Anyone have cigarette-flavored games?

[fishsandwich]

I've read a lot of Ebay auctions that say "games comes from a smoke-free home." I always thought that was silly.

I bought a couple of Sega Cd games off E-bay. They are in fine shape, but when I opened the box a raunchy & stale cigareete smell ran out of the box and sailed around the room. All three games STINK. I got rid of the little sponges you find with some Sega CD games, but the games still smell.

Will they ever air out and stop stinking? What can I do? They really reek.


:help:

[Zadoc]

LOL! I remember working at Gamestop/Funco/Babbage's and people used to bring in like 50 Genesis/Nintendo games at a time, systems and all, and they would just wreak.

We washed them with Windex and they stop smelling after a day or two.

[Lord Contaminous]

Ugh I remember I bought one NES game from a flea market once, when I blew on the inside, it smelled like someone smeared the cartridge with mustard.

[MarioAllStar2600]

It's just like anything else you want to air out. If it's a nice day out, just leave them otuside to air out in the shade. That should work. I'm not sure how long you should leave them outside for but...

[baddseed]

I bought some Intellivision carts on ebay once that showed up smelling like cat pee.

[stuffedmonkey]

My mom smokes 3 1/2 packs a day, and my dad smokes cigars. Anything had left at that house became nasty...

Any plastic surface - use rubbing alcohol and a paper towel. Windex isn't bad either. Works great on old carts and consoles. Don't let the label of the cart get wet!

For cd based games, get a bowl of hot soapy water and just drop the entire disk in and let it sit. Don't use alcohol/windex on these - can make the print side of the label run.

Manuals - not too much you can do about those. Wipe the outside with a dry paper towel to get any possible dust off, and let them sit open on their sides so all the pages are open. They get much better after a week.

CD game cases/dvd cases - you can take the cardboard inserts out and just have the plastic parts - let the cardboard sit and wash out the plastic portions in the sink.

Controllers - the smell can really get inside these - so just do the best you can wiping down the outside.

[sharp]

I bought some Intellivision carts on ebay once that showed up smelling like cat pee.

If I ever owned Intellivision-carts I would have sworn it was my cat who did that. My cat pissed over my collection of rare comics. It took me 2 years to got the serie of 5 comics complete and then the cat pissed over them. I was so pissed :angry:

[Slate]

Oh yeah.

A load of Ody2 stuff, Genesis stuff, And Super NES stuff...

I'm trading away most of it.

It was almost nothing but a headache. I had to use a dremmel on most of them to get them to play!

[tylerwillis]

Yeah... I get the occassional bad package off eBay... argh.

Febreeze can actually do wonderful things.

[CullJeff]

Thats why people who smoke cigarettes inside their houses are nasty. I bought a super famicom and i swear it has tar on it.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

I once bought a Saturn lot that stunk like reefer and old cigarette butts. I didn't really mind that much though seeing as I got 10 games with it for 50 bucks total.




I bought some Intellivision carts on ebay once that showed up smelling like cat pee.

If I ever owned Intellivision-carts I would have sworn it was my cat who did that. My cat pissed over my collection of rare comics. It took me 2 years to got the serie of 5 comics complete and then the cat pissed over them. I was so pissed :angry:

I hear ya guys. I remember my now deceased cat decided to go into my room and piss all over a bunch of anime and comic books I had lying around in there. Man was I.. umm, well.. pissed.

[TeddyRuxpin]

Just slightly off topic..
I've had that problem with Lego I got in a container once. But since it's all just plastic I was able to bump it into a big plastic bowl of hot soapy water and that worked great. Not really useful advice other than to backup using hot soapy water for plastic items such as CD cases. You could do the same for stinky controllers if you have them apart and if they don't have any glue or labels on the casing.

[imanerd0011]

I've never had a game that smelled like smoke, but I got a Mario doll off of Ebay and it stunk like someone blew cigerette smoke into its face for years. I have owned it for around 6+ months now, and it doesn't really smell anymore at all. Only when you squeeze it.

