What's the RISKIEST thing you've ever done to get something for your collection?

[Jumpman Jr.]

Hey everybody,
In another forum just a few minutes ago, I was talking about how I sent a guy on GameTZ from Hawaii $750 in a Money Order to get my sealed copy of Hot Slots for the NES. I wasn't really a member of GameTZ (I only joined to make the deal), so I didn't know the guy at all and had to rely on what his feedback said.

Everything ended up working, though. I paid for Super-Duper Express shipping and it got here the day after he received the Money Order (Hawaii to Canada - thats pretty good).

So, I was thinking about it... What it the riskiest thing that YOU have done to put something into your collection?

[darkhades]

I am sorry, I don't have a risky story to contribute but I just noticed you're from Ottawa. Me too, nice to meet ya!

[Promophile]

Every time I buy a "mint" game off ebay with only a stock photo of it . Sometimes you get slammed with a destroyed item but sometimes it's in perfect condition

[bangtango]

I've been late clocking into work or coming back from lunch breaks a few times to obtain games. Yet I'm sure nearly everyone else around here has at one point or another, too.

[Cobra Commander]

I stole a Double Dragon stand-up arcade game from a Goodwill drop off.
I work at Wal-Mart, and we have a Goodwill drop way away from the store. Luckily getting on it on the back of my truck was simple.
Back up, open tailgate, roll game over to the truck, lie it down, and push it on the truck, and haul ass.
Think I'll go to hell for scoring a free arcade game?

[DefaultGen]

.....

[blue lander]

I once bought a large Street Fighter II cabinet from a local mall's arcade, but to get it out I had to cart it through an antique furniture store to get it to the loading dock. The owner of the store said if I dented anything I'd have to pay for it and the store was so packed with furniture that I could barely fit the cabinet through, but somehow I managed.

Of course, once I made it out to the loading dock I realized it was too high to get it in my SUV, so I had to cart it BACK through the store to where I got it from. Thankfully the guy gave me my money back.

[stargate]

My college roommate and I stole a 1941 arcade stand up and somehow managed to get it up 20 stories to our dorm room at like 3am drunk. We set it up for free play and there was a line coming out of our room for like a week. Our RA was cool, but told us that the cops were looking for it and we better get rid of it before we got arrested so we just moved it in the lounge. A day later, it was gone.

I miss college.

[heybtbm]

Of course, once I made it out to the loading dock I realized it was too high to get it in my SUV, so I had to cart it BACK through the store to where I got it from. Thankfully the guy gave me my money back.

What? Why didn't you go get a bigger truck?

[Sanriostar]

I've bought Boxed Red label 2600 games from highway smugglers. Didn't know it until halfway through the deal. There was a Pawn shop that no one went to, so I thought I'd see what they had. Half of what they had was cordoned off 'not for sale' (furniture, wrapped palettes of cigarettes, Major electronics), and I was just looking at the RS Boxing and F-14 Tomcat games. They kept lowering the price, ("Get this **** out of here!) and I bought the games. The 2600 games were "Flotsam", filler stuff for a run to hide the real stuff in the back. Never went back in there.

[Mayhem]

Obtaining my Escape from Mount Drash from a zero feedback seller. I did my research and trusted he wasn't trying to rip anyone off at least...

[ssjlance]

Lets see, I stole a copy of Sonic Adventure 2 from a Flea Market once. The guy had it with a Dreamcast. I told him I already had the system, I just wanted the game. He wouldn't budge. So I took it. Got home and found out it didn't work.

[smokehouse]

OK, this is a long one but stick with me…it will be worth it. 3DO games, drugs, a near-death encounter and gangster Mexicans...this story has it all.

