How did you start collecting?

[Iron Draggon]

I searched the forums for two different but very similar questions and came up with nothing, so if this has been asked already, I apologize in advance...

I'm sure that it's been asked alot before what made you start collecting, at least as it pertains specifically to video games, because I know that I've responded to such questions here before, but I'm wondering how others here started collecting, and not just specifically as it pertains to video games... I mean in regards to collecting stuff in general, and how that led you to start collecting video games... we all know what specific video game gave us the video game collecting fever, but what specific thing or event led you to start collecting stuff in general, and what led you to start collecting video games? or was it the other way around? did collecting video games lead you to start collecting other stuff? tell us what caused you to have a room of doom now!

my personal story goes like this:

I began collecting stuff with card games at age 12 when everyone at school was playing Uno every chance they got... I got a deck of Uno cards and then I got all the other card games made by the same company that made Uno at the time... initially that was only two other card games, but they soon came out with a new card game or two every year, and of course I got all of those card games as well... meanwhile it seemed that other game companies were trying to capitalize on Uno mania by releasing their own new card games at the same rate of one or two every year also, so naturally I got all of those card games too... before long I was up to over 20 different card games...

by age 16 I was working after school at the local public library to support my desire to expand my collecting habits by collecting board games as well... but I didn't want to collect just any board game, as I knew there were way too many of them to collect them all... so I decided to narrow it down by only collecting strategy games... I got a chess set and for a while I was collecting chess sets as well as other strategy games, but I soon discovered that I could collect nothing but chess sets and never have them all, as there were hundreds of differnt kinds of chess sets, many of which cost hundreds or thousands of dollars... so I sold off all of my chess sets except for one of them, and I continued to add to my rapidly growing collection of other board games... before long I had over 100 different board games in my collection...

and then I caught video game fever... I had been considering collecting video games as well for several years, but it was Sonic the Hedgehog that finally forced me to do it... I was reluctant to begin collecting video games, as I knew that it would be much more expensive to collect them than it was to collect board games, and I wasn't making very much money... I wasn't in school anymore, but I was only working part time at a grocery store by then, and I knew that I was gonna have to work alot more hours and make alot more money if I really wanted to collect video games as seriously as I had been collecting other types of games... so I got a new full time job at a bar and started making money hand over fist... meanwhile I started shopping for video games every chance I got, and because I got tips in addition to my weekly paychecks, I always had cash and I often went shopping every day...

eventually my video game collecting caused me to develop an interest in some of the music that was featured in some of my video games, and I got into collecting music too... but surprisingly not video game music... mostly heavy metal... it was really Iron Maiden that started it all, and their music has never been featured in any video games that I know of, aside from the Ed Hunter PC game that was included on the Iron Maiden CD of the same name, but since heavy metal music seemed to go so well with most types of video games, it was still mostly my video games that got me into music...

meanwhile the New Age thing had gotten really big and everyone I knew was into quartz crystals... so I got into them too, and before long I wasn't just collecting quartz crystals, I was collecting every type of crystal I could afford that caught my eye... I went to every gem & mineral store that I could find, I attended every gem & mineral collector's show that I could, and I even went to a few places where I could mine for my own crystals... I now have dozens of different specimens, and I still get new ones whenever I can...

my gem & mineral collecting led me to start collecting animals that were carved out of various types of stones... I started out by collecting cats, and I soon discovered that I really liked tigers most of all cats, so I concentrated mostly on collecting tigers... but before long I wasn't just collecting cats that were carved out of stone, I was collecting cats that were made out of all kinds of stuff... including stuffed animals... I still have alot more tigers than I do any other kinds of cats, but I'm still expanding my cat collection to include lions and all the other big cats, as well as continuing to collect small cats...

