Longest ever traveled for a video game related item?

[NintendoMan]

Just wondering whats the farthest anyone on here has traveled for a video game related item? I know people have said here and there how long they went if it was unusually long, but wanted to make a specific thread just to see exactly how far someone has went.

The longest I have ever traveled was to pick up my Playchoice 10 Countertop arcade machine. Oh, she is a beaut, never being on location either the thing is practically exactly like BRAND NEW with just a few exceptions. Anyways, I left my house at 9 at night, then arrived to my destination (where the machine was) at around 9 in the morning. Then I got home at 9 at night.
Then after dropping the machine off at my house I had to drive another 2.5 hours to the lake were my family was. (Just thought I'd throw that last 2.5 in there, I guess it doesn't count, but damn after traveling a day straight it seems like forever!!!)

So counting stops and eating, I was on the rode for pretty much exactly 24 hours. It was definately worth it though. I was lucky enough to talk my girlfriend into going to keep me company. I live in Missouri and had to travel to the VERY END of Tennesee.

[Sniderman]

I have a similar story. Joe (DP) held one of his famous game nights and I was already planning to attend. I'm in Ohio, Joe's in NJ. Anypoop, I had recently bought an arcade machine and I stupidly shattered the monitor neck. Scott (supersonic) said he had a spare he could sell me.

So, I left Ohio at 6 a.m., drove to NJ, met Scott and got the new monitor, hung out there for a few hours playing games and sh!t-shootin', then drove home, arriving in my driveway - yup - at 6 a.m. the next morning. About 900 miles round-trip.

[Flack]

I bought my Heavy Barrel cabinet from a guy in Houston. From Oklahoma City, that's 460 miles one way, or 920 miles round trip.

What made it so horrible was that it was OU/Texas weekend, which means the 7 hour one way trip became closer to 9 hours. Did I mention it was raining?

The trip I did yesterday (for four arcade cabs) was 275 miles to Sulphur Springs, TX, or 550 miles round trip.

[DDCecil]

50 miles just to pick up a used Marvel vs Capcom 2 for DC... During a horrible winter storm (2002)
20 miles to get a Sega CD system and Super Metroid (1994?)

[AlanD]

A friend passed away and his father wished me to take his video game collection since he would rather I have it than it be just stored in a closet. I agreed to drive up there and grab it. The trip ended up being:

Drive from Virginia Beach VA to Randleman NC (5 hours) to drop off animals with mother-in-law.
Drive from there to Hartville SC (2 hours) to pick up my mom's minivan since all we had was a Cavalier.
Drive from SC to Flint, Michigan (15 hours)

Picked up enough stuff to fill the minivan with a layer of boxes across the back since there were no seats in it.

Left there and went to Chicago, IL to visit a friend who used to run an Atari computer BBS back when I was in school with the Navy in North Chicago. (4.5 hours or so)

Picked up about 15 boxes of Atari computer stuff. Glanced in the paper and saw someone was advertising a Gaplus machine. Went into Chicago to check it out and bought it for $50. At this point, I have to do major repacking. At the end the van is full to the ceiling. The space between the two front seats is so full I cannot even see my wife in the passenger seat. I go so far as to have her put her feet on a box just to get the last bit in the van.

Leave Chicago to go to Virginia Beach, VA to offload. (15 hours)

Take van back to parents (5 hours)
Pick up animals (2 hours)
Drive home (5 hours)


So total of 53 hours of driving in 4 days to accomplish all that. I will never ever drive like that again. I still regularly make the trip up to the NAVA meets tho :)

[MarioAllStar2600]

I have travled out to Vegas the past 3 years for cge thats like a 6 hour plane ride one way. This year im going to San Jose which is even longer. Does that count?

[jenzyme]

I went to San Antonio from Austin when Gamestop started doing their 30% off all NES/SNES games. I would have considered Houston if I'd had the weekend off from work too.[/b]

[Elaundar]

2600 miles (really 2747, but 2600 is just cool :) )

Last July 4th we took a week long trip for the sole purpose of finding games we were missing for most of the major systems..

Day 1: 6/30/03
10:00 AM - Fort Worth,TX - get car, board cat at vet
2:30 PM - Lawton,OK (2 small independent shops)
4:30 PM - Norman, OK (1 Game eXchanges)
5:30 PM - Oklahoma City,OK (3 Game eXchanges)
2:00 AM - Little Rock, AR

Day 2: 7/1/03
10:00 AM-3:00PM - Little Rock, AR (4 Game eXchanges)
6:30 PM - Harrison, AR (1 Game eXchange)
9:00 PM - Springdale, AR (1 Game eXchange)

Day 3: 7/2/03
9:00 AM - Springdale, AR (?? store)
11:00 AM-2:00 PM - Fayetteville (2 Game eXchanges)
4:30 PM - Fort Smith (1 Game eXchange)
10:00 PM - Nearly eaten alive by moquitoes south of Pine Bluff, AR
2:30 AM - Mississippi Police wonder why Texans are driving to New Orleans, give a warning for "passing too close" ... whatever.
5:00 AM - Hammond, LA