Back before eBay I used to browse a local paper for used gaming goods. I found a guy selling quite a bit of 3DO stuff that lived in a very small town about 1 ½ hour south of Chicago (about a 1 hour drive for me). Personally, I’d never been there so I didn't know where I was going. I called him, obtained his directions and headed out with my wife. I didn’t have a cell phone back them BTW...another key piece of information

This town was rather small and somehow I managed to get lost. This guy lived out in the sticks and I was looking for “A small white farm house” on some random rural road...yup, somthingh there's 1 million of out here.

I found the place and followed the gravel driveway to the back of the house. There was a large, detached two stall garage off to the side (this is an important part, trust me). I got out of my car, went to the back door and knocked, a white guy came to the door.

“Fred?” (this isn’t the seller's name, I’ve forgotten what it was.)

“Nope…” he opens the door and steps outside. “Who in the hell are you.”

“I’m looking for Fred Smith…I got his name from the Tradin’ Post (yes, real name of the paper) and was looking to buy some used games off of him.”

“Never heard of him…who in the hell are you?” The man grew more aggravated.

“Listen, I think I have the wrong house, I’ll just be on my way.”

“The hell you will. Hey Paco!” (again, I don’t remember the name he called, but it was a Mexican name...)

Next thing I know the garage door opens and 4 Mexicans walk out. Now, these guys looked like the atypical Mexican thug guys with gang tats, chino pants and wife beater T-shits. All four and the white guy walk up to me. All of them suddenly start asking me who I am and where I’m from. One even pats me down, gets into my back pocket, pulls out my wallet and starts looking through it.

“You a cop?” “where you from boy?” “The Fuck you doin out here?” (excuse my language but this is exactly what they said, I'll NEVER forget it)

Next thing I know they’re pointing at my car and my wife.

“Who is that, get here out here now.”

At this point I’m dropping a load in my shorts…but I’ll be damned if I’m going to watch the guys do something to my wife.

I turn around and pointed at the car “Abigail, lock the doors and don’t come out!!!” I know, that would have stopped nothing but I’d rather be beaten unconscious and THEN have them beat/rape my wife. In all reality, I was kind of proud of my reaction…you never know how you’ll handle a situation like that until you’re in one.

“Hold on, hold on.” The white guy stopped the others. What’s this guys name you’re looking for?

“Fred Smith…I have his number here.”

“hold on a second.” He grabs my wallet, gives it back to me then walks back into the house and after a few seconds, comes out with a cordless phone. “Call him…on speaker”.

I called the guy and thankfully he was home and expecting me. He informed me that I had taken a wrong turn and to come back into town. The white guy said he would follow me back into town then let me go. A few of the Mexicans went and got an old 4 door Buick and pulled around, the white guy and the others piled in and told me to lead the way. I got into my car and started to turn around in the driveway.

“What in the hell just happened Jonathan!?!” My wife was scared to death.

I just told her I would fill her in later and kept driving...truth be told I was a bit in shock and didn't feel much like talking at that point. When we got back into town they drove off and I was finally able to relax a bit. I went the correct route and ended up at the seller’s house shortly. He aksed me where I landed up and after telling him the story he gave me the “huge eyes” look.

“Holy cow man, that’s a meth lab out there, no one goes near that place.”

After telling me that I almost passed out…who would have thought that some tiny random town would have a place like that…I just thank my lucky stars that the one guy was nice enough to let us go…I landed up having a nice conversation with the guy, purchased my games and drove home.

To this day that was the single most terrifying experience of my life. It does make a good story to tell in groups though.

[Pantechnicon]

A few years back I learned of a warehouse that had suffered some major water damage where an old operator was once keeping a bunch of cabs that he suddenly cleared out. Pretty much everything inside was ruined and a lot of the debris was thrown into one of those large commercial dumpsters. Curious, I went dumpster diving amid random protrusions of wood, glass, metal etc. Despite getting scratched up a bit, I came out with no tetanus, and a bunch of manuals as well as a nice stack of cabinet marquees which presently decorate a wall in my Room of Doom:

http://videogamecollectors.com/albums/The_Pantechnicon/IMG_0068.sized.jpg

[Overbite]

where did you get that bazooka

[bangtango]

I've counted three thieves already in this thread. If I ever get an arcade game someday, I'll make sure to leave it away from any windows in my home that can be seen from the road. Otherwise I may wake up 3:00 AM some morning and find a guy staring at me. As he is moving my game towards the front door, he might end up saying the following to me in my own house.

