Your Best Pawn/Thrift Shop Finds

[Shady Smurf]

Just tought of this great idea for a topic and tought i'd post it. Mine would have to be

Suikoden 2 Playstation-Complete- $6.99

2 Kirby's Dreamland 3-Snes-Loose-at same time- $2.99 Each @_@

Psychic Detective-Playstation-Complete-$4.99

and Shining Force-Genises-Complete-$1.99 :P

Thank God for Cash Converters, for those of you who don't know Cash Converters is a Chain Pawn Shop.

[Raccoon Lad]

http://raccoonlad.topcities.com/atari.html

[Shady Smurf]

I think we have a winner LOL I so wish that I had found that, altough I was pretty psyhced when I found the Shining Force for $1.99 usaully Gensises games thier are $3.00 loose, and $5.00-$7.00 boxed, and the ony game they put at $1.99 was Shining Force LOL

[Spartikcus]

Hmm...
I would have to say:
Sega CD Model I - 15.00
Lunar I and II Sega CD Complete - 20.00
Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time NEW - 5.00
Gunstar Heroes Complete - 3.00
I have others just cant remember, oh well.

By the way Racoon Lad that is one hell of a find. Lucky Bastard.

[ApolloBoy]

Golden Axe Warrior (complete) - $4

[ApolloBoy]

Golden Axe Warrior (complete) - $4

[The Collector]

I've gotten many good finds at thrift stores and pawn shops, but only one GREAT find....the Color Bar Generator for the 2600, in original plain cardboard box with original instructions...$.50. Turned around and made a $347.50 profit (and soiled myself very shortly after auction close i might add). That profit paid for my complete, boxed, mint, and fully modded Neo-Geo AES :D :D :D ![/i]

[Vroomfunkel]

That's an easy one for me ...

Illusion of Time
Secret of Evermore

Both boxed and complete PAL for £2.00 each

I also got the Virgin Suicides on DVD for £3. But I still haven't watched it!

And I got a suit for £2 .. which I have used many times!

Vroomfunkel

[mizarkgram]

A regular NES (complete with new 72 pin connector), SNES Super Scope (with two games), 5 NES games, two brand new N64 controllers and 10-2600 games (mostly commons) All for 25 bucks Canadian...... Not a bad deal i think....

[briskbc]

I think we have a winner LOL

Is Raccoon Lad bragging about his Quadrun again? I didn't click the link and I probably don't need to. LOL


My best finds have been

Sega CD Snatcher $7
PS1 Intelligent Qube $20 mint
PS1 Bubble Bobble $10 mint
PS1 Xenogears $10 mint (2 years before the Greatest Hits release)
SNES Legend of Mana $10

There are a bunch of others. I love going to pawn shops. I always find something rare or in demand for modern systems. That's probably because I can only get out once a month to "make the rounds".

[Shady Smurf]

I go once a week, to two differnt Cash Converters, and Occasionally I hit one in the "Ghetto" Area about 15minutes away, yard sales here are pretty dry occasionally I find the loose cart worth buying, or the atari games for $5.00 for a box but meh

[sisko]

Found this stuff for $6 total

Frogger 2 CV
Mr. Do! CV
Pepper 2 CV
Space Jockey 2600
Pac Man 2600
Space Invaders 2600
Cosmic Avenger CV
Mr Do's! Castle CV
DK Jr CV
WarGames CV
Roc.n Rope CV
Congo Bongo 2600
Looping CV
Kaboom 2600
Asteroids 2600
ET *shudder* 2600
QBert CV?
Adventure 2600
Zaxxon CV
BurgerTime CV
Frogger 2600
Rocky CV
DK CV
BC's Quest for Tires CV
King Kong 2600
Bump 'n' Jump CV
Stampede 2600
Miner 2049er CV
Super Action Baseball CV
Telegames Center

A couple of R5's and an R6 in there, worth well over $100.

A week ago I found a vintage Star Trek Phaser Battle tabletop arcade game for only $13. Which I'm selling! :)

[gonzo90017]

Illusion of Gaia $9.99 each 10 of them!
These are the special promotion ones that came with a limited edition shirt. They are still in there original packaging! Sold a couple on e-bay. Made a pretty good profit. I still have 8 left!