the Gargoyles cartoon series caused gargoyles to become really popular, or perhaps it was the sudden popularity of gargoyles that caused the cartoon series to become really popular, but whichever came first the result was that I began collecting gargoyles too... I still don't have very many yet, as they tend to be rather expensive, and they're generally sold as large outdoor lawn decor to ward off evil spirits... which makes sense, since they were originally used as adornments on churches and other buildings for the same purpose... but fortunately some smaller ones for indoor use can be found, so I do have a few of them, but very few and nowhere near as many as I'd like to have...

gargoyles led me to start collecting a few other mythical beasts as well... mostly griffins, but those are only just now starting to become popular, so they're very hard to find and I have even fewer of them than gargoyles...

in 1998, Mattel celebrated the 30th anniversary of Hot Wheels by releasing alot of special edition models and special sets for collectors, and I caught Hot Wheels fever... I figured that I could get into collecting them cheaply and easily enough, since most cars sold for only a dollar and you could find them just about anywhere... in fact, my Hot Wheels collecting was how I found out about ebay, and I was so into them that it never even occurred to me that I could find video games there too until I had been buying cars there for years... so I have 1000's of different Hot Wheels now, but it's getting to where it's impossible to keep up with them all, and all the different variations of them all, so I'm very seriously considering selling off my car collection now, but so far I haven't been able to force myself to part with any of them...

about the same time that I got into collecting Hot Wheels, I also caught roller coaster fever, thanks to Roller Coaster Tycoon... which led me to start my own website for roller coaster enthusiasts, and was responsible for my current handle here... the Iron Dragon is a suspended roller coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH... I really liked the name of it, even though I've still never ridden it yet, so I added a 2nd G to the name to differentiate myself from the coaster, since I was running a site for coaster enthusiasts, and eventually that led me to start collecting dragons... but my dragon collection is very unique in that almost all of them were bought for me, I've bought very few of them for myself... in fact, it was mostly the fact that other people kept buying them for me that caused me to start collecting them... if it was all up to me, I prolly never would've bothered to collect them... dragons are very popular, and they tend to be very expensive, so it's a good thing that I've been fortunate enough to have most of mine given to me, or I prolly wouldn't have any, and I certainly wouldn't have as many as I do now...

and finally, the latest thing that I've gotten into collecting now is dogs... Greyhound bus lines is mostly to blame for that... I've been doing alot of traveling by bus lately, and they've been selling a series of stuffed dogs at their terminals, so of course I've been picking them up as I find them during my travels... which means that I have more greyhounds than any other type of dog so far, but I'm really more interested in bloodhounds, so I expect that eventually I'll have far more bloodhounds than any other types of dogs...

BTW, my interest in dogs has also caused me to change my handle on most sites that I'm on, as well as my email address, and you've prolly noticed that my avatar here has been a dog for quite a while now too, so I'd really like to change my handle here also... but so far it looks like the only way to do that is to re-register with a different handle, and I don't really want to have to do that, so until I can do it without re-registering, I guess I'm just stuck with my old handle and a new avatar that has absolutely nothing to do with it...

anyhow, that's my story, so what's yours?

[nintendan]

Well for me, I collect mostly Nintendo-related items. My system of choice for collecting is NES. I once had a massive collection of NES games, but sold them all years back when I was dirt poor. I guess Im collecting now to get all those wonderful NES games I had back in the day. It's always a shame when one has to sell his or her collections, but sometimes it's necessary to survive in today's world. I only collect COMPLETE games, as loose NES carts are just too plentiful.

As for your neat story, I too caught the Hot Wheels fever (only for a year or so). And just like you, I collected Greyhound Bus memorabilia. I have some neat ones by the Buddy L toyline, along with some ofifcial Greyhound merchandise (bus banks, toy models, etc.).

Sadly, all my non-gaming collectibles are in a storage locker 3 hours away from me in my hometown. I will get to them this summer hopefully.

Dan

[greedostick]

I was born in 1980 so I was just about the right age to play game games about the time the NES came out. I guess you could say paying video games are in my blood. I use to own a few atari's before that but they were all broken when my parents bought them for me brand new so when I finally got a NES the first week it came out I was pretty happy and have been playing games since.