[TeddyRuxpin]

I've never had a game that smelled like smoke, but I got a Mario doll off of Ebay and it stunk like someone blew cigerette smoke into its face for years. I have owned it for around 6+ months now, and it doesn't really smell anymore at all. Only when you squeeze it.

Have you tried using Febreeze on it? Maybe you could put it into a plastic bag, spray febreeze into the bag and tie it closed quickly and leave it a day or two, with maybe adding more to it. There's actually a special febreeze for smoke I think.

[Putney]

That can be really annoying...I recently got a used SMT Nocturne that reeked of smoke. I took the insert out and left that, the manual, and the discs out for a few days. Helped some, but still has a funk to it.

I'm just amazed that my SNES, which spent 9 years in a house where both of my parents smoked incessantly, is still the pretty, factory shade of greyish white without a speck of yellow on it.

[Bluteg]

Maybe we just solved the yellowed SNES mystery...

Anyway I goo gone almost everything I buy so the orange citrus allways overpowers the funk.

[DJ_DEEM]

not so much ciggs for me but i have a copy of wave race for the GCN and i swear to god i cant get the friggin stink of moth balls out of it i dread going to play it cuz i know i will be faced with that horrible smell, im gonna try to air it out now that i think about it tho....hopefully that will fix it

[drummy]

I once got a Genesis model 1 that REEKED of cigarette smoke. I was even warned of it, since it came with a lot of games that came at a REALLY good price. I sold the games off (without warning the buyers by accident [resolved now]), and I don't go near the Genesis.

[jajaja]

Not smoke (as I can remember), but I bought a loose NES game once and when I opened the package it smelled like indian food or something hehe.

[Zach]

Yeah, I keep running into this problem. And wouldn't you know it... it's always the best deals that carry the worst stench of smoke. That huge box of games for $10, or the SNES with two controllers for $2... these are the ones that'll stink the worst!

Anyway, I always take smelly controllers and consoles apart and scrub the plastic parts with an old toothbrush using hot water and some sort of bathtub or tile cleaner. I love Lysol Basin, Tub and Tile cleaner for this task (I think that's what it's called.) Always works wonders. Of course, in a lot of cases, you'll need the elusive "gamebit" and some time to get a console apart, but it's worth the extra effort. I can completely deoderize a console in about 20 minutes. Now, those instruction manuals and boxes are a different story. Still don't have a surefire solution for those.

[DeputyMoniker]

I bought some Intellivision carts on ebay once that showed up smelling like cat pee.

Sorry dude but I used cat pee to get rid of the cigarette smell. Try cleaning it with sauerkraut, that should get rid of the cat pee.

I used to have a 3 button genny controller that smelled like bean dip. I ended up throwing it away because the thought of my controller being stuffed with bean dip made me sick.

[Mayhem]

I remember once when sending a few games I'd sold on eBay, the buyer asked as soon as he got them, whether they had come from a smoking household. Guess he wasn't a smoker and there was no trace of stink in his house, which made it obvious.

Thankfully he still took the games :P

As for the SNES, the yellowing plastic problem is not directly related to smoking OR UV in the sunlight. The plastic is a bit volatile and does break time over time producing the colour. I've had a friend open a new SNES that's been sealed for 10 years and it's still had some yellow on it when he unpacked it.

[Nesmaster]

the copy of willow i got from a goodwill had spiderwebs inside the case, by the exposed board, and smelled like dirt...

one game from an ebay lot had this green paste inside of it.... never figured out what it was, but the game works and its nice and clean now :D

slightly related:
i went to a garage sale and saw a nes sitting in a box. the thing looked like it had been sitting in the shed uncovered for years, so dirty and ugly looking. surprisingly, when i got it home, i looked inside and was greeted by a mint condition zelda 2 with mint contacts. (i already knew this at the garage sale, that link was in it, but found out at home that it was mint). So at this point i was like WTF @_@ , and took a whiff of the inside of the nes. the damn thing smelled factory new :O! Needless to say, i tested the nes without cleaning it first which is what i usually do, and it started 5/5 games the first time! So, this is the nes i now use, after cleaning the outside of course :P

[felix]

I posted on this earlier in another thread.. I just got a copy of FF7 for my ps1. It was a lovely off-brownish color and the manuals still stink. :angry: :angry:

[DeuZZ]

Kinda off-topic, but whatever.

