Flack's Gaming Road Trip - 01-16-05 (Many Pix)

[Flack]

My friend The Stranger hit me up with a plan for today. He decided today would be a great day to gas up the car and head to Tulsa. His main interest was hitting all the used bookstores in town; mine was to hit all the game stores. Both of us had tons of fun and bought tons of stuff -- here's how the trip played out.

http://www.robohara.com/videogames/articles/011605_tulsa/Photo_011505_008.jpg

Gardner's Bookstore in Tulsa. Despite the fact that they're mainly a bookstore, Gardner's has CDs, vinyl, toys, VHS and DVD movies, and even a Mexican Cafe -- no kidding! We also discovered that they have a pretty decent videogame section!

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Here were the loose Atari carts. Nothing too exciting, but they were all marked a buck or two.

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Next to the Atari carts were boxed and loose Odyssey II games and a few boxed Atari Jaguar games. The boxed Odyssey II games were $15 each.

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Xbox games, boxed N64 games, and in the next cabinet, Genesis games.

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Behind the counter was one really nice looking boxed Odyssey II. $109, ouch. Also, note plenty of Power Joy III's on the right.

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More loose, random carts under the glass.

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These were all Game Gear games, priced between $2-$5.

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Anyone need a Xizor figure? Gardner's had plenty.

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The next stop on the trip were Tulsa's two Vintage Stock stores. Vintage Stock kicks so much ass it's not even funny. Unfortunately for me, there's not one in Oklahoma City; Tulsa (2 hours away) is the nearest location. If you've never been to a Vintage Stock, they specialize in vintage toys, comics, and games.

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The store is much bigger than this picture makes it look! This is just the "vintage" toy section. Man, check out all those cool, classic Star Wars toys, still in the box!

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The NES counter had plenty of boxed goodness.

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The loose Atari 2600 area kicked plenty of ass as well.

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You want N64 stuff? Vintage Stock has that too!

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The Stranger checks his printed out Mapquest maps which guided us from store to store.

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Flack and The Stranger, in a moment of road trip stupidity, head over to the other Vintage Stock location.

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Before we made it to the other Vintage Stock, we happened across this Coney place. Three Coneys and a Coke for under $5.

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The Stranger seems pleased with his hotdog and fries.

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Here's the loose NES section at the second Vintage Stock.

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Next to the NES games were more Genesis games, both boxed and loose.

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32x!

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Vintage Stock has more than games. Those are N64, Sega Master Systems, Super Nintendos, and other systems in those boxes.

From Vintage Stock, we headed next door to a small, indoor flea market. Flea Market isn't really the right word; it was more like a flea-ridden thrift store. They had a few cool items inside though!

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More Odyssey II stuff -- how cool is that!

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I don't even know what system these carts are for. Anyone?

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I know what this is! Vintage metal Dragon's Lair lunchbox. $20.

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Our final stop (that wasn't a bookstore) was this Antique Mall just outside of Tulsa. I found a few more Game Gear games here ($2 each) and a laserdisc so I can test my laserdisc player.

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My kitchen isn't really red -- I don't know why this picture looks like this. This is the first half of my pile.

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This is the second half -- all Atari 2600 games.

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And here's one final shot of it all together.

-----

NES
10 Yard Fight - $3
TECMO Super Bowl - $3
Burgertime (Boxed) - $4

Atari 2600 (About $60 Total)
Activision Decathalon (R1)
Dragster (R1)
Fishing Derby (R1)
Football (R1)
Grand Prix (R1)
Human Cannonball (R1)
Keystone Kapers (R1)
Megamania (R1)
Missile Command (R1)
Pole Position (R1)
RealSports Baseball (R1)
RealSports Football (R1)
Solaris (R1)
Starmaster (R1)
Target Fun (R1)
Tennis (R1)
Adventures of TRON (R2)
Baseball (R2)
Crystal Castles (R2)
Fast Food (R2)
Gorf (R2)
Indy 500 (R2)
Infiltrate (R2)
Q*Bert (R2)
Robot Tank (R2)
Seaquest (R2)
Space Cavern (R2)
Space Chase (R2)
Space War (R2)
Spider-Man (R2)
Tank-Plus (R2)
Wizard of War (R2)
Zaxxon (R2)
Breakaway IV (R3)
Circus (R3)
Front Line (R3)
Math Gran Prix (R3)
Omega Race (R3)
Pressure Cooker (R3)
Worm War I (R3)
Gangster Alley (R4)
Stellar Track (R4)
Wabbit (R4)

