Do you clean every used game cartridge that you acquire?

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I clean only the plastic and the exterior usually...and also the boxes & manuals...

[Quintracker]

I clean the contacts on games before I play them and before I sell/trade. I'm usually too lazy to clean newly aquired ones as soon as I get home. :P For cleaning I use rubbing alcohol and these nice strong shop towels I found in the garage. They clean nicely and don't leave anything behind on the contacts.

As for where I get most of my games, they come from auctions, flea markets, and yard sales. I haven't bought a new game though for years.

[ClubNinja]

If the game hasn't come straight out of the shrinkwrap, it gets a very thorough cleaning here. Contacts, casing, and even the label. Every sign of sticker, marker, and other goo must be removed. Like mentioned above, it's great to take a gross looking cart and make it look new.

For sticker and marker, I very carefully apply the Goo Gone - I love that stuff. Then, an overall cleaning with Fantastic. Contacts get alcohol or sometimes Fantastic too, since I've found it works pretty well there. It's Fantastic!

This task is very time consuming - especially after a trade meet! In fact, the Sunday morning after a Saturday NECG meet, I usually spend about two hours cleaning up all the new goods. It's pretty rewarding though. Toss in a movie or a CD, and bond with the games before even playing them. It's a collection team-building exercise, really.

[icbrkr]

I was just wondering what the general consensus is among the collectors on this forum. When you all buy used game cartridges (ATARI, INTV, NES, SNES, TG16, GENESIS, ETC) do you take the time to clean the contacts with alcohol on every game before using it? I guess I should, but it takes so damn long, especially if I pick up a bunch of games at once. Am I just too lazy or is it not that big of a deal?

Absolutely.. you should see the nasty stuff that comes off a used cartridge. Who knows where it's been

Brian

[omnedon]

Yes, because it's way easier, and safer than trying to clean cartridge slots. I want my systems to work for many more years, and clean carts are a big part of that.

[stargate]

Yes, because it's way easier, and safer than trying to clean cartridge slots. I want my systems to work for many more years, and clean carts are a big part of that.

well, that brings up a good question. How do you clean the cartridge slot of a system?

[Mr Mort]

I clean the contacts and exterior of every used cartridge game I buy.
Isopropyl alcohol and Q-tips work great for cleaning the contacts...
Goo-Gone is great for the exterior to get rid of any sticker residue and dirt in general. Great stuff to clean the exterior of your cartridges, as it will get ANYTHING off without damaging or discoloring the cartridge at all.

[Bratwurst]

well, that brings up a good question. How do you clean the cartridge slot of a system?

Toothbrush + alchohol, removing the cover of the console itself so I have unrestricted access to the cartridge port. Sometimes I'll use a pair of very fine, elongated tweezers to pick out stubborn stuff. Debris tends to collect at the bottom of ports, oddly enough.

[orrimarrko]

I clean the outside of every case, box, whatever. Goo gone or just soap and water usually takes care of everything.

For games, I won't buy a dirty disc, but I will clean simple problems. I clean every cart inside and out, no matter what. Rubbing alcohol is the solvent of choice.

Only exception are carts that can't be opened without removing the sticker (ie. 2600 carts, etc.) For those, outside will have to do.

SInce most of this is for display only, I keep all of my stuff in immaculate, well-organized condition.

That's the curse of being an anal retentive...

[stargate]

Qtips or Wtips (whatever are on sale at the swapmeet that day) and denatured alcohol. On the outside I just paper towels and goofoff or liftoff or denatured alcohol and then Novus to shine em up good.

Denatured alcohol is important because it leaves no residue like other alcohols.

why, what is the deal with denatured vs. isopropyl alcohol?

[zektor]

I usually buy carts in large lots, and don't get the time to test or clean every single one right away. But as I get around to playing them, I clean them with some alcohol and q-tips before they enter my system(s). In all the many years of collecting carts, I only had one cart game that refused to work after a cleaning, and that was Golden Axe for the Genesis. Something was actually wrong with the cart. But other than that, I have had a ton of carts that wouldn't work right off the bat, until the alcohol was use...which in turn made them work flawlessly. Oh how I LOVE carts...

[bargora]

Yeah, what gives with the alleged isopropyl alcohol "residue"? I have never observed such a thing. I mean, it's a slightly larger molecule than the ethyl and methyl alcohols, but it should vaporize completely, I would think.

