Craig's List, a Game Boy Advance, and an old man
My old man (also known as my father) turns 80 this year and loves to play Solitaire on his PC as well as various cheap one-game handhelds whilst sitting on the john.
I have often wanted to introduce him to a higher level of gaming, but I just didn't think he was interested.
This Christmas, my 6 year old nephew got a GBA and some games. To my surprise, my father was completely facinated with it. He even went out looking for one. Too bad he's cheap and all the used GBA's were sold out at Christmas... he wasn't willing to pay $80 for a new GBA with no games.
This Easter, he pointedly asked my nephew if he brought his GBA with him to visit (he had not.)
I decided last week to get my dear old Dad (who is not in the best of health) a GBA just for the hell of it. His birthday isn't until October... I'd just wrap it and a few games in a box and mail it out. I wish I could be there when he opens up the surprise package.
Anyway, used GBA's cost $60 at the local game stores, and that's with no games. All the cheap games I've seen are crap. I looked on Ebay, but a decent package with a few decent games still commands over $120, not including shipping.
I decided to try Craigs List. For those who don't know, Craigs List is a website that started out as a local thing in California and has now spread all over the country. You can go to the site and then find your specific area and make a post about absolutely anything, whether it be jobs (both available and wanted), yard sales, personal rants, various discussion forums, and personal friends/romance/hook-up ads for just about anyone with any taste (some are quite sincere, some are for hookers, some are flat-out vulgar. Hilarious!) You can also post almost anything for sale- no fees. Seller and buyer beware!
I did a seach for a GBA SP. I saw about 6 posts from the same guy. He had a supposedly mint GBA SP plus 5 games and a carrying case for $150. Then $125. Then $100. Then $80. Then $60. His last post was about 10 days ago. I called and left a message. He called back a few hours later. Seems it was still available. We made arrangements for me to drive to his place of work today and pick it up.
It took me 10 minutes to drive there. He pulls out a minty-mint GBA in a cool carrying case with an AC cord and 5 games, all with instructions. I got the new Zelda Minnish Cap game, Sonic 3, Tony Hawk's Underground, Need For Speed Underground, and Donkey Kong (the classic one). Final price: $60. He was a very nice guy, and he had obviously taken care of his GBA before upgrading to a PSP.
On the way home, I picked up a new Tetris Worlds for $15, a new Rock 'N Roll racing for $13, and loose carts of Iridian 3-D and Agassi Tennis for about $4 each.
I then got online and bought a card game compilation that several members recommended ($30, dammit) and the newest F-Zero NEW for $10 (EB games has a sale on it, folks... it's cheaper new than used, and it's cheaper than the first F-Zero game!) I used a coupon code for 15% off, used my EB card for another 10% off, then used the coupon code for free shipping. I got Dad's 2 new GBA games and 6 SNES games (all crap, but what the hell) for me for less than $60.
I figure Dad will love the card games and he can't help but love Tetris (I almost got Puzzle Fighter, but it cost twice as much and the combo system might be too much for him.)
We'll see what he thinks of the new games... I plan on telling him that I bought F-Zero and Rock 'N Roll Racing because I loved them on the SNES and that I want him to play what I used to love to play. We'll see if he likes Sonic, NFSU, or Tony Hawk. I'm really interested to to how he responds to the new Zelda game. Iridian and the tennis game are just extras.
80 year old men and Game Boys. Who'd have thought?