I had a large collection of baseball cards and comics I would trade to stupid kids for there NES games. Back then kids would just give games away after beating them. I got a pretty big nes collection this way and never spent any money.

Around 1996 I got my license and use to sell games on ebay for this guy at a flea market. Alot of my time was spent on ebay researching rare games and prices. I had to test all the games to make sure they worked before selling them. It brought back alot of memories and I would sell games for this guy and keep the ones I wanted as partial payment. I was lucky enough for the guy I was selling for to give me a NES, Mastersystem, Genesis, PS1, Turbo Grafx, Sega CD, Dreamcast, SNES, and Turbo grafx in the process.

When all my friends in high school were saving lunch money for marijuana I was saving my money for my weekly trip to the flea market. Besides selling for this guy I would search the flea market for rare games I could keep or resell and buy better games. I use to hustle like crazy at that place. Sometimes finding games worth a hell of alot of money and reselling them. Including a sealed Neo Geo Homecart system for $75.00.

Around 1999 after graduating high school and getting a job I started collecting Neo Geo MVS and Turbo grafx games. At this point I had close to 1000 games including around 300 genesis games and about 250 nes games, and a random slew of games for other systems.

I eventually went crazy one summer and spent thousands of dollars on turbo grafx games accumilating a almost complete english turbo grafx system with all boxed games and a near complete CD collection.

A few years later I sold almost everything except for my neo geo stuff and a few rare turbo grafx stuff including my magical chase and dynastic hero to start PC engine collicting instead.

Unfortunatly my car was stolen shortly after this, and I kept the thousands I made selling these games and moved to columbus ohio and bought a car.

So now after years of collecting I have nothing to show except a large collection of neo geo stuff and a few rare turbo games. I just recently landed a better job at work and can't wait to start collecting again. I am only going to collect complete games. Since neo collecting is so tiring I am going to collect those on the side saving for the rare games while collecting boxed nes games, then sega master system, then moving to 16 bit games and working my way up to the present.

It has been a long road for me but I think it will be fun collecting them again.

[crazyjackcsa]

Woke up one morning and realized I rarely if ever trade games in. Turns out I was a collector with over 200 games. Since then I've focused on buying games I want to play, and keeping them.

[PentiumMMX]

I never realized it, but I started in 2001, after the N64 died off. I wanted a Gamecube, but I refused to sell my N64 to get one.

I have a decent-sized collection of stuff I'll play (I trade in the crap I don't like)

[William_the_Saint]

I always played games, selling off systems as I moved to the next one.

Regardless of how good a price I got, I was always filled with regret. When I finally got my Sega Dreamcast and I knew I could never part with it, and that was it.

P.S. Being burned by EB trade-ins helped too.

[xtremegamer]

I first started NES games back in 1997/98. I was about 15 then, had a part time job, so I had some cash to spend on the collection. I had aquired about 150 games in a pretty short period of time. Problem was that my house was broken into, and they took most of my video games. The only reason that I still have the NES games my father bought me as a child is that I had them stored in a box under my bed, they just took the games on display in my room.

After that situation, which was pretty heart-breaking at the time, I have decided to never collect NES games again. The only ones I will keep are games I like to play on a regular basis and the games my dad bought me. I mainly use any NES game I get to trade/sell for my new collection, Xbox.

I started collecting Xbox games in December 2005 when my wife bought me my first Xbox, I have owned a total of 4 in that time period, of course I still have the original one my wife bought me. I now have around 220 games, 2 systems, 8 controllers, Steel Battalion controller, 2 Sniper Guns for Sniper Elite and House of the Dead, and about every Official Xbox Magazine. Not a bad start to collection.

[Chadt74]

I started making enough money not to have to sell/trade my games.

[Nebagram]

I always played games, selling off systems as I moved to the next one.

Regardless of how good a price I got, I was always filled with regret. When I finally got my Sega Dreamcast and I knew I could never part with it, and that was it.

P.S. Being burned by EB trade-ins helped too.