A couple of months ago at a flea market I bought an NES and two controllers.
I went home to test it, but the games wouldn't load so I blew into the NES and out comes flying dust and HAIR! Lots of little, black, C formed hair, not the type you have on your head (man, I get goosegumps just thinking about where it could have come from).
It took me some time to get the guts to touch the console again, but now the games worked but the controllers didn't, so I opened them up to clean them and inside was even more hair.
The controllers are now in a bag, hidden away from the public and the NES is sold :evil:

[vintagegamecrazy]

I got a Dreamcast and about 2 dozen nes games from goodwill and they were filthy, I had to tear the DC down to clean it and there was insect eggs inside of it all of the carts had to be opened to be cleaned and I had to sand the contacts to get them to work, everything stunk like cat pee, I was disgusted that people could live like that. :angry:

[Nez]

One of my lunars for the PSX has a horrible smoke smell. I cant remember if its blue or star, but man did that thing smell lik smoke. After letting it sit with the book open the smell wnet away, BUT the cloth map still smells like ass. I dont wanna wash it so I guess it wil always smell. At least it looks nice.

[Slate]

Forgot to mention:

My $20 Xbox smells Real bad. Smells like some freaky kind of laundry soap.

I don't want to IMAGINE what is inside that Xbox. (Apart from what makes it run)

But i WILL have to open it up someday. It is a 2001 Model that needs a new DVD Drive.

Edit: Almost five years after typing that I'm laughing at the "Apart from what makes it run" part of this reply!

[Slate]

OK, Almost a year later..

I don't own that xbox anymore, I sold it, But now i just got some NES stuff...

And some pf those NES games smell strong of WINE. It smells worse then games that smell like cigarettes.. :puke:

[filmbucket]

I have a power glove that smells horribly of smoke, though I've no idea on how to go about cleaning it. Does anyone have an idea or two?

[ReaXan]

I have a power glove that smells horribly of smoke, though I've no idea on how to go about cleaning it. Does anyone have an idea or two?


I would try febreze

[Ed Oscuro]

Ugh I remember I bought one NES game from a flea market once
good lord, I would have given anything not to read this again

:deadhorse:

[christhegamer]

I bought some Intellivision carts on ebay once that showed up smelling like cat pee.

anything my friend has, game-related or otherwise, smells like cat pee. you are definately not alone :bawling:

[mizarkgram]

I brought a NES to Uni in my first year, and my roomates managed to spill beer and coffee all over most of the games. the system, and the storage cases..

And, over the last school year, I had most of my collection stored at the girlfriend's house, where all of her family (minus her) smoked.... all my stuff is rank with cigs now, but at least everything is still in working order (it was either there or in an uninsulated, drafty, leaky garage.... where my father and his buddies hang out - smoking as well


Needless to say, I have all these items backed in several rubbermaid containers... I havent quite mustered the energy to go and clean them...

I need to clean all of my collection...

Funny enough, most of my trade boxes dont have the funky odours... they seem fine smellin and all...

[MichaeltheGreat]

To continue the change of topic, I was at a local 2nd hand store a couple weeks ago and I saw a NES. I picked it up to look at it, opened the front game hatch, and saw a used condom cemented in with dried white stuff... I told the manager that he might want to take a closer look at that nes!

I still get icky shivers thinking about it! I guess some people thing the nes is sexxxy, but...

[o2william]

I purchased Theme Park for the Sega Genesis from a video rental place that absolutely REEKED of body odor (didn't notice the smell until I opened the box). Had it been a less rare game I'd have just pitched it, it was that bad. I cleaned it thoroughly, which only resulted in a slight improvement. I eventually figured out that the plastic box was the source of the odor, so I took out the cover insert and threw the box away (easy enough to find a replacement Genesis box). The cart and cover insert still had some residual stink, so I saturated a paper towel with spray room deodorizer and sealed the cart and insert with the paper towel in a cardboard box for two weeks. Eventually the nasty smell was replaced by the room deodorizer smell, although I always imagine I can still smell the BO everytime I see that cart.