Sega CD Model 1 and Sega Saturn for $40 combined!
Sega Saturn $40.00 Brand New!
Portable Sega Master System $30
2 Top Gear 3000's $35 new
Super Mario Kart $17 new

I found most of these items by going to local video game shops that are just trying to get rid of there old inventory. I also found a rare NES controller made by Hudson that you can connect headphones to! Brand New! Put it up on E-bay but no one seemed interested so just kept it. Pretty sad considering It's a great product and I have access to more.

http://ca.f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/gonzo90017/album?.dir=/Auctions&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http://ca.f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/gonzo90017/my_photos

[maxlords]

Hmmmmmmm:

Sega Nomad $3
Sega Nomad w/battery pack $25
All 6 Mega Mans, All 4 Dragon Warriors - $3 each
Mega Man X2, X3 (both complete) $10 each
Japanese Saturn w/15 games and black stunner - $40 Cdn

[Mr-E_MaN]

My best pawn shop find would have to be when I picked up a complete earthbound (SNES) for $10 Canadian.

My best thrift find would be Action 52 (NES) complete, for $4.99 Canadian.

[DDCecil]

My best Pawn Shop find is Harvest Moon (SNES) for $5.
My best Thrift Store find is one of these 3:

- Odyssey2 Atlantis and Demon Attack .50 each

- 10 loose NES games for $18 including Final Fantasy, Kirby, DK Classics, etc

- Channel F System w/ Blackjack - 2.50. That day I also found Frog Jump for the TI-99/4a (a R6 or 7), but instead, I accidently bought a cable that I thought went to the Channel F for .50 more!

[Darth Sensei]

I picked up an attractive woman in a pawn shop once. Does that count? :D

D

[sisko]

I picked up an attractive woman in a pawn shop once. Does that count? :D

D

Thats not her in your avatar, is it?

[dreamcaster]

SNES + Score Master Arcade Stick + HoneyBee Super Magic Converter - $19 AU (approx. $14 US)

Super Game Boy - complete, $8 AU (approx. $6 US)

NES, console only - $4 AU (approx. $3 US)

Guilty Gear (PSX) - complete, $12 AU (approx. $9 US)

Sega Saturn (model 2) - complete with box, manual, all packaging, warranty card etc., $26 AU (approx. $20 US)

Sega Mega Drive II/32X, console only - $5 AU (approx. $3.50 US)

[Darth Sensei]

I picked up an attractive woman in a pawn shop once. Does that count? :D

D

Thats not her in your avatar, is it?

Bwawhahwahha That was great Sisko. :D

D

[toddst]

My best find was a Vextrex with 2 controllers and about 14 games (the most rare being Pole Position) for $12. The funny thing was that it was right next to a Ms. Pacman for the 2600 that they had priced at $10.

-Todd

[chadtower]

I picked up an attractive woman in a pawn shop once. Does that count? :D

D

Thats not her in your avatar, is it?

No, but it IS her being described in his user comment.

I think the only real find I've made in recent times is an SMS1 with gun and about 15 boxed games for $40.

Back in the day, though, probably like '97, I used to make them all the time. I remember a 5200 with trackball and like 15 games for $20, I used to find CV systems with stuff a lot too. That was in Amherst, MA, as well where you'd be walking down the street with a ColecoVision and get stopped by a pothead wanting to play it every 15 feet ("yeah, we could do that, but we're in the middle of the street with no TV or electrcity. go back in the alley").

[Cmosfm]

I picked up an attractive woman in a pawn shop once. Does that count? :D

D

Thats not her in your avatar, is it?

Bwawhahwahha That was great Sisko. :D

D

I have to admit, that was good!

Thrift/Pawn finds, so many it's hard to remember....

Stack Up NES - 2.99
A ton of boxes Atari & SMS games - 1.50 each
Boxed Odyssey 2 - 5.00
Boxed Commodore 64 - 5.00
NES - 5.00

I dunno, so many good finds it's hard to remember them all!

[Famidrive-16]

I've only found one game-related item at a thrift store once, it was a CD single of the Super Mario Land european techno/rap song. :\

[josekortez]

Cuewarrior, I remember seeing that fat kid on Maury Povich a couple of years ago. That's what happens when you sit around playing video games...