“Where you from boy? The Fuck you doin in here?”

[Ed Oscuro]

I was talking about how I sent a guy on GameTZ from Hawaii $750 in a Money Order to get my sealed copy of Hot Slots for the NES.
Change this from "riskiest" to "least worthwhile"

For me, the dumbest thing I've done is go to Chicago to pick up my Stratovox...only $150 though.

[tom]

Nothing to scary, but in the middle 80s' I was crazy buying VCS games like there was no tomorrow. In Germany there was really no price drop, some games like 'Miniature Golf' still cost DM120.00 ($70.00) at my local shop, whilst others like 'Kangaroo' were only DM 29.99 to start off with (go figure).

Once I ran out of cash, I burned two CCs just to carry on buying, I mean I ransacked the shops nearly on a daily basis. 200 games later I had absolutely no funds left :-)

[Pantechnicon]

where did you get that bazooka

It's a leftover from my days in the Marine Corps. And before you go reporting me to the Department of Homeland Security, it's inert and totally inoperative.

[snesrocksmysocks]

OK, this is a long one but stick with me…it will be worth it. 3DO games, drugs, a near-death encounter and gangster Mexicans...this story has it all.

Back before eBay I used to browse a local paper for used gaming goods. I found a guy selling quite a bit of 3DO stuff that lived in a very small town about 1 ½ hour south of Chicago (about a 1 hour drive for me). Personally, I’d never been there so I didn't know where I was going. I called him, obtained his directions and headed out with my wife. I didn’t have a cell phone back them BTW...another key piece of information

This town was rather small and somehow I managed to get lost. This guy lived out in the sticks and I was looking for “A small white farm house” on some random rural road...yup, somthingh there's 1 million of out here.

I found the place and followed the gravel driveway to the back of the house. There was a large, detached two stall garage off to the side (this is an important part, trust me). I got out of my car, went to the back door and knocked, a white guy came to the door.

“Fred?” (this isn’t the seller's name, I’ve forgotten what it was.)

“Nope…” he opens the door and steps outside. “Who in the hell are you.”

“I’m looking for Fred Smith…I got his name from the Tradin’ Post (yes, real name of the paper) and was looking to buy some used games off of him.”

“Never heard of him…who in the hell are you?” The man grew more aggravated.

“Listen, I think I have the wrong house, I’ll just be on my way.”

“The hell you will. Hey Paco!” (again, I don’t remember the name he called, but it was a Mexican name...)

Next thing I know the garage door opens and 4 Mexicans walk out. Now, these guys looked like the atypical Mexican thug guys with gang tats, chino pants and wife beater T-shits. All four and the white guy walk up to me. All of them suddenly start asking me who I am and where I’m from. One even pats me down, gets into my back pocket, pulls out my wallet and starts looking through it.

“You a cop?” “where you from boy?” “The Fuck you doin out here?” (excuse my language but this is exactly what they said, I'll NEVER forget it)

Next thing I know they’re pointing at my car and my wife.

“Who is that, get here out here now.”

At this point I’m dropping a load in my shorts…but I’ll be damned if I’m going to watch the guys do something to my wife.

I turn around and pointed at the car “Abigail, lock the doors and don’t come out!!!” I know, that would have stopped nothing but I’d rather be beaten unconscious and THEN have them beat/rape my wife. In all reality, I was kind of proud of my reaction…you never know how you’ll handle a situation like that until you’re in one.

“Hold on, hold on.” The white guy stopped the others. What’s this guys name you’re looking for?