Staggeringly similar story here, I first got going with an atari 2600 in 1986 (yes, when I was 3), closely followed by a vic-20. both broke, so I resorted to my mates' NESes, c64s and speccies, then got a master system in 1991 (we weren't the richest family), then entered that old loop of 'buy the new and sell the old' with a mega drive in 1993, 32x in 1995 and playstation in 1997. I got a dreamcast in 1999, and was very close to repeating the loop when something wonderful happened in 2001- full-time employment. Naturally, my first wage packet went on a PS2, subsequent ones on a Saturn, an N64, a Mega Drive... and the rest, as they say, is history. Effectively I've been collecting for 5 years and have amassed a collection of 800 games- not bad, even if I do say so myself.

And yes, piss-poor trade-in prices did help my decision to keep/ebay all my old games though £35 for F1 on PS3 recently wasn't that bad.

[7th lutz]

My collecting started with baseball cards, back in 1986 or 1987. I was a card collecter for 3 or 4 years. I was never a computer game collecter. I didn't get a computer till 1994.

My videogame collecting it started in 1988. I picked out an atari 2600 jr to buy with my dad bought for my brother and I in Jan. 1988. My collection of 2600 games began with me knowing it or remembering it before then. My dad had a over 30 2600 games along with an intellivision 2 with an atari 2600 adaptor. I had a late start in console gaming. I considered 1988, to be first year of console gaming with me being 9 going on 10 years old at the time. I got a 7800 a year later due to the price of the system.

I went to flee markets to buy 2600 games. Depending on the stand at a flee market they were Anywhere from 50 cents to 3.00 a loose cartridge. From 1988 to Christmas of 1991, I had a combined 150 2600 and 7800 games. At the time, my younger bother and I didn't had a clue on what 2600 and 7800 games were good before they were bought. My brother and I basically bought games based on what games we didn't own. I never sold any 2600 and 7800 games that I own.

At the time my parents thought the nes and the games were too expensive. I didn't get a nes till 1991. I was not in a poor family, a middle class family that had a stay at home mom with the dad working. I now own a neo geo pocket color,co-owner of a wii, co-owner of ps2, co-owner of a genesis/32x, gbc,gba,ds,sms, sms 2, nomad, game Gear, snes, nes, ps 1, Game Cube and lynx. I didn't sell alot of my games.

[barflytke401]

I grew up in a farmhouse in rural Ohio with 8 brothers and sisters during the early-80s. Mom and Dad both worked (Dad had 2 jobs, mom 1) and we really didn't have a ton of money. When I graduated from college and got settled in my career, I finally had the opportunity to purchase all the games I couldn't get when I was a kid. Luckily my wife is also a "weekend" gamer and understands my love of video games. After purchasing a few older titles, I found my favorite niche and started only getting the rare RPGs, not because I knew of their value, only because I remembered playing them as a kid and loved them. The first time I dropped $100 on a game, I knew I needed to really do some research and keep an eye on my finances. I also found out the hard way that EBay is about the worst place you can go to buy a rare game. (Unless it's not that fun in which case you can get some great deals). Anyways, that's my story. I have over 300 games now for 7 systems. Most are Turn-Based RPGs (Long live DW1 and FF1) but I also have quite a few sports games.

[mailman187666]

I started off collecting baseball cards as well, but since I was about 2, we had the atari 2600 in the house. I remember being very young and playing all these games for it. So my mother bought all the atari games back when they were all on clearance back when the crash happened. We never threw away or sold any of the games, just boxed em all up. Then came nintendo, bought shit loads of games, put em away when the newest system came out. Did that with genesis, sega cd, 32x, 3do, saturn, gameboy. Ever since I was a kid I almost always had the next system (my family was not rich and i really wasn't spoiled). So one day I decided to go through all the old boxes and hook up all the old systems because I had just gotten my own place and wanted to set them up for us to play. After a while I was like, hey, lets go to the flea market and see if we can get some games we never played as kids. Which lead to going every other weekend. Then I looked at ebay for games and noticed some of them still sold for good money. That made me want to look for those ones. Next thing you know I'm damn near 1000 games.