Game Gear ($2-$4 each)
Sonic Chaos (R1)
Sonic: 2 (R1)
Sonic: Triple Trouble (R1)
Super Columns (R1)
Chuck Rock II (R2)
Shinobi (R2)
Terminator 2 (R3)
Sonic Blast (R4)

So there you go. A friend, a car, some maps and a credit card = one good day of shopping. :)

[squirrelnut]

:hail: i am your loyal peasant now all mighty flack. I think if i saw that many nes carts all in a row id break down crying... then find a way to ram my truck into the store and steal them all.

[Dimitri]

http://www.robohara.com/videogames/articles/011605_tulsa/Photo_011505_021.jpg

Here's the loose NES section at the second Vintage Stock.

O_O That's incredible awesomic. I think if I found a place where I could see something like that, that would make my year...

...and yes, I'm aware some of you have something like that in your own house. http://www.digitpress.com/forum/images/smiles/notworthy.gif

[soniko_karuto]

freat finds flack!

have fun with omega race, that game rocks hard. Let's not forget gorf too.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Oh man that's awesome.

Thanks for sharing your Gaming Road Trip with us Flack... :rocker:

[Goodwill Hunter]

http://www.robohara.com/videogames/articles/011605_tulsa/Photo_011505_031.jpg

I don't even know what system these carts are for. Anyone?

APF M-1000 carts...don't see too many of those in the wild!

Rich

[-hellvin-]

Wish I could see these pictures but for some reason I can never see any picture you link, it makes me really sad. Oh well, sounds like a kick ass trip.

[Classicgamesdepot]

Thanks for the pics man!

[chaoticjelly]

Wow.. so many stores... heaven

[davidleeroth]

You're the man! I love seeing pics from the actual source. The supply in the States never ceases to amaze me, I'd go cuckoo back there.

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

My city needs games stores like those

[brykasch]

Damn flack, you must be not too far from me lol. Anyways in Springfield, MO we have two vintage stock stores here, called Caveman. Anyways I spend way to much time and money in these stores. THey always have a good selection, and fair prices. I mean how many places can you go in and find complete boxed 3D0 games for heaven's sake. I get alot of my good deals there. They also are good on giving fair prices on trade ins too.
Also about 4 times a year they have customer appreciation slaes, where you get 25% off all used games and systems. comics 4 for a 1$, and lots of cheap cards. Plus the staff is halfway knowledgable, and friendly.

On a side note. How can you go to Tulsa and not stop at Casa Bonita:)

mmm sopapilles

[icbrkr]

Arg! I need those APF carts :)

And it looks like you've hit all my favorite places in Tulsa - and missed a few (I didn't realize the book store had gotten that much more stuff in). I'll have to take you to a few more places whenever there's time.

[Simply Dave]

Hey bro, that was great fun to look at and read about! Nice haul, too!

[AFGiant]

That amazes me! \^_^/

[Flack]

Eh, we have a Casa Bonita (and several better places) right here in Oklahoma City. The Stranger has a pretty limited diet that doesn't include Mexican food.

Icbrkr, that's right, Tulsa is like halfway between us. Some Saturday we could meet up there and dork around a bit. I really wanted to check out that new casino but by the end of the day I had run out of steam. Plus it's Oklahoma Indian Gambling so I know it's not going to be great, but it still looks impressive (it's the huge new casino they built right around where I-44 turns into 412).

The coolest thing about Vintage Stock is that I was picking up R3s and R4s for a couple of bucks. If you're looking for commonish 2600, Genesis, NES, N64 or SNES games, that's definitely a place you want to check out. I always stock up when I go there, it's just too convenient to not do so. Plus, with my digital guide, it's fast and easy to determine which games I have and which ones I need.