[norkusa]

Man, I've had so many great thrift/pawn finds over the years. One that sticks out just happened a couple months ago. I picked up the following games & guides at a pawn for $50 total (all totally mint and scratch free):

Valkyrie Profile + guide
Legend Of Mana +guide
FF Tactics (original) + guide
Chrono Cross (original) + guide
Final Fantasy Anthology (original)
Tales Of Destiny
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure

Had another great pawn find last year that wasn't game related. Bought a very rare 360 Systems synthesizer for $75. Sold it the next week for $1,000. Don't think I'll ever top that one!

[VinnyT]

Um, Link: The Faces of Evil for CD-I for $.75 since the guy at the desk was charging all "Playstation" games for cheap

[KirbyStar27]

probably....Genesis model 3 with about 4 games for $16! or somthin else that i cant remeber !! :D

[tonyvortex]

i dont know if it counts since it was at work(i work at a used cd store)but they both were only $1 .
http://img24.photobucket.com/albums/v71/tonyvortex/ataritogether.jpg

[diediemydarling]

top loader- for 3.99, came with all the cords minus the dogbone controller :(

[christhegamer]

I once came-across a complete R-zone arcade set with no games at goodwill for $9.99. I passed on it :(.

[Jumpman Jr.]

A whole lot of nothing... The pawns/thrifts suck in my area.
Still though, the best would have to be a complete (really mint) copy of Double Dragon 3 for the SNES -_-

[weirdguy]

If Value Village count, here's my best find:

Virtual Boy - 5$
Vectrex - 5$
Action 52 - 2$

And recently I ot a Dragon Warrior 3 loose for 2$.

[Slate]

I think i did pretty good last year.

71 Games - 68 NES, 3 SNES - No Duplicates - A $350 Value (Bought for $20) Highlights include Megaman 2, 3, And 4, Lolo 1, 2, And 3, Uninvited, Maniac Mansion, Adventure Island 3, Ultimate League Soccer, and Tetris 2.*

2 BNEW And Sealed Atari 2600 Games - Night Driver (BNEW & Shrinkwrapped) And Tank Brigade (An R7 - Not Shrinkwrapped, But Still Sealed) Tank brigade cost $2, while Night Driver cost $3.

Bought every one at the same goodwill. Within a month's time of each other.

*EDIT: Also, Power Blade 2. I didn't realize its value then.

[Mattiekrome]

Well, not much really...

Picked up a NES 52-in-1 minty pirate cart for 2 bucks once... Sadly that was one of the more "fun" finds of mine...

I do tend to find games that with a good resale value fairly often though, so thats cool too (N64 Mario Kart, N64 Smash Bros, NES Bubble Bobble, NES Punch Out, etc...)

[Haoie]

Funny, I didn't know Cashies existed in the US.

Anyway, I got Suiko 2 for $15NZ at Cashies too, a long time back.

[DigitalSpace]

A few GBA games (all loose):
-Metroid Zero Mission for $7.95 in summer 2004
-Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for about 14 bucks at the
same place on the same day
-SimCity 2000 for six bucks in March of this year
-Donkey Kong Country 2 and Need For Speed
Underground 2 for $22 total in August of this year
-Namco Museum for five bucks earlier this year. I wound
up finding a box and manual for it a couple weeks later.

-Ys III (SNES, loose) for $2.99 on the same day and at the same place I got Metroid Zero Mission & Mario & Luigi

-Clayfighter Tournament Edition (SNES, loose) for $2.99 sometime in 2004

-Super Empire Strikes Back (SNES, loose) for 99 cents sometime in 2004

-Rad Racer (NES, loose) for 99 cents this month

[swlovinist]

Well, I have to brag about this one, I found a copy of SECRET AGENT unreleased proto for the Atari 2600 this month for only 99 cents. By far my best score ever. I found it with 2 other Data Age protos for that were also a mere 99 cents. At a time when a common Atari cart is usually found at 3.99 or more, I feel dam lucky

here is the link to the pictures of the game carts:

http://videogamecollectors.com/gallery/noisycricketroomofdoom

[smokehouse]

I’ve had some good finds:
-NES Contra Force for $2
-Castlevania SotN for $10
-SNES Final Fight Guy $6
-Top load NES in box $20
-Atari 2600 “vader” + 60 games $30
-SNES Final Fantasy II $10
-Japanese PS1 Final Fantasy Collection $15

There’s been some others but nothing major, I can’t complain but I will say that for the most part, the deals are drying up thanks to “internet pricing”.