Not only that, but look at the other junk in denatured alcohol (from a MSDS at http://www.syndel.com/msds/denatured_ethanol_msds.html )

Ethyl alcohol 82.9%
Ethyl acetate 0.2%
Methyl alcohol 16.4%
Methyl ethyl ketone 0.5%

I don't know if all denatured alcohols would have the bonus ethyl acetate and methyl ethyl ketone, but I'd be more worried (but still not much) about them leaving a residue.

[Mayhem]

Depends... if the contacts look dirty, or the cartridge seems to have been kept in a dusty environment, I'll get the cotton buds (Q-tips to you lot) out and give the whole plug in area the once over. Otherwise generally not. Unless I plug it in and it doesn't boot

[Eternal Champion]

DEFINITELY clean the cartridge contacts!! I think it's a mistake not to. Then your pin-connector in your system gets dirty!! Common sense to me. And clean them regularly.
And if you sell and/or trade: PLEASE clean the contacts and PLEASE clean the exterior!!! If I get a dirty game from Ebay, that tells me something about the seller... > >.<
For cleaning the contacts, use Doc's Cleaning kit--they have non-lint foam swabs. Q-Tips leave behind a lot of lint. To clean the exterior, I like anti-static wipes for computers and electronic equipment. I wipe off all of my stuff with them. To clean my used controllers (holy YUCK), I opened them up, and here I used Q-Tips and alcohol and the wipes. After years of use my SNES controllers were nasty. But the pads are still in good shape! Nintendo's controllers really are awesome.

[Alex Kidd]

I got two carts that won't work no matter HOW much you clean em.

Golden Axe II
Art of Fighting

Art of Fighting is no big loss, I got it second hand free, the box was in tatters and no manual.

Golden Axe II? that's a mystery. I got it brand new, had it for a few years and it saw LOTS of play. Then one day I stuck it in the Genesis, and nothing. Just black.
To this day I STILL try it occasionally just to see if it'll work; about 75% of the time I get black, the other 25% I get the "license for use by sega" bios screen and then just black.
I loved that game. But at least I can play it on emulation, and playing THAT game on emulation is 100% legal for me! heheheheh

I still have the box and manual in great shape... so if anyone wants to 'donate' me a cartridge they can!!! :P

Alex Kidd

[Alex Kidd]

By the way, I never noticed how uppity you all are about cleaning carts and stuff...
What about the OTHER ports? controller ports, RF, A/V, adapter and the like? and you guys that rigorous with those too?

Alex Kidd

[Eternal Champion]

Hey Al Kidd, I don't mean to uppity. The issue for me is simply taking care of stuff. As a buyer of 16-bit and 8-bit games, these games are old. They have not been manufactured in years. You can't just go to Shit-Mart and get a new one. It's very frustrating for me that so few people took just a little bit of effort to take care of the games. So finding one that is in good shape and clean is not easy. Hell, when I first had my NES, I didn't do anything! Compared to most people's games, mine were pristine... Anyway, I've occasionally bought a cartridge from large sellers, and have been shocked that they would sell me something so filthy. Would you sell someone your car with trash and dirt and sticky shit all over the interior? Furthermore, would you buy one like that? It seems like simple good business to me.
Have you tried cleaning the contacts on your Golden Axe II cart? Might work, might not...I had Gauntlet for NES (the grey cart, I curse myself now), and one day it just stopped working...cleaned it as well. But I think one day I threw against the wall, I'm sure that did it...damn that game pissed me off...

[Bratwurst]

You know, I'd try opening up the cart itself and check to see if any dirt is on the circuit board or between the pins of the chips soldered onto it.

[hamburgler]

I always clean used games no matter what even if it is clean,i can't take risks getting more dirt and dust into my systems.

[bargora]

As far as cleaning the ports themselves, Gamestop was having a fire sale on cart and system cleaners last fall, so I picked up several: SNES, Genesis, Gameboy, and Multi. The SNES, Genesis, and Gameboy ones are shaped like carts and just slide into the slot. All of them have a strip covered in some sort of rubberized material. When you pull it out of the slot, you can see some corrosion-type crud on the rubber. The multi-system cleaner just has several rubberized strips of various widths on handles so that you can stick them into the cart slots of other systems.

Did anybody else buy these things? I think they were originally $10 apiece, but I picked them up because they had been marked down to $3 each.