The things I go through for this hobby...

[SuperNES]

I've had a friend open a new SNES that's been sealed for 10 years

KILL HIM. :angry:

[Damaramu]

Rise from your grave, thread.

No point in creating a new topic for this, but I just got a complete copy of Shining Force 2 that I won off of Ebay. Everything is in "alright" condition...but they REEK of cigarette smoke.

I'm planning to stick the box (the main reason I got this) in a sack with some fabric softener sheets or a Febreze'd rag.

Any suggestions or tips regarding this?

[Kitsune Sniper]

Just let it air out in a room with an open window for a day or two, that's how I get rid of the smell.

[skaar]

I go with the dryer sheet in a paper bag for a few days then just let it air out for a few days. If it has a film of "cigarette goo" on it then of course clean the thing off first.

[Richter Belmount]

Yeah but they air out easy , not a big deal

[Ed Oscuro]

Rise from your grave, thread. [...]
Any suggestions or tips regarding this?
Febreze is horrible, about as bad as the cigarettes in my book. Still not as bad, but that stuff is miserable. Just soap + water any plastic surface, wipe down + air out paper (making sure not to leave it in a sunny place), done.


Sorry dude but I used cat pee to get rid of the cigarette smell. Try cleaning it with sauerkraut, that should get rid of the cat pee.

I used to have a 3 button genny controller that smelled like bean dip. I ended up throwing it away because the thought of my controller being stuffed with bean dip made me sick.
Paper, rock, scissors:

Cigarette smell -> Cat Pee -> Sauerkraut -> Cigarettes
Bean Dip isn't so bad - open controller, soap and water, done. I wonder if DepMon would still toss a controller today because of this? ROFL

Classic thread with silly advice throughout.

good lord, I would have given anything not to read this again

:deadhorse:
I avoided that post this time. Success!

[Damaramu]

Yeah, the box for Shining Force 2 is that paper slip case style Sega started using late in the Genesis' lifespan so liquids are definitely out of the question.

I'm gonna let them air out for a few days; then give it the fabric softener sheet/bag combo if they still stink.

[Emperor Megas]

My cat pissed over my collection of rare comics. It took me 2 years to got the serie of 5 comics complete and then the cat pissed over them. I was so pissed :angry:Weren't they in polymer bags?

[Ryaan1234]

I had a really epic PSX RPG find, a lot of Working Designs and Square Enix stuff. (Like 12 games total). They all REEKED of smoke. The games have been in my collection for a few years now, and the smoke smell is completely gone. If you didn't know before they had been like that you'd never be able to tell. Just fyi, a few months after I got the games and put them on my shelf the smoke smell dissipated for the most part. If you see a game you want and it has the smoke smell, at least in the instance of PSX/jewel cased games the smell will go away over time.

[JimmyDean]

I went home to test it, but the games wouldn't load so I blew into the NES and out comes flying dust and HAIR! Lots of little, black, C formed hair, not the type you have on your head (man, I get goosegumps just thinking about where it could have come from).

Um... That put a disturbing image in my head.

[Nintega Grafx-16]

Where the hell you people are finding your games? In garbage bins??? O_O

[alec006]

A few of my systems from eBay stunk horribly of smoke and whatever else and I just took them apart and ran the case through the dish washer. The absolute worse disgusting thing I have ever seen and smelt was when my friend asked me to fix her Super Nintendo that had been in storage for years. I opened up the case and omg,dead cockroaches with insect crap all over the place,pet hair,dust,smoke stains, and a few live spiders and critters. The motherboard was fine,but the case was horrible and smelt like something worse than the football lockerroom. Good thing dishwashing soap contains bleach cause that thing was nasty.