[Reverend JagDiesel]

Lets see...
CIB 5200 system (4 port) w/ CIB trackball and about 25 games (all loose) for $20
Swordquest Waterworld (loose) $.49
Colecovision w/ roller controller, 2600 expansion, driving expansion, 4 super controllers (all loose) for $10
300 loose 2600 games (were going to get trashed) for $15
Channel F w/ 6 games $5

All these were from thrifts that no longer carry any games for under $5 or systems for under $25 (more w/ controllers or power cords). I sure miss the good old days of cheap thrifts and non eBay pricing!

[rjohnson]

Suikoden 2 complete for $3.00...pawn
2600 Boing for $0.75 G_sale (yes...75 cents)
Bubble Bobble part two... $1.00 G_sale
Chrono Trigger $0.75 G_sale
Bubble bobble PSx complete and new for $ 1.00 G_sale

complete CDX in perfect unplayed (but open) condition $30.00 VAlue Village

Toploader nes perfect and complete $70.00 gamecrazy
Street fighter two New Challengers CPS2 cabinet $40.00 (online craig's list).

Aliens Vs Predators and Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo CPS2 boards $20 each at a G_sale

Complete PS grey one with ~ 70 game sonline at craig's list for $100. with Almost all of the square/enix rpgs 9xenogears,FF,wild arms,Battle ogre...etc... all complete and perfect condition...

okay... i have been doing this for a while now.... so i'll stop.


but you get the idea...
:)

[XianXi]

Goodwill:

Sega CD
-----------------
Lunar 1 & 2
Shining Force
Snatcher

All mint and complete for $3.99 each

Pawn Shop
------------------
Suikoden II - Sealed for $10(Originally wanted $15 for it but brought it down because he thought it was too high for an old game) LOL

[dcescott]

Big Nose Freaks Out loose 2.99
Contra NES loose 2.99 same place same day
Balloon Fight CIB, mint!! 3.99

[Son of Bael]

Vampire Savior for the Saturn for £5, and Megaman X3 and Dragonforce for £8 each (all PAL) a couple of years back were my best finds I reckon.

[Sailorneorune]

Let's see here... good stuff from pawns and the like...

Phantasy Star IV (cart/manual)
Earthbound (cart only)
both $7 at a local pawn about 4-5 years ago

and from the infamous Book Broker (not quite a pawn, but a neat little everything shop so to speak):

Metroid Fusion (complete): $10
Legend of Mana (complete, minty): $10
XCom UFO Defense (complete, slight damage to booklet, disc in very good+ condition): $7
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (disc only, non-GH): $3
.hack//SIGN anime volumes 3-5: $25 (good deal as they were the ones I was missing! LOL)
The Legend of Zelda Ocarina/Master Quest bonus disc (complete, minty): $10
Lunar Silver Star Story Complete AND Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete: $40 for both, gave them to a friend that Christmas as a combo birthday/Christmas present (I'm sure some of you have that one friend who is a late December baby and has slightly more potential to be spoiled than everyone else). Boy, was I stupid.
Dreamcast VMUs: $2/ea.
Gamecube Memory Card 1019: $10!
1st party Xbox Memory Card (which neither my boyfriend nor I still have a damn clue how to use... please help): $10
Final Fantasy VII strategy guide: $4
Super Mario All-Stars strategy guide: $3
Pokemon Sapphire (cart only, minty label): $7
Gunstar Heroes (complete! but a former rental w/ labels on cart and manual...:( ): $10
Magic Knight Rayearth manga boxset: $15
The Slayers season 1 anime boxset: $35 (this was when they were still $120 a pop, not too great of a deal now)

Well, that's all I remember! ;)
-sailorneorune

[OdSquad64]

i've never really had too much luck at the thrift stores as they rarely have videogame stuff but i've bought;

Virtual Boy(no stand, visor, or battery pack) + Warioland $2
NES Power Pad $2
Snes + 2controllers + all hook ups(everything mint) $8

still hoping for a big find though, maybe next time

[cyberfluxor]

Thank god Cash Converters are indepently owned. I visit 3 of their stores weekly, and go to 2 privately owned game resale shops. I also swing by 5 different GameStop and 2 EB Games locations from time to time. There are 2 thrift stores I rarely drop into, and a place called Consignment City. I love the Cash Converters because they generally sell you amazing games for $1-5. To find the good stuff I venture to the game resale shops, like this Replay store that hooks me up with Saturn games. Usually I can pick up some cheap games at the CC's (Cash Converters) and sell them to the resale shops for good $$$.

