Sniderman
07-24-2004, 06:18 PM
Hey gang,
There have been a few "this place is picked over/dried up" threads of late and, I'll admit, I've been in that same boat for a while. However, today I had one of the better thriftin' runs than I've had in quite a while. Thought I'd share my finds with you in hopes of motivating you to "Keep the faith! Keep looking! Stuff is out there!"
I'm in central Ohio, not exactly a videogaming mecca around here. Most folks are savvy to eBAy, so if you see anything at a garage sale, it's likely to be a $50 bare Sega Genesis or a $100 Nintendo 64. Anyway, this weekend is the monthly flea market at the fairgrounds. I hit it every month and it's the same vendors with the same stuff I've passed over a zillion times. Hell, I go out there now simply to find stuff for my wife's collections at this point. Well, today, there was a new vendor who have bins and bins of plastic toys - action figs, Happy Meal crap, the stuff you'd find in the "toy pile" at the Goodwill. Well, digging through yielded a nice pile of miscellaneous videogame goodness:
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/vgmisc.jpgFrom the top down: a Knuckles toy, a wind-up Pac-man toy, a Legend of Zelda candy dispensor, a Donkey Kong candy dispensor, a Frogger 2 clock (it's in his back), a wind-up Yoshi, a Mario Kart toy, MArio-being-chased-by-a-Bomb-omb toy, and a Luigi toy. Nice little haul that made me happier.
Went into a nearby building that usually holds the craft folks. Another new booth. Rummaging through his stack of rather-beat-up videos, I found:
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/vgvids.jpg
Three Sonic the Hedgehog videos and a Super Mario Bros. show - still sealed!
As I dug these videos out, I found they were all resting on top of a small stack of albums. And what was on the top?
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/Photo0010.jpg
Yup, a Pac-Man Fever LP. No inner sleve, the record's a bit scuffed, and he stupidly wrote the price in marker as shown, but dammit, I've been looking for one for a while. Groovy.
Went back to the bin guy's booth as I crossed the market to hit the other side. THe vendor called me over and said "Didn't you buy those videogame toys from me?" I said yes, and he TOSSED me these:
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/handhelds.jpg
Two of the Sega handheld Happy Meal games - both workin' fine. And he didn't charge me a dime. JUst told me to take 'em. :eek 2:
Now, I'm in a GREAT mood, but it was gonna get better. The rest of the market was a bit of a bust, but as I was leaving, I passed a table I've seen for months. Well, there was some new stuff that I was stunned to see. Grabbed these:
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/wallets.jpg
Two nylon Pac-Man wallets from 1982. Both look brand-spankin' new. Not recent remakes, but ORIGINALS. And then, right next to 'em, I saw these:
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/patches.jpg
6 classic arcade game iron-on cloth patches, still sealed! Pac-Man (3 of those), Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Frogger!
Over all a great flea run. On the way home, I hit a few garage sales, but found nothing interesting, until the last one. He had a bunch of videogames (N64, Genesis, nothing classic, and all at $10 or higher), and we got to talking. He spied my AT2600 license plate, so we began talking about classic stuff, which led to us discussing Digital Press (he said he'd visit), and just generally bullsh!ttin'. Anyway, the conversation turned to anime (he's a huge fan) and I said the only anime I've ever really liked with a passion is Lupin the 3rd, having most of the DVDs and vids. He smiled, said "Here," and tossed this at me:
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/lupin.jpg
Lupin the 3rd for PS2 - like freakin' NEW! I've been LOOKING FOREVER for this game. He told me he bought it, played it, and was going to trade it in later that evening at GAmestop. "YOu're the only dude who's hung out here and talked with me. Made the day go faster. Thought you'd like to have it."
I nearly fell over. Thanked him over and over and hightailed it out of there before he changed his mind. :D Nice guy. Hope he shows up here at DP.