Day 4: 7/3/03
9:00 AM - Hammond, LA (1 Game eXchange - closed from Hurricane Flood)
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM - New Orleans, LA (2 Game Traders)
5:00 PM (small independent shop in Baton Rouge)
8:45 PM Slidell, LA ( 1 Game Trader)

Day 5: 4th of July, 2003
9:00 AM- Hammond, LA (1 Game eXchange open!)
10:00 - 2:00 Look for game shops while driving in hurricane
5:00 PM - Sulphur, LA (early to bed)

Day 6: 7/5/03
All day - family north of Houston (Livingston, TX)

Day 7: 7/6/03
3:00 PM - College Station, TX (1 FX)
6:00 PM - Austin (1 FX)

Day 8: 7/7/03
10:00 AM - Austin,TX (1 FX, 2 gamestops, 1 microplay?)
1:30 PM - Temple,TX (1 FX)
2:30 PM - Waco, TX (1 FX)
4:49 PM - Pick up cat from vet - sleep for 20 hours straight

===============

When it was said and done, budget rental was stunned that we could put that many miles on a car in one week.. We had absolutely NO room left in the full size car when we got back. In all, we got about 2000 games on this trip. Paying no more than 66% of the marked price in all cases. Game eXchanges will make you a deal when you bring up huge stacks of old nintendo games that (quoting them) "no one wants because they look funny" (the blue/black 3rd party carts) or "no one wants because they are so old".

We could have gotten better deals by going to flea markets, but it was the most fun anyone could EVER have collecting games.

[Stark]

Well back in the days of no internet for me we here in the Midwest had the good 'ol Tradin Times paper to look through. It was always full of games for sale adds. So I called up a local add for a large collection of games and the older guy had a few boxes full but they were up in Wisconsin which he was going to go get over the weekend. I said hey why not meet him there so I drove about 100 miles one way and brought home a trunk full of games. 8-)

[Balloon Fight]

About 70 miles or so to pick up my Galaxian arcade machine. It was sure worth it. :)

If CGE counts though, then like 400 miles to attend.

[maxlords]

Well, when I first moved to Canada, I got a deal on a huge lot of imports in Boston. Drove approximately 10+ hours to Boston, got a hotel, stayed overnight, got around 500 games. Then we drove to Conneticuit to visit a friend in New Britain and get even MORE games! Stayed overnight again. Then all the way back home. Something like 30 hours of driving total. Totally insane. Plus, there was a chip bad in my transmission, so every time my car got warm from driving for more than a couple hours, I'd go to stop and the engine would die. And going to Boston...think how many tollbooths....

The toll booth ops got some great laughs with us trying to get the car starting rocking back and forth to try and keep it rolling. They were totally busting up :)

Other than that, I'll be flying from Ontario to CGE....that's a long way too :D

[tholly]

to get something that i specifically knew i was getting (not just a trip to look for stuff, or a trip that i came accross something at random) -- the trip to pick up my neo geo mvs or my nintendo vs. both were at seperate times to the same place....about 1 1/2 - 2 hours one way so about 4 hours total for each machine.

[DigitalSpace]

Well, for me, there's a CD/Game Exchange all the way across town in Hillsboro that I like to check out once a month. Since I don't have a car and ride the bus/light rail everywhere, that's a 1 1/2 hour trip from my house in SE Portland all the way out to Hillsboro. But I've found some nice stuff there, the highlights being a complete Genesis Virtua Racing for $2.50 and a loose Mr. Do! for SNES in near-mint condition for $1. There's also a Gamestop and Gamecrazy nearby so I check out those stores too, since I'm in the area.

It's not really too far, but it's somewhat of a day trip for me.

[Sanriostar]

Just the 4 hour trip to CGE in 2000 and 2001

[kevincure]

I'm also not sure whether you guys would count it, but Qixmaster, me, and some friends drove 1000 miles each way to Vegas from Eugene, OR last summer. Ah, nice open roads out West, we probably averaged 90 miles an hour both ways.

[-hellvin-]

My longest trip was about a 120 mile trip to Tucson to check out a few bookman's stores. One of these days, I would love to do a huge hunting run around 2000 miles. Come CGE, I will probably hit a ton of places on the way down there, which should be quite a blast.

[The Collector]

A week ago from last friday, i friend and i drove from Milwaukee at 4pm to Chicago to meet Ed Oscuro to sell him a cocktail table machine around 7pm. Then back on the road to meet Shai Hulud to buy a 29" MVS Candy Cab in St. Louis. Arrived there at 12:30AM. Loaded up and back on the road because I had to be at work at 7AM on Saturday. Made it home around 6:30am and was a few minutes later for work but hey, it was OT on a Sat. for christ's sake. Worked till 2pm, went home and showered and slept till 5am on sunday, then worked another 8 on Father's day. That was DOUBLE time for me, $55/hr. :D

[atomicthumbs]

Depending on how an auction goes today... It will be 19 hours round trip. I will not tell until the auction has ended for fear of you psychos bidding against me (I'll let you know later today).