[cyberfluxor]

i've never really had too much luck at the thrift stores as they rarely have videogame stuff but i've bought;

Virtual Boy(no stand, visor, or battery pack) + Warioland $2
NES Power Pad $2
Snes + 2controllers + all hook ups(everything mint) $8

still hoping for a big find though, maybe next time

Ya, I don't usually find things at thrift stores either. I usually go into there for costume outfits for Cons and what have you. The last thing I bought from a thrift store was a few months back, for $5 I got 2 tower 15" 3-way speakers that are 200watts.

[geekcomputing]

i got 30 atari lynx games new in box complete for 40 bucks shipped.

sold em all for 250.

and picked up some Bose 161 speakers at a garage sale for 15 bucks.. sold on ebay a month later for 118

[S_W_Prof]

nes joystick
Quickshot Maverick 2 - 99cents
Hells ya :D

[Toandirte]

Nothing great Mega Man X3 for $5 at a pawn

[almostgotthemall]

Nintendo World Championships 1990

My find of a lifetime for 4.99 at Value Village, plus I used a coupon.

[ncman071]

the best pawn shop find(s) i can remember are a complete copy of Snatcher on SegaCD back around 2006 for $5...more recently couple years back found complete copy of Haunting Grounds on PS2 for $2...which is sold for $100....lets see..other notable titles include several gamecube games...ssbm, all the RE games...there are others just cant remember

[Natty Bumppo]

By far my best find was a Pioneer A-100 laserdisc player - the laseractive base unit - it even had the rare cover for the Pac port. The thrift store wanted $100 for it and I gambled that nobody would know what it was and got it for $50 when the tag color cycled to half off.

I also have a strange dual joy stick controller unit (thing is huge) with cables for genesis, snes and a third unit I am not sure what it is supposed to be - found that in a thrift store for under $15.

[gbpxl]

By far my best find was a Pioneer A-100 laserdisc player - the laseractive base unit - it even had the rare cover for the Pac port. The thrift store wanted $100 for it and I gambled that nobody would know what it was and got it for $50 when the tag color cycled to half off.
nice. do you collect laserdisc?

[Natty Bumppo]

Yeah - been collecting those since 1982.

[gbpxl]

Yeah - been collecting those since 1982.
Does aspect ratio affect what you buy/how much you're willing to spend? For me, I can't bring myself to pay money for anything that is pan and scan or full screen.

Follow-up question to that- anamorphic or non-anamorphic? or don't care?

[Natty Bumppo]

Does aspect ratio affect what you buy/how much you're willing to spend? For me, I can't bring myself to pay money for anything that is pan and scan or full screen.

Follow-up question to that- anamorphic or non-anamorphic? or don't care?

I don't have any firm rules there - it just varies on what it is. If I have/had a choice I generally will go with the original theater presentation ratio if on laser. And I have no problem with picking up a dvd widescreen of something I have as pan and scan on laser - I keep the laser since one of the big attractions for me is the artwork. And sometimes there is something about both versions I find attractive - the two versions of Tom Jones on laser are different - the pan and scan is six minutes longer than the widescreen. Go figure.

[Gameguy]

Does aspect ratio affect what you buy/how much you're willing to spend? For me, I can't bring myself to pay money for anything that is pan and scan or full screen.

Follow-up question to that- anamorphic or non-anamorphic? or don't care?
Laserdiscs aren't anamorphic, they're letterboxed to widescreen. Meaning a widescreen movie is still output at fullscreen, just with solid black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. Some movies took advantage of this by having the subtitles shown on the bottom black bar instead of on the actual movie. They look fine on a regular TV but anything widescreen will just have the picture centred like any other fullscreen video.

Plus lots of films or videos were originally produced in fullscreen, some current DVDs just cropped the tops and bottoms of the film to make them widescreen. They did this to the re-release of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as one example, and the anniversary release of Ninja Scroll from awhile back. I don't care about widescreen vs fullscreen, I want the Original Aspect Ratio.

I've been getting into laserdiscs over the last few years, pretty much buying just what's not available on DVD or if films have been altered in some way. I know Balto on laserdisc is widescreen but the Region 1 DVD was cropped to fullscreen. Also I pick up Hong Kong films, with these the official DVDs can be hard to find or expensive so I'm less rigid with rules on buying them(plus these imports just look neat). It's only whatever I can find local and cheap, I don't pay much for them. Also similar rules to VHS tapes.