[betamax001]

I just bought a copy of SMB3 of eBay that smelled pretty bad of cigs...just thumbing through the manual unleashed the odor >.<

[Astrocade]

I've been in some smoker's homes that are so clean you wouldn't even know they smoked in the house. If you keep a window cracked or the exhaust fan on and run an air neutralizer, your home and belongings won't reek of cigarette smoke.

Unfortunately, what is more common is the smoker that sits in an enclosed house all day with no ventilation smoking one cigarette after another. I guarantee that if you buy an item off of Ebay and it still smells like smoke, it's probably from the home of a stinky slob that doesn't care how bad their home reeks.

[MachineGex]

For bad smells, you gotta go down to the pet store and pick up that cat pee removal spray. That product is amazing. My neighbor bought a used freezer that reeked really bad, had mold and stank. He cleaned it with water and bleach but it still stank. I told him to try the cat-pee removal spray and a few days later he said it had gotten completely rid of the smell. He was about to toss the freezer, the smell was that bad. Trust me, the product is great.

[tomaitheous]

My brother has one of those "ozone" machines and it really does work. Removes the smell of rooms, items, etc. I've seen them use such machines in apartments after the tenant moves out (smokers unit or cat/human piss). Though, I've heard the machines can be harmful so you have to use it in an area where people are exposed to it.

[Ed Oscuro]

My brother has one of those "ozone" machines and it really does work.
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html
You know how hand-tied the EPA is, but they still can say this:

The public is advised to use proven methods of controlling indoor air pollution. These methods include eliminating or controlling pollutant sources, increasing outdoor air ventilation, and using proven methods of air cleaning.

Consumer Reports has something on this, somewhere, as well. I think they came out even more strongly against it.

Last I checked all they did was emit harmful Ozone, and the few particles that happen to float by the filter get stuck fast to the grate or ionizer (and are about impossible to clean off), or alternatively they may ionize some dust so it sticks to nearby walls. Lovely, now your whole house can be cigarette flavored, too! A conventional air filter would be better.

[Rickstilwell1]

I had the opposite happen to me. I bough my first Sega Saturn at Game Crazy and when I took it home I noticed it smelled like flowers. It actually had a good smell instead of a bad one. I traded it for another Saturn set because of the fact they packaged the wrong cords with it, and the game store owner of the place I traded it had spare cords.

Here's an odd one for you. I have no idea how this happened, but two of my laptop bags - the ones that hold my Dreamcast and Virtual Boy smell like crayons. They were never near any crayons... I really don't understand why they smell like this on the inside. I'm not sure what to do about the bags' smell but maybe Windex on a cloth will work on the system hardware.

[diskoboy]

http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html
You know how hand-tied the EPA is, but they still can say this:

This is the same government who has been telling us for years that global warming was real, and the debate was over. The same government that tells us the carbon dioxide we all exhale is a pollutant.


I'd give Consumer Reports more credience than any "advice" that comes from the EPA.

But I own one of those things for my game room. It keeps the dust to a minimum, but there is a danger - especially if you have pets under 30 pounds. But then again, what isn't dangerous, nowadays? I still prefer the plain HEPA filters over the ionizers.

[Zthun]

A few of my systems from eBay stunk horribly of smoke and whatever else and I just took them apart and ran the case through the dish washer. The absolute worse disgusting thing I have ever seen and smelt was when my friend asked me to fix her Super Nintendo that had been in storage for years. I opened up the case and omg,dead cockroaches with insect crap all over the place,pet hair,dust,smoke stains, and a few live spiders and critters. The motherboard was fine,but the case was horrible and smelt like something worse than the football lockerroom. Good thing dishwashing soap contains bleach cause that thing was nasty.

Man, you are lucky those cockroaches didn't chew through the board wires. It amazes me that the contacts on the motherboard for reading games didn't corrode.

[Enigmus]

For a long time, everything Atari I own smelled great, except for the paddles. I finally decide to repair them, and guess what the smell is?

Aged, decaying bearing grease. The type they were oiled with back in '79/'80ish.

If it smells, that's bad. If it smells and screws a game of Super Breakout to hell and back, that's worse.

