (CIB, forgot if I had F3 or not so I picked it up)
360 Ninja Gaiden II - $3 (CIB)
360 Dead or Alive 4 - $3 (CIB)
360 Robotron 2084 download code thingy - Free

Yard sale #3:

360 Dead Rising - $3 (Missing manual, cover is sunfaided and case is broken)

Yard sale #4:

Dreamcast Tokyo Xtreme Racer - $1 (Yeah I know...racing shitty game but it's Dreamcast damn it )
Genesis Belle's Quest - $1 (Well the box art looks nice at least? Missing manual..idk it was a buck)
PS2 DOA2 Hardcore - $1 (CIB)
PS2 Red Dead Revolver - $1 (CIB)
PS2 Savage Skies - $1 (CIB)
GC Goldeneye Rogue Agent - $1 (CIB)

I love when you ask someone if they have video games and they say no...but then 2 minutes later you find some. Thanks...hrmp. Usually when they say no I just give up and go back to the car...I'm only out looking for games/consoles/game related items. This time at the last sale I just started looking through the CD/DVD area and game out with a few...nothing amazing, though I am interested in the Belle's Quest...idk Disney games back then were good..but I've never even heard of Belle's Quest..just how good Aladdin is (I know because I used to play the hell out of it on the SNES) lol.

Hopefully today (its past 12) we're going to the swap meet...haven't been in ages! I might be back with a nice score...wish me luck!

Turns out you can still find deals at swap meets on a Sunday! lol...I ended up spending all my money save for 3 bucks (I had $120 to begin with) and I had to pass on a few games because I spent all my money...oh well. The bad thing about swap meets for me is all the stuff starts blurring together in my head so I forget how much I paid for some items..I'll try my best to remember though..ah and we did stop at two yard sales so I'll get those out of the way first.

Yard sale #1:

DS Pokemon Heartgold Version - $10 (came with Pokemon stylus, CIB)
DS Pokemon Pearl Version - $2 (CIB)

They also had that Mario 25th Anniversary DSi XL for $100...was that a good price? I only passed because I didn't have the cash. Otherwise I would have tried to talk them down..

Yard sale #2:

NES Mike Tyson's Punch-Out - $2
NES SMB/DH - $2
GC Robotech Battlecry - Free (Missing manual)
GC Wario Ware Mega Party Games - Free (CIB)

Now for the swap meet stuff:

Generic DS Lite charger - $8 (Over priced but I needed one to charge that DS Lite I got not to long ago..the DS works lol)
Sonic baseball cap - $1 (To little for me to wear but I thought it was cute)

Stall 1:

N64 Excitebike 64 - $5
N64 Excitebike 64 manual - $2
N64 Star Wars Rogue Squadron manual - $2
GB Donkey Kong - $5 (label has damage)
GB Milon's Secret Castle - $6

Stall 2:

GC Donkey Konga 2 - $5 (CIB, front cover art is heavily sun faided)

Stall 3:

PS3 Wet - $11 (CIB)

Stall 4:

NES Winter Games - $8 (missing manual, box is in rough shape)
Genesis Sonic Classics - $7
GB Pocket Bomber Man - $5
GB Krusty's Fun House - $5 (label starting to peel up)
GBA Warioland 4 - $5

Stall 5:

GB Qix - $2.50
GB T2 - $2.50

Atari game holding binder with games - $15 (Smells like an ashtray and needs some heavy cleaning)

2600 Canyon Bomber (spine label starting to peel up)
2600 Defender (small hole in middle of label, spine label missing)
2600 Journey Escape (finally found a copy lol, the label glue came up through the label leaving small wriggly worm like lines all over it, also starting to peel up at the spine)
2600 Missile Command (small hole in middle of label)
2600 Star Raiders (small hole in middle of label)
2600 Video Pinball
2600 Video Olympics
2600 Yars Revenge (small hole in middle of label, spine label starting to peel)

Stall 6:

GBA Tomb Raider The Prophecy - $4
GBA Dr. Mario/Puzzle League - $4
GBA Super Monkey Ball Jr - $4
DS Sonic Rush Adventure - $4 (CIB)
2600 Moon Patrol - $4 (small hole on top right of label)

Nothing too amazing except for that Atari game binder..I think that's pretty cool. The two free GC games were nice as well and getting Heartfire for 10 bucks was good too.

nice haul. also, 100 for Mario 25th dsi xl? only if you were a rube buying it at a game store or on ebay. hell, I got lucky and got one, along with a dark blue one, for $25 together on craigslist...but, yeah, pure dumb luck aside, any dsi xl you'd want to go as high as 40, maybe 50.

This thread would be so much better if we could see some pictures of all these great finds.

The third post of this thread I asked if anyone thought it was a good idea if I should take pictures..no one awnsered me.

that doesnt mean people dont want them. We are lazy. we shouldnt have to ask

Well it would help to get feedback on stuff...

So I should start taking pics of my pickups huh? This reminds me of something I'll have to go ask in the Help Wanted section..

I might be able to go out this next weekend...depends on if my parents think we've cleaned the house up good enough or not...if not I might not have any finds till after my half brother and his family are gone...so mid-late July? Long dry spell..