So, what did all this cost? Let me put it to you this way. I left my house with $20 this morning. I still have change. Keep looking gang! I was discouraged due to a long dry-spell. But today's haul helped that dark mood! :-P
There have been a few "this place is picked over/dried up" threads of late and, I'll admit, I've been in that same boat for a while. However, today I had one of the better thriftin' runs than I've had in quite a while. Thought I'd share my finds with you in hopes of motivating you to "Keep the faith! Keep looking! Stuff is out there!"
I'm in central Ohio, not exactly a videogaming mecca around here. Most folks are savvy to eBAy, so if you see anything at a garage sale, it's likely to be a $50 bare Sega Genesis or a $100 Nintendo 64. Anyway, this weekend is the monthly flea market at the fairgrounds. I hit it every month and it's the same vendors with the same stuff I've passed over a zillion times. Hell, I go out there now simply to find stuff for my wife's collections at this point. Well, today, there was a new vendor who have bins and bins of plastic toys - action figs, Happy Meal crap, the stuff you'd find in the "toy pile" at the Goodwill. Well, digging through yielded a nice pile of miscellaneous videogame goodness:
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/vgmisc.jpgFrom the top down: a Knuckles toy, a wind-up Pac-man toy, a Legend of Zelda candy dispensor, a Donkey Kong candy dispensor, a Frogger 2 clock (it's in his back), a wind-up Yoshi, a Mario Kart toy, MArio-being-chased-by-a-Bomb-omb toy, and a Luigi toy. Nice little haul that made me happier.
Went into a nearby building that usually holds the craft folks. Another new booth. Rummaging through his stack of rather-beat-up videos, I found:
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/vgvids.jpg
Three Sonic the Hedgehog videos and a Super Mario Bros. show - still sealed!
As I dug these videos out, I found they were all resting on top of a small stack of albums. And what was on the top?
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/Photo0010.jpg
Yup, a Pac-Man Fever LP. No inner sleve, the record's a bit scuffed, and he stupidly wrote the price in marker as shown, but dammit, I've been looking for one for a while. Groovy.
Went back to the bin guy's booth as I crossed the market to hit the other side. THe vendor called me over and said "Didn't you buy those videogame toys from me?" I said yes, and he TOSSED me these:
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/handhelds.jpg
Two of the Sega handheld Happy Meal games - both workin' fine. And he didn't charge me a dime. JUst told me to take 'em. :eek 2:
Now, I'm in a GREAT mood, but it was gonna get better. The rest of the market was a bit of a bust, but as I was leaving, I passed a table I've seen for months. Well, there was some new stuff that I was stunned to see. Grabbed these:
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/wallets.jpg
Two nylon Pac-Man wallets from 1982. Both look brand-spankin' new. Not recent remakes, but ORIGINALS. And then, right next to 'em, I saw these:
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/patches.jpg
6 classic arcade game iron-on cloth patches, still sealed! Pac-Man (3 of those), Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Frogger!
Over all a great flea run. On the way home, I hit a few garage sales, but found nothing interesting, until the last one. He had a bunch of videogames (N64, Genesis, nothing classic, and all at $10 or higher), and we got to talking. He spied my AT2600 license plate, so we began talking about classic stuff, which led to us discussing Digital Press (he said he'd visit), and just generally bullsh!ttin'. Anyway, the conversation turned to anime (he's a huge fan) and I said the only anime I've ever really liked with a passion is Lupin the 3rd, having most of the DVDs and vids. He smiled, said "Here," and tossed this at me:
http://www.photodump.com/direct/sniderman/lupin.jpg
Lupin the 3rd for PS2 - like freakin' NEW! I've been LOOKING FOREVER for this game. He told me he bought it, played it, and was going to trade it in later that evening at GAmestop. "YOu're the only dude who's hung out here and talked with me. Made the day go faster. Thought you'd like to have it."
I nearly fell over. Thanked him over and over and hightailed it out of there before he changed his mind. :D Nice guy. Hope he shows up here at DP.
So, what did all this cost? Let me put it to you this way. I left my house with $20 this morning. I still have change. Keep looking gang! I was discouraged due to a long dry-spell. But today's haul helped that dark mood! :-P