[Ed Oscuro]

@ Alan D - I'm sorry to hear about that. I'm happy that your friend's collection found its way into a good home, though...if something like that happens to me I surely hope my own junk will be taken in by somebody.

I actually just finished replying to a PM from The Collector. He bought a Stratovox machine way out in the Northwest somewhere, and we met up in Chicago (he was traveling that day down to St. Louis, ouch! It was already close to 7 when we finally met up) to swap money and machine.

That is certainly the farthest I have gone for a video game piece, thus far.

When I was in Britain I visted a game shop but it was mostly contemporary junk I didn't care about nor really have money for. I wasn't about to drop money on a PAL Metal Gear Solid in a beat up case, much as I would've liked to have the game.

I hope to bring back something when I visit Hawaii and Australia pretty soon.

[rotten03]

Then back on the road to meet Shai Hulud to buy a 29" MVS Candy Cab in St. Louis. Arrived there at 12:30AM.
So you mean you bought an arcade machine from Shai Hulud? Holy crap thats great. I'm a huge fan of theirs. I saw them a year or so ago in Chicago. Kind of goes with the story, I drove 6 hours to see them play.

[Porkchop]

[quote="Elaundar"]2600 miles (really 2747, but 2600 is just cool :) )

Last July 4th we took a week long trip for the sole purpose of finding games we were missing for most of the major systems..

Day 1: 6/30/03
10:00 AM - Fort Worth,TX - get car, board cat at vet
2:30 PM - Lawton,OK (2 small independent shops)
4:30 PM - Norman, OK (1 Game eXchanges)
5:30 PM - Oklahoma City,OK (3 Game eXchanges)
2:00 AM - Little Rock, AR

Elaunder,

If you make that trip again, just wanted to let you know there is another gameXchange in the OK City area you missed. I think the new one is right on I35 in a small town just south of OK City. I don't remember the name of the town but it is the one that keeps getting hit by tornados.

I traveled there on business this past April and discovered GameXchange stores. They are Great Stores! I had to buy another bag to everything home on the plan. I wish they had them here on the east cost.

Anyway does it count is you go on vacation and look for video games? I made two long trips:

1. I went from Washington DC to Seatle and BC Canada and bought some games.

2. I took a trip ot Turkey About 9 hours flying time each way and bought a famicom multi cart.

[atomicthumbs]

Depending on how an auction goes today... It will be 19 hours round trip. I will not tell until the auction has ended for fear of you psychos bidding against me (I'll let you know later today).



GOT IT!!! (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=21201&item=8113756739&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW)

Been looking for one of these since 1999! They were all supposed to be donated to the Children's Miracle Network (which I found out later that they were gutted for the TV and N64). So, any ones that found their way home to shady employees are probably either trashed or kept in a garage or something. Auction says that he can't get it to work, but thanks to the picture of the inside, the only reason it's not working is because it's missing the game cart. SCORE!

[-hellvin-]

Then back on the road to meet Shai Hulud to buy a 29" MVS Candy Cab in St. Louis. Arrived there at 12:30AM.
So you mean you bought an arcade machine from Shai Hulud? Holy crap thats great. I'm a huge fan of theirs. I saw them a year or so ago in Chicago. Kind of goes with the story, I drove 6 hours to see them play.

I believe shai hulud is a person on these forums.

[atomicthumbs]

I believe shai hulud is a person on these forums.

Indeed he is.

http://img30.photobucket.com/albums/v89/atomicthumbs/shaihuludgetsacookie.jpg

[Gnarkill]

I once traveled about 2 hours for a second DC contoller(the day of its release), after checking every store until I found an ebgames in a mall, just to play PowerStone with 1 of my friends. 2 hours back and took awhile to stop and search everystore along the way.

[atomicthumbs]

6 hours round trip to a Toys 'R Us so a friend and I could each get an exclusive Extreme Green N64 controller.

[Nez]

Went on the trip to Tucon Az with -Hellvin- took all day and I got a cold from it. Blech the only thing I found was Panzer Dragoon. :(

[SegaAges]

If I had the money to do a 1000 game trip I would.

The farthest I have traveled for a game, um...
about 10-15 miles to the other side of Omaha (I live there). I bought about 3 or 4 games hehehe.

I don't want to try and steal this thread by any means, but how much are you guys paying for games when you do these 2000 game trips?

[gamergary]

About an hour to go pick up my top loader.

[ubikuberalles]

I have travled out to Vegas the past 3 years for cge thats like a 6 hour plane ride one way. This year im going to San Jose which is even longer. Does that count?

Ditto for me. It's an eight hour drive to Vegas for me. I also drove to Tulsa for OKGE which is also an eight hour drive each way. This year I'll be driving to San Jose which will be about 16 hours each way.