[gbpxl]

I don't have any firm rules there - it just varies on what it is. If I have/had a choice I generally will go with the original theater presentation ratio if on laser. And I have no problem with picking up a dvd widescreen of something I have as pan and scan on laser - I keep the laser since one of the big attractions for me is the artwork. And sometimes there is something about both versions I find attractive - the two versions of Tom Jones on laser are different - the pan and scan is six minutes longer than the widescreen. Go figure.
Nice. It is very rare that I find LD anywhere. I saw them at a flea market once. And I bought some off of Craigslist one time. beyond that, nothing. sometimes you see em mixed in with vinyl.

[Natty Bumppo]

Nice. It is very rare that I find LD anywhere. I saw them at a flea market once. And I bought some off of Craigslist one time. beyond that, nothing. sometimes you see em mixed in with vinyl.ne
They still show up at thrift stores now and then around here. Usually in very small numbers - although two weeks ago about 400 showed up at one - I bought 4 or 5. Nothing terribly rare - although I don't look for things just because they are rare - just things I like and don't have.
I haven't actively gone after lasers for a long time - mostly because I have most of what I want - the ten years or so after lasers phased out were the glory days as people dumped their collections. I think my favorite piece is a Hong Kong laser of "Night of the Comet" - which has since come out on dvd. But it is a pretty neat piece nonetheless.

[Niku-Sama]

oh boy I have found a lot of hard to find things at thrifts.

I'm not sure what the rarest would be, Its either the Vectrex for $5, the stack of Saturn games I got for fairly cheap that I mentioned not long ago in another thread or the 20" PVM I got for $15 about 2 or 3 years ago.

theyre all gaming related, by far not the rarest things I own but probably from a thrift.

[mailman187666]

Thrift store= Shantae on GBC for $1.33

Game store= Chase the Chuckwagon for $5

Flea Market= Swordquest: Waterworld for $15

[Steve W]

I also bought a Vectrex for $5! Okay, it didn't have a controller (I had to order a rewired Genesis controller from John Dondzilla) but it was totally worth it because I had just started thrift store shopping after reading online about how effective it is, but I had never found anything worthwhile to that point. Finding that Vectrex really made me want to really double down on the thrift store shopping, it gave me the confidence that I wasn't wasting my time.

The best flea market find was a Myriad 6-in-1 NES cartridge, loose. It was the only thing I've ever sold online, got $660 for it.

[jb143]

I haven't bought much from pawn shops. A few that I've been to seemed more like a hangout for the regulars and I had a weird feeling of not belonging in there. It was very off putting. Otherwise I've gotten a few games and DVD a few times from pawn shops but nothing to get excited about.

Thrift stores on the other hand, probably about 90% of my collection has come from those. This was back when there were more deals to be be had though.
Off the top of my head, some of my best finds were (with estimated prices)
Sealed GB Tetris ~$4
CIB Lufia and the Fortress of Doom ~$4
Intelligent Qube ~$3
CIB Atari Lynx ~$5
Boxed Sega Master System ~$15

Probably a lot more if I stopped to think about it.

[Steve W]

It just occurred to me that I do have a pretty good pawn shop story. I generally have never found anything in them, but in this one case I did. It was early 1989, and a computer store in Euless, TX was shutting down. So my friend and I went there to pick the bones. On the way, though, we stopped at a pawn shop for the hell of it, and I bought a handful of Intellivision games (I had just gotten my first Intelly a couple months before) including a white labeled cart called Mind Strike. When we got to the store, I ended up buying a second-hand Intellivision ECS Module. Turns out Mind Strike coincidentally would be playable only on the ECS Module, and I wouldn't find another ECS game in the wild for nearly 20 years. Pretty lucky, especially since it quickly became my all-time favorite Intellivision game.

[Tanooki]

My best gaming finds ever were online local marketplace items and this year too. Thrifts and pawns have topped out just with a console bundle for a fairly give away price and sort of not worth mentioning, same with one off games well off the mark too.