[NintendoMan]

Thanks for posting the pics Flack. I ALWAYS love seeing pictures.

[Mattiekrome]

@_@

WOWZAS!

Great stuff there Flack, I woulda spent all kinds of money tho. Seems like we dont get that kind of stuff out here where I live (or maybe Im just looking in the wrong places) Those 32x games complete for 2.99 woulda rocked! And I'm still drooling over those boxed NES games under that glass counter.

[slip81]

Nice finds and cool pics. I wish I still had some flea markets near me, but the only good one burned down years ago.

[Flack]

The boxed 32x games were $10 I believe, not $2.99 (still a good deal if you're looking for them). I did see a Tengen Tetris under the glass counter. I thought for a minute I'd spotted a rarity but when I saw the $45 price tag, I knew they had spotted it too. :)

[howdoin]

That is awesome... I have yet to find a store like that in New York City.

Does anyone know about a good place for all the vintage goodness in NYC?

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

I also would like to know for Rochester NY

[tuxedojoe]

I live in Westchester NY and go to school in Manhattan, so, like the posters above, I would also like to know of some good places to buy games!

::cries in jealousy::

[chocobokick]

I like Tulsa a lot, that is why I keep moving back here I guess :) But Vintage Stock tends to know what they have unless it's like Saturn or Sega CD or something. In a few months time we found 4 3rd World War's there for like $5 each ^^
Since you are in OKC you should check out the Norman pawn shops! They were always really good to us when we lived there.

[drummy]

Very very very nice. I wish I had game stores like those remotely near me.

[imanerd0011]

SWEET GOD !!!! X_x

That picture of the rack of loose NES carts is what my dreams are made of. How much were they charging on those games on average? I would have looked through them for hours!

Anyways... great story and I love the pics.

[Flack]

SWEET GOD !!!! X_x

That picture of the rack of loose NES carts is what my dreams are made of. How much were they charging on those games on average? I would have looked through them for hours!

Anyways... great story and I love the pics.

Most of the games were between $5 and $15, with the majority of them being around $10. $10 for me is a good deal if there's a game you've been really looking for, but too much to pay when picking up simple commons.

[Predatorxs]

My friend The Stranger hit me up with a plan for today.

http://www.robohara.com/videogames/articles/011605_tulsa/Photo_011505_018.jpg

The Stranger seems pleased with his hotdog and fries.


Very cool flack, and funny.. I'll have to start going on game collecting quests like that ;)

http://www.xs.dsl.pipex.com/avator/ms_ufo.gif..XS

[Aussie2B]

Holy shit, the selection at those stores is more than "decent". o_o I've never seen any stores with that many classic games here in NYC or back in Western Washington.

[sirgeoph]

http://www.robohara.com/videogames/articles/011605_tulsa/Photo_011505_021.jpg

Here's the loose NES section at the second Vintage Stock.

O_O That's incredible awesomic. I think if I found a place where I could see something like that, that would make my year...

...and yes, I'm aware some of you have something like that in your own house. http://www.digitpress.com/forum/images/smiles/notworthy.gif

My office looks like that :D

[classicb]

Good job picking up the Tecmo Super Bowl. It was the right thing to do. Thanks for posting the pics it was very enjoyable to scroll through. It ads alot more than the "here are my finds posts" I hope you do something like this again.

[Xexyz]

Another New Yorker wondering about any good vintage stores. I live in Syracuse NY and have found only one very crappy vintage store (near Carousel Mall) with questionable prices...

[grimbal]

On a side note. How can you go to Tulsa and not stop at Casa Bonita:)

mmm sopapilles

Last time I was there (2002/2003) they were gone. Not sure if they shutdown or moved but they weren't in that spot anymore. I was disappointed because I wanted to take my daughter on their merry-go-round. :(

[Melf]

Awesome road trip! Stuff like this is what's great about being a gamer.

I only wish PR had vintage stores like those. :(

[DaBargainHunta]

WOW! AWESOME pictures. AWESOME story. AWESOME gaming haul. AWESOME road trip. Thank you, Flack, for taking the time to put all of this together. Really great, entertaining stuff here. A picture truly is worth a thousand words.