Cleaning Game cartrages

[LimitedEditionMuseum]

What do you guys use to clean the plastic casing of your games? I got a bunch of games over the last few weeks and they are sitting in the "quarantine" box. I cant put them up until they are cleaned. these are particularly dirty with gold marker, pin and ink on some labels, sticker residue and just plain dirty. I also have some PS2 games with dirty clear plastic coverings. What is the best to use on these different surfaces, the SNES hard plastic, dirty paper labels and the more sensitive clear PS2 clear plastic?

[Aussie2B]

Goo Gone for sticky stuff and ink, isopropyl alcohol for the contacts, a slightly wet and soapy rag followed by just a wet rag for most everything else. Just be careful with the labels, minimizing their exposure to anything wet.

[Edmond Dantes]

I usually use WD40 and isopropyl alcohol.

Once had a copy of Might and Magic for the Sega Genesis where I wasted like five Q-tips on its contacts and they were STILL dirty (I don't want to know what the previous owner did with it). But then I got desperate and used WD40 on its contacts, then switched back to Q-tips, and it was clean as a hospital bed afterwards.

[wiggyx]

I just did a little FAQ on my blog about this.

Cleaning adhesive and stickers from your carts via Rose Colored Gaming Blog (http://rosecoloredgaming.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/wiggy-how-to-and-restoration-guides-1-cleaning-sticker-residue-from-your-games/)

That FAQ covers stickers/adhesive, but not general cleaning. For normal cleaning I tend to use Windex, Isopropyl, and sometimes plain old soapy water. I avoid Goo Gone for the most part because it's oil, and if it gets under a label then it's pretty much going to stay there as it WON'T evaporate like the other items that I mentioned, ever. A medium or firm toothbrush is a HUGE help as well :)

As for the marker stains, Isopropyl works great. Use as high a concentration as you can find. 90%+ usually gets the job done with little fuss.

[LimitedEditionMuseum]

awesome. how does it work on those clear covers like on AES carts and the clear hard plastic on Playstation and Saturn cases?

[jb143]

For plastic with a rough surface (like an NES cart) that has marker on it, I've found that using isopropyl alcohol and the scrubby back of a kitchen sponge works great. It gets down into the groves that are otherwise hard to clean.

[BetaWolf47]

Windex and a toothbrush for the cartridges themselves here.

[LimitedEditionMuseum]

whoever this awesome kid was, he used the GOLD METAL PAINT MARKER to mark his name very large several times....

[Tanooki]

The only thing I have so far used of any consistent value is 91% isopropyl alcohol. It gets off marker, dirt, paints, human funk, and other junk, also it eats that silver shit under those evil shiny stickers that peel up saying void very well. I just put a good little amount on a folded over piece of paper towel and rub everything clean and as a bonus it sterilizes it too. For tighter spots like the grip area on the NES game or the grill a qtip gets in there nicely. I use it as well on the pins of the board with a paper towel or if need be gently not to strip it a magic eraser. I've yet to have a real issue going this way with it and it's really cheap stuff.

[wiggyx]

awesome. how does it work on those clear covers like on AES carts and the clear hard plastic on Playstation and Saturn cases?

It works great on pretty much every plastic that I've ever used it with, and it definitely does fine with ABS (AES carts) and PC (clear jewel boxes). Do it to it!

[sloan]

I have found that Goo-Gone on a rag does wonders for the transparent outer liner on PS2 and Xbox game cases. Often, I find used these where the outer casing is scuffed and generally 'foggy' looking. No amount of windex or soap and water will bring them back to life, but Goo-Gone usually makes them shine and gets rid of all the scuffs and 'fogginess'.

[LimitedEditionMuseum]

Im going to get some of that Bestine and some googone. I love how the Bestine did not even touch the printing on the label. ill use googone for the backs and the Bestine for close to labels. I have some isopropal but its only %50 and did nothing...

[wiggyx]

Yeah, 50% may as well be all water :/

Grab some 90+% and you'll see how effective it can be ;)