I see people have tossed online local/flea market stuff into it so here's 3 each from a different source.
Offerup - FREE modern arcade cocktail cabinet with iCade 60in1 board inside, lacked a screen (bought a 19" 5:4 ratio VGA screen+soundbar for $25) also needed another $10 into a black bezel and keylock.
Facebook Mkt - 2 Slot Neo-Geo all stock cabinet w/9legit games (2 partial kits) + the 161in1 for $500+Dragon Warrior 4 and guidebook (technically free, sold a useless pinball machine off, came out ahead.)
Craigslist - Home Use Only Pin-Bot pinball machine, technically cost me $1500 (realistically 10 NES+SNES games to cover it I didn't ever play.)

Non-gaming, spent $10 at a Goodwill a year ago, ended up buying what ended up being a super rare toy set from Israel from the mid 1960s worth around $1000-2000USD depending on buyers interest.

[Slate]

I think i did pretty good last year.

71 Games - 68 NES, 3 SNES - No Duplicates - A $350 Value (Bought for $20) Highlights include Megaman 2, 3, And 4, Lolo 1, 2, And 3, Uninvited, Maniac Mansion, Adventure Island 3, Ultimate League Soccer, and Tetris 2.*

2 BNEW And Sealed Atari 2600 Games - Night Driver (BNEW & Shrinkwrapped) And Tank Brigade (An R7 - Not Shrinkwrapped, But Still Sealed) Tank brigade cost $2, while Night Driver cost $3.

Bought every one at the same goodwill. Within a month's time of each other.

Reiterating from 13 years ago, there was a copy of Power Blade 2 in there I picked for about 37 cents. Now it's going for over $500. (No, I don't still have it.)

Tank Brigade was probably one of the few copies, if not the last one, still sealed. (I sold that too.)

Other deals I found are:

NES Action Set, New - $40, Local Consignment Shop (does this still count?)
NES Top Loader (Yellowed on back with a piece of plastic missing; Dogbone controller included) - Salvation Army, Jan/Feb 2006, $5 (Incidentally, the 68 NES games posted above included a yellowed copy of Dr. Mario that fit the yellowing on this Top Loader to a T so I figure these two individuals were together for years.)
Virtual Boy with Controller and 1 Game (minus the stand) - $3, Goodwill, 2005/2006.

- Austin

[Niku-Sama]

what is with Dr Mario being stuck in systems for years?

When I got my Sharp NES tv it had Dr Mario in there and it looked as if it had been in there the better part of a decade, there was a dust line that went across the top where the smettal support goes across the cart tray, same one in a standard toaster. it was quite the accumulation of dust too...

I wonder if I have that pic

[Cornelius]

what is with Dr Mario being stuck in systems for years?

When I got my Sharp NES tv it had Dr Mario in there and it looked as if it had been in there the better part of a decade, there was a dust line that went across the top where the smettal support goes across the cart tray, same one in a standard toaster. it was quite the accumulation of dust too...

I wonder if I have that pic

Funny, Dr Mario is in my hooked up NES right now. It is a game that my wife or kids might also play, and play together, for 10-30 minutes when nothing particular is going on.

[Slate]

what is with Dr Mario being stuck in systems for years?

When I got my Sharp NES tv it had Dr Mario in there and it looked as if it had been in there the better part of a decade, there was a dust line that went across the top where the smettal support goes across the cart tray, same one in a standard toaster. it was quite the accumulation of dust too...

I wonder if I have that pic

Well, I found the same pic as I was browsing finds threads; here you go:

https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8473&d=1454914432&thumb=1

https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8472&d=1454914419&thumb=1

https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?174437-2016-Yearly-Finds-Thread&p=2035032&viewfull=1#post2035032

- Austin

[Niku-Sama]

ah yea that's it, when I took it out the contacts in the cart connector had lightly fused with it, felt like in doing a screw or nut that hadn't been turned since it was installed from the factory and gives that light pop feeling when it lets go

[Slate]

ah yea that's it, when I took it out the contacts in the cart connector had lightly fused with it, felt like in doing a screw or nut that hadn't been turned since it was installed from the factory and gives that light pop feeling when it lets go

I'm amused. You didn't have to spray penetrating oil inside, did you?

(Also, to be on topic with 2018, I'd be fortunate to find something at all right now. I might be exaggerating a little.)

- Austin

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Golden Axe Warrior on Sega Master System, CIB, for $16 on July 12, 2009. The box isn't in the best condition, but it's passable.

[fluid_matrix]

I've never found anything interesting at a pawn shop that was worth posting about. :(

A quick recommendation though, pics would make this thread much more enjoyable. :)