“Fred Smith…I have his number here.”

“hold on a second.” He grabs my wallet, gives it back to me then walks back into the house and after a few seconds, comes out with a cordless phone. “Call him…on speaker”.

I called the guy and thankfully he was home and expecting me. He informed me that I had taken a wrong turn and to come back into town. The white guy said he would follow me back into town then let me go. A few of the Mexicans went and got an old 4 door Buick and pulled around, the white guy and the others piled in and told me to lead the way. I got into my car and started to turn around in the driveway.

“What in the hell just happened Jonathan!?!” My wife was scared to death.

I just told her I would fill her in later and kept driving...truth be told I was a bit in shock and didn't feel much like talking at that point. When we got back into town they drove off and I was finally able to relax a bit. I went the correct route and ended up at the seller’s house shortly. He aksed me where I landed up and after telling him the story he gave me the “huge eyes” look.

“Holy cow man, that’s a meth lab out there, no one goes near that place.”

After telling me that I almost passed out…who would have thought that some tiny random town would have a place like that…I just thank my lucky stars that the one guy was nice enough to let us go…I landed up having a nice conversation with the guy, purchased my games and drove home.

To this day that was the single most terrifying experience of my life. It does make a good story to tell in groups though.


did you shit you pants? thats is a funny story. i would not know what to do in a situtaion like that.

[boatofcar]

Great story, smokehouse--better than a lot of the Lore stuff. You should put it there!

[Steven]

First, my story. But I'll get to Mr. Smokehouse in a bit.

Riskiest? Well, I guess paypaling a female seller overseas nearly 200 bucks for a shatload of Super Play mags I won off eBay. Anyone who has read my Magazine Madness section on my website ("The Super Play Drama") will know what kind of patience I had to have. Yes it was paypal and there was a small security net, but ya just never know if they would have refunded me. Her feedback at the time was only 19 so it wasn't exactly comforting. Thankfully, 2+ months later they finally arrived. The box was beat up in transit and labeled DAMAGED and re-taped up the wa-zoo. My worst fears were eased when thankfully I found all 45 issues as advertised there, and in MINT condition (for 90% of the issues anyhow, and that's impressive considering they're over a decade old)

Smokehouse, that's a hell of a story. I also read your XMas story in the LORE forum. I really enjoy the pictures you paint with your words, it's a fun writing style that reminds me of well, some of my work. I actually had a very similar experience to you. Except mine did not involve video games. However, it did involve a car, a female and a bunch of Mexican gangsters (or wanna-be's).

I'll never forget it. April 18, 2004. Long story short, we drove up this hill at like 2 AM. This car comes along and these guys were HIGH as ****. My bro's friend opened the door (big mistake) and they basically harrassed us for 10, 15 minutes. It was the longest 15 minutes of my life. One comment the gangster said sent chills down my spine to this day, much like your situation:

"You know... we're in the middle of nowhere....."

I really thought, for a brief second, that this was it for me. The end of the line. But immediately, I snapped outta it and thought positive, praying on the inside.

They said macho shit toward the girl in the car. Somehow, we managed to pull away. I remember Andy flooring the hell out of there... it was so surreal. The lucky break was when the dude closed the door for us. Dunno why he did it... but that gave us our get-away. Like you, I was thanking my lucky stars. Also like you, no one in my camp really talked about it. Andy drove us in dead silence for the most part. Just like you and your wife in the aftermath. As I read your story I found myself reliving 4.18.04 ... it's amazing we're both still here. Someone above was looking out for us, no doubt

I gotta put this story up on my website some day. Mind if I throw in your story? I'd love to open up with it because it's a hell of a tale and so beautifully told. It's cool if you rather not. Just let me know, smokehouse.

[Ed Oscuro]

Next time mount a Ma Deuce on your car for those long trips to the hinterland, guys!

It's not quite the same as a real Somalian Tactical, but it'll do.