Also, never let a cat near a pile of Game Boy manuals. It always turns into the classic "I'm a cat! I need attention! PISS ON THINGS!" scenario, and leaves you clueless when you play Pokemon for the first time.

Oh, how that cat annoyed me...

[allyourblood]

I'm a big fan of the dryer sheet method. I've used this about a dozen times over the last 10 years and it's worked everytime. If you're not wanting to open and play with the game, then just let it sit for a long time; months even. The longer it sits, the more effective the dryer sheet will be.

I was just digging through a box of games (from my collection), and found a Sega CD game and a 32X game; each was wrapped in a dryer sheet and had another inside. I remember these games smelling awful when I first got them. I took away the dryer sheets and they smell great, inside and out. The funny part is that they've probably been in that box, untouched, for the last four years.

[Oldskool]

What I find funny is that how do they know it came from a smoke free home? Just because it sat in their house for a year? What about all the other years prior?

I noticed my gaming collection gives the game room a distinct smell. Not really too bad of a smell, but it gives it kind of a musty odor at times. Maybe I'll Febreeze it.

[Ed Oscuro]

I'd give Consumer Reports more credience than any "advice" that comes from the EPA.
My point was this is an EPA which has been hobbled, by the chemical industries' lobbying, not to label anything that chemical companies want to sell. I'd give it more credence when it can come out strongly, as here, than some random guy on a Forum who uses "INTERNETS LOGIC" to "DEBUNK!" the EPA on some incidentally totally unrelated subject - and who also ignores Consumer Reports (which also tested this; apparently simple reading isn't mandatory when you're looking to push some wacky science denial theory).

Look, this isn't rocket science: Ozone is bad for you. Ozone has no especially beneficial effect on dirt and dust, but it does have lots of fun unintentional reactions with common household compounds. Please leave your global warming-denial bias out of the thread; it's not just wrong, but totally irrelevant to the discussion at hand.


I still prefer the plain HEPA filters over the ionizers.
Not coincidentally, this is essentially the same conclusion the EPA page comes to. Thanks for the useless detour, I'm sure you and all of the scientists who Big Oil funded half a decade ago appreciate it! Hooray for needless grandstanding!


What I find funny is that how do they know it came from a smoke free home?
This might be a foreign concept in Vegas, but some people actually sell items they've owned since bought new.

[Oldskool]

This might be a foreign concept in Vegas, but some people actually sell items they've owned since bought new.

What's up with the Vegas slamming?

And I just moved here a year ago. So it must be a foreign concept to Alaska, and Texas, and Louisiana, and everywhere else I've lived.

I just mentioned it cause you see it all the time on Ebay. And you know that 75% of the people on there are just resellers, and you know they have not owned the games since new.

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm just channeling Obama and giving you a hard time for no good reason. Sorry Vegas, we still love you! (Now it's Arizona that gets the short end! O: ) But seriously, I never got the impression people were lying about that. You've probably seen more auctions than I have with the "smoke free home" bit; all I saw seemed to be just sales by the first owner (or could plausibly have been). I don't click on a lot of auctions by powersellers, though.

If they are not trying to check (smell) the games, you'd have a problem. Otherwise it seems safe to guess that if a game doesn't smell like smoke it isn't from a smoking house.

[Zapf]

I got a really awful smelling super mario galaxy last year for a good price - I put the disc and paper parts in Arm and Hammer baking soda, and sprayed the case with febreeze. It was significantly better in about a week.

[tomaitheous]

Ed: I'm confused as to your post. You're saying the machine doesn't work? Or that it's just plain out bad (which it is).

[Ed Oscuro]

Ed: I'm confused as to your post. You're saying the machine doesn't work? Or that it's just plain out bad (which it is).
As I recall, CR found the machines generally didn't work.

Also don't forget that I was responding to crazy OT climate change skeptic in my previous post.

[Sabz5150]

Yet another reason I am glad I quit smoking. Not that I smoked inside anyway, but still...

