PC Game price guide/collecting tips?

[kobunheatforum]

Hi!

I buy a lot of console games at thrift stores, but not so much PC games, because there doesn't seem to be any solid guide as to which ones are worth money, and in what condition. Once I found a sealed copy of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life for PC and I thought to myself, hey, this is probably a collector's item! And it turned out that eBay was and still is flooded with sealed copies.

So that soured me for a while. Recently, though, I found a couple of boxed games -- the 3.5" disk versions of Sam and Max Hit the Road and Spear of Destiny -- that, for a couple dollars each, seemed like there had to be some collectible market behind them. And it does seem like that's true, in those two particular cases.

I'm just wondering if there's any external guide or rules of thumb that PC game collectors use when they're out hunting games in the wild. I keep hearing American McGee's Alice is valuable. What else is big?

[darkslime]

Grim Fandango, I think Monkey Island.

I really dont' know much about PC game either.

[savageone]

It is all a bit nonsensical, but in my experience I found it was usually the games that did not initially sell well but gained cult status that are worth unusual amounts. Original releases CIB any ways. Even many popular and well known games are simply very hard to find with the boxes and various paperworks and can go for a decent sum of money.

Some general tips and stuff to maybe keep an eye out for (this speaks for original releases in their (big) boxes, some re-releases can still be valuable but the original is almost always the most valuable):
- Tons of pre-Quake FPS games
- id Software games pre-Doom 2 (Doom 1 is worth a lot in the box though you probably wouldn't think it)
- Looking Glass games like: System Shock 1 & 2, Thief 1 & 2 (and gold editions)
- Black Isle games. Fallout 1 and 2 in particular.
- Big box Blizzard titles, LE Blizzard titles
- Lots of Sierra and Lucas Arts titles
- Addons for FPS games. Ex: Duke Nukem 3D Nuclear Winter, Blood Cryptic Passage. Random addons for Quake. Even horrible .WAD compilations for games like Doom can sell for a decent amount. etc etc..
- Lots of offbeat/older games related to a popular company can be valuable.
- Many times if a game has both a 3.5" and CD release the CD will be worth more, sometimes a lot more.
- Known arcade games that were never ported to anything other than PC are good bets, Simpsons Arcade for instance.

You are making sound choices with your buys. Spear of Destiny 3.5" for instance is worth something and definitely a good buy, should have been a no brainer purchase for you. But would you have plunked down $15-20 if you saw Spear of Destiny on CD a short time later? It might not occur to you that the CD version is worth much more, but in this case it is worth boatloads more.

[Cornelius]

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133824

check that out. I compiled a list on page 3 or so based on suggestions in that thread and my personal experience. Offhand I know it needs to be updated to remove SW Jedi Academy, which is no longer worth much.

[aaron7]

I collect PC games but only because I grew up with them; not for resale.

I do know however that I've paid out the nose for some. I paid $100 for my CIB Daggerfall, $60 for my CIB Duke3d Atomic Edition, etc.

Old pic but here's some of them:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/aaron7/DSC03503.jpg

[Ed Oscuro]

If at all possible check your local thrift; mine seems to have classic PC titles quite often and I've gotten some stunning finds there, saving who knows how much over eBay (granted, I wouldn't have gone out and bought some of these, but if I ever get around to playing them it'll be nice to have titles like System Shock, the first two Monkey Island titles, and others.)

[kobunheatforum]

Thanks, guys. This is a great starting point.

[JustRob]

If you're looking to collect the games and not just resell them, I've had some pretty good luck off of Goozex lately. You can click the link in my sig to check it out. It seems I've done well enough off of there with big box PC games to make even Kitsune jealous so...heh. Here are just the last few I got in the mail. Burn:Cycle is even shrinkwrapped....

http://robertalpizar.com/dump/lot.jpghttp://robertalpizar.com/dump/3in1.jpg

[Kitsune Sniper]

If you're looking to collect the games and not just resell them, I've had some pretty good luck off of Goozex lately. You can click the link in my sig to check it out. It seems I've done well enough off of there with big box PC games to make even Kitsune jealous so...heh. Here are just the last few I got in the mail. Burn:Cycle is even shrinkwrapped....

DAMN YOU.

:P

I actually already owned Blade Runner - bought it through Columbia House ages ago - but had to sell it. I bought a replacement via a three game pack that also included a Wing Commander game and I forget what else... probably Dune 2000.

[Ed Oscuro]

Nice haul depending on the price.

@ Kitsune Sniper: Yep! That's how I got my own copy of Blade Runner recently - it's called the "Ultimate Sci-Fi Series" and comes with (in order of billing) Blade Runner, Dune 2000, and Wing Commander Prophecy. The box is ugly as sin; still should work in terms of playability though. I wish I'd bought a copy of Blade Runner at the local store when it was new though.

Also, that Journeyman Project: Prophecy of Time is the one I've been wanting to play for a while...okay, maybe I should start at the beginning of the series, but the whole first DVD game thing is pretty appealing.

[kobunheatforum]

Yeah so I think I am getting better at this "find rare PC games" thing:

http://i39.tinypic.com/10362ix.jpg

That's sealed, btw. And really, I cannot stress enough how little I know about PC games, because I actually PUT THIS DOWN for a minute because it was $10. Then I opened up eBay on my phone, saw that sealed copies go for over $100 and walked back to nonchalantly take it back off the shelf...

[chrissylas]

Ahh I love the Neverhood. I'd sell the sealed one and buy an opened one if you haven't ever played it :)

[JustRob]

See now, there's somewhat of a difference between looking for games just for turnaround potential, and looking for them to actually have and own and play. There's nothing wrong with making a buck off of something you'll never appreciate because it's just not your thing, but keep in mind some of us will look at you like a douchebag in the wild when we see you doing that quick ebay check thing.

Back to the topic, have you tried surplus sales at libraries and such? The library system here actually has a decent selection of video games, both console and PC in their catalog. Every once in awhile they'll purge what they have to keep it current and I used to pick up full big box pc games for quarters.

[kobunheatforum]

It's not about turning games around for a quick buck (I haven't sold anything in years), but about being smart with money -- why would I pay a thrift store the going rate for something that I could find just as cheaply online? The point is to make sure that I'm paying below market value so I'm not wasting my time (opportunity cost) and money going around town looking for games.

Also, even if I was simply scouring thrift stores for things that were being sold beneath market value and selling them to collectors, that's far from amoral. If you think people who do that should be looked upon as douchebags, I think you should reevaluate that stance.

[Kitsune Sniper]

... I do that for a living. Don't hate me for that. T_T

[darkslime]

... I do that for a living. Don't hate me for that. T_TSame. I'm more of an asshole than kitsune though.

[Dark_Sol]

You all suck guys.