[rbudrick]

I bought something from Assembler once. That was pretty fucking stupid.

-Rob

[MarioAllStar2600]

Sent PSXKnow $250 for a red twin famicom with about 20 games. This was a DP deal... only one I have ever been ripped on. Spent most of my birthday money on it, and was excited as hell to finally break into Famicom collecting. I gave the guy time to send the stuff from Germany, but it never came. 2 months went by, and I took it as a loss. I think I was 13 or 14 when this happened, and was really upset. I had spent all the money I made that summer already to, on games of course.

The guy had a website which I used to check up untill a little while ago, and always tryed to get in touch with him. Nope, he never replied. He quit collecting games and started collecting Japanese dolls I think.

[nate1749]

I'm guessing the town a south of Chicago was Joliet, hahaha, and the tradin' post is still a good source for classifieds =)

Nate

[smokehouse]

I'm guessing the town a south of Chicago was Joliet, hahaha, and the tradin' post is still a good source for classifieds =)

Nate


Actually it was Fairbury...which after using Mapquest is about 1hr 45min south of Chicago so i was 15min off.

[Nostalgicblight]

I've been late clocking into work or coming back from lunch breaks a few times to obtain games. Yet I'm sure nearly everyone else around here has at one point or another, too.

I would have to agree with that one. I, myself, have clocked back in from lunch five minutes late (whoo.) to obtain old PSX games in longboxes for five bucks a pop. There was a video rental store that was located across the street from the McDonald's I worked at. I also recieved complete N64 and Genesis games from them for the same price.

I would come home from work and my mother would be like, "Why did you buy more shit? You don't have any room for this." My response would be as follows, "Yeah... But these games are in the box, they've got their manuals, and I've been looking for this one for a while."

I also took my 2600 from my brother. Relax, he was only 4 at the time. I figured, "Why the hell does he have an Atari with 40 games, when I fixed it, and he wouldn't take care of it?" Needless to say, he's six now, and he doesn't recall it being his. Besides, he has a PS2 to himself - he's good to go.

[Iron Draggon]

well I guess it would be paypaling some German guy I found on a game forum the money to pay for an ebay auction that I won from some other German guy who didn't take paypal... the game was only 1 euro and the shipping brought the total up to no more than 5 euros... but the seller only accepted wireless money transfers, and my bank wanted to charge me $50 to wire the money just because it was going overseas and out of the country... so I paypaled the liason the money for the game and the shipping, plus a little extra for helping me out and saving me a ton of money on transfer fees... luckily both guys were honest and I didn't get burned... the game arrived within a week and everyone was happy... and I did all this on ebay.de and the official forums for Synetic, which was the developer of the game that I was buying... the guy I met on the forums there was actually the one who pointed me to the auction when I posted that I was looking for the game... he spoke German and English, but the seller only spoke English, so we had a few Babelfish snafus before the guy from the forums straigtened it out... it was really cool that everything worked out, but I wouldn't have done that for an expensive game... I would've just bit the bullet and paid the transfer fees, so I'd feel like I had a little more protection, if something had gone wrong...

[Flack]

I've counted three thieves already in this thread. If I ever get an arcade game someday, I'll make sure to leave it away from any windows in my home that can be seen from the road.

Might as well make it four. I "acquired" my Defender cabinet from a local business who had left it sitting outside. Now to be honest, it was sitting pretty close to a trash dumpster and was (most likely) about to get dumped. Still, there was no one to ask at midnight when I showed up. Unfortunately the cabinet ended up being in such bad shape that it was worth almost exactly what I paid for it.

As an adult I haven't done too many risky things when it comes to game collecting -- about the worst I can think of is buying arcade games six hours away off of eBay and hoping they were in the condition the seller said they were (usually, they were).

As a kid I'd say the riskiest thing I did on a regular basis was commit phone fraud and other felonies in order to steal games that sold for $20. Dumb.