[Lemmi_Is_God]

i started collecting heavily when Funcoland opened

but i still have everything videogame related from 1978 when i got my first pong system to 1996 when i started collecting heavily, then i pretty much quit collecting in 2004ish


i only had a 2600, 7800, NES, TG-16, and Genesis, and a SNES with 1 game
then funcoland opened then it started with Sega CD then 3DO and snowballed from there to 33 different systems and over 1500 games

[Leo_A]

I've never really started (At least thats what I'd like to think, the large number of unplayed games here might disagree with me), I'm buying stuff because I want to play it. I guess I almost turned into a Atari collector at one time, but with the development of the Cuttle Cart II and Atari 5200 multicarts, I had no need to buy the expensive carts I had left to acquire since I could play everything on the real hardware and thats all I ever really wanted to be able to do.

[Videogamerdaryll]

It started with the 2600 when I was a kid,My friends thought I was cool for having lot of Games and I just kept collecting them....I stopped a bit as a teenager(had a girlfriend not into games) then started collecting again when I got older.

I remember when I started collecting games again it was like a breath of fresh air,something that I had missed.

I come from a family of Gamers and Collectors of many things.

[BocoDragon]

If I had to label one special moment, it would be when FFVII came out, and I realized how much I wanted to own the entire FF series. I suppose before that time, I had loved many games, including FFVI, to death, but I didn't think of anything as a series I wanted to collect until I had enjoyed both VI and VII. Also, games being on optical discs by that time meant that the games needed storage, and the real artwork was to be found on the front of the case. This put a higher premium on the "complete package", and collecting in general.

Collecting FFs led to collecting all Squaresoft games, then RPGs, then PS2 being the inevitable successor platform for RPGs led to me being heavily interested in flagship PS2 non-RPGs like MGS, DMC etc.

By 2001 I was a full blown collector, interested in anything from most Japanese companies, and the occasional breakout hit from any territory (GTA, Half Life, etc)


EDIT: I just remembered I was actually a collector from the moment I realized that the Super Nintendo was not really a "replacement" to the original Nintendo, but a supercharged companion to it (SUPER Nintendo ) As the SNES took off, I realized that I wanted to hold onto the old NES as well...... Of course, as adolesence sunk in I cared about this stuff less and less, so you could think of the above story as why I got back into collecting until the present day....

[Steven]

Collecting? Well, as I like to call it, I began "buying games at a diehard clip" in January 2001, when my friend gave me BustaMove 2 and SF Alpha 2 Saturn for free. I bought Galactic Attack/WSB II at a Funcoland a bit later that week or something, and my Saturn passion reached new highs, I'd go on to buy 300+ games from 2001 to late 2005.

Then in early 2006 I re-discovered my old #1 flame, the SNES. Bought 200 games in the span of like 6 weeks IIRC, in early 2006, lol. I bought games at a rate you wouldn't believe.

[briskbc]

I have always collected something. It started with Hardy Boys books in Grade 2 and morphed from there. Many other collectibles came and went but it wasn't until 1998 that I started with video games.

I was getting married and selling VHS movies and video games on eBay (and doing very well) in order to pay for the big day. As the day approached it became harder and harder to sell the games I was finding. One day I looked at my back log of stuff to list and just moved it to my bookshelf and left it there. I had been gaming since I was 10 (now 35) and this seemed like the ideal thing to collect. No one else was doing it so finds were plentiful which was a bonus. The only thing I like as much as playing the games is spending a day hunting for stuff in the wild. I've sold my collection a couple of times now but that's life. I don't mind rebuilding.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[Hwj_Chim]

I have been gaming all of my life and I just never sold anything, so after a while it built up to what I have now. I am more of a gamer with a ton of stuff, Than a collector that must have every thing. I mostly do Sega stuff as I love Sega and the Genny was my introduction into gaming.