[diskoboy]

Gave a guy a $400 cash deposit for my Galaga cocktail, a week before I could pick it up.

There was another guy eyeballin' it, so I had to act fast.

Fortunately, this guy was legit.... The other guy bought his Asteroids, instead.

[Push Upstairs]

I think the riskiest thing I did was buy some stuff off of a customer who wanted to unload their stuff but the game store was being picky about buying it. We did take our business outside, but we did initiate our conversation in the store and (I believe) in close proximity to an employee and the manager.

But I guess they didn't care about losing out on some good Genesis stuff as I was never banned from the store (they had good prices on some great stuff) and I did end up getting a Nomad and TMNT for $20 (which is all I had in my wallet.

The sad part is I could have got so much more (like another Nomad) if I had more money at the time. They people were moving and wanted to unload their kids old game stuff. Ahh well...I still got the Nomad out of it. :-D

[MF_Luder]

Finding a CIB copy of Chrono Trigger at a yard sale and leaving it there while I went to an ATM. Now that's risky.

[icarwngs55]

Freshman Year of College, one day before finals. I drive from Pittsburgh PA to Indianapolis Indiana and back to get a Super Nintendo Display. Now where it is not too dangerous to drive 17 hours straight *rolls eyes* (though for some reason I was hysterically laughing by the end of the trip and my 2 friends feared I would kill them). Here are the two dangerous parts...

Somewhere between Ohio and PA a guy (assuming) in an old, old, old Pickup truck filled with rocking chairs and saws (go figure) started riding my ass with his high beams on. Now when I say riding my ass, I mean right on there. I could not lose him. Damn 92' Chevy Caprice was just not a speed demon. At times he would slightly ride on my side, Overall...SCARY. This was for miles and miles. My friends and I were scared to death. Eventually, he was on my left I managed to slam on my breaks (DEAD STOP) and before I could get a license plate number, he speeds off. In the end, basically the beginning of a horror movie.

If this was not bad enough. Five days later, after finals, I start to drive home to Philly. Somewhere half way between Pittsburgh and Philly the low coolant light goes on in my fabulous 92' Chevy Caprice. I go (being a dumb kid) "Oh that is probably bad." *Calls Dad* "Dad the coolant light is on"

Dad: "Holy Shit Mike that is bad...Get home but stop at a gas station and look at your engine"

I stop at the gas station and fill up the dangerously low fluids and start for home AGAIN. Light goes off for a bit. Then it goes back on. OH CRAP!

I call good ol' dad again.

Dad: GET HOME!

Driving at a good speed. *Flames start to shoot from hood* Not good.

ME: Dad the car is on fire
Dad: Are you still driving?
ME: Yes
Dad: STOP FOR A BIT! Then start again!

Start driving again after stopping for a bit. *Black Smoke is pouring from the hood as I drive* [Yea, I am that guy on the highway]

Eventually I get off at a rest stop in Middle of Nowhere PA, and the rest is history...Car blew up cause I had to drive my 92' caprice hundreds of miles in one day....

And that my friends is the most risky thing I did for a game

Mike

[thetoxicone]

I had a friend who worked at a k-mart for a couple years when N64 was selling good. He would toss games into the garbage before he took it outside and would stash them to pick up later at a five finger discount. I ended up with quite the n64 collection because of this. Also one time we went in to buy a large plastic cd case (the stand up kind already put together that holds 100 cds or so) and since he knew the guy in electronics he opened the box for us and we tossed in a bunch of n64 controllers, games, and other video game accessories. He then taped it back up and rung us out back in electronics so all that was needed was to show the receipt at the door.

Second, A beatdown K-mart a couple towns over from me had an open gamecube demo unit a few years back. I figure this would be a good opportunity to grab a free kiosk disc.

Why all my illegal activity involves K-mart...I don't know, but I did have friends that worked at wal-mart and stole games too.