[diskoboy]

Not coincidentally, this is essentially the same conclusion the EPA page comes to. Thanks for the useless detour, I'm sure you and all of the scientists who Big Oil funded half a decade ago appreciate it! Hooray for needless grandstanding!

Actually, "big oil" (that term never ceases to amuse me...) put thier 3k monies into developing plastic that didn't turn yellow in houses that have people who smoke.

My 11 year old Dreamcast is still white as the driven snow, and I smoke like a freight train.

Go progress!

[Ed Oscuro]

The term "Big Oil" amuses you? Would "Small Oil" be more accurate? What's small about 7.5 percent of the economy? (http://www.api.org/Newsroom/industry-supports.cfm)

I think I'll just nip this in the bud before you embarrass yourself further. From this story (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126129216) earlier this year (pre-Deepwater Horizon):


The specter of muscular regulations from the EPA caused near-panic among major polluters. In late 1999 the American Petroleum Institute, the trade association of the oil and gas industry, called a meeting of major industrial corporations; twenty-eight executives attended, representing the National Association of Manufacturers and the Chamber of Commerce, as well as the aluminum, airline, chemical, electrical power, aerospace, cement, fertilizer, coal and oil industries. The leaked minutes of that meeting revealed a plan to spin the issue of EPA regulation in the media, to fight it in the courts and push legislation that would strip the EPA of regulatory power. The executives also agreed to pressure the EPA directly to reject the petition filed by the green groups.
Yeah, the chemical companies made lots of great new chemicals, but along with that they've pushed to make sure nobody can stop them from selling them. Europe has banned a lot of this stuff and look, they're doing just fine.

Good thing we have Diskodrone around to pull the thread further off-course.

Denying the consensus on environmental science (yeah I really care what laypeople think about the science they don't understand)...dragging in a bunch of extraneous garbage...time very well spent, man.

[darkslime]

buy a box of dryer sheets at the dollar store and wrap whatever you are trying to get the smell off of in them for a couple days

[M15fit]

Oh Dear, Horrible memories of Getting an Intellivision with about 20 boxed carts, They all stank of cat urine. The boxes themselves had to be thrown out, I eventually sold the lot on ebay saying it stank. Just last year a friend gave me a chipped psx that also had cat pee problems, the stench stayed on my hands for hours. I took this one apart and sent the shell through the dishwasher, through the dual shock, Av cables and psu cable away.

[UnpluggedClone]

I'm a big fan of the dryer sheet method. I've used this about a dozen times over the last 10 years and it's worked everytime. If you're not wanting to open and play with the game, then just let it sit for a long time; months even. The longer it sits, the more effective the dryer sheet will be.

I was just digging through a box of games (from my collection), and found a Sega CD game and a 32X game; each was wrapped in a dryer sheet and had another inside. I remember these games smelling awful when I first got them. I took away the dryer sheets and they smell great, inside and out. The funny part is that they've probably been in that box, untouched, for the last four years.

That might be one of the nerdiest dorkiest fucking things i have ever heard holy shit. How much Clearasil do you go through?

[AceAerosmith]

I received a strategy guide and game from a sale on eBay that smells like gasoline. The box they came in was clean and had no stains on it so it wasn't the USPS spilling shit on it.

How do you get that smell out??

[Astrocade]

The term "Big Oil" amuses you?

The idea of "Big Capitalism" is a concept that dates back to Lenin. It's a stupid term that paints all the "Big" industries (Pharma, Oil, Tobacco, etc) as hand-holding buddies working together to screw mankind with their evil capitalist ways. Each company, whether they be oil, medicine, or tobacco, is only looking out for itself with an eye towards crushing the competition.

The idea that they are all in cahoots with one another is harder to swallow than global warming (just to bring up another thread derailment). "Big Oil" is as moronic a term as "Big Retail", and just as fantastical to believe as Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Sears, Big Lots, and Target all banding together to take over the world. (Did you hear? Wal-Mart purchased lobbyists in Washington to try and abolish the minimum wage act- isn't that positively evil?)

[Zapf]

This is an fucking dumb argument, there is literally noone who wants to hear your awful social commentary in a thread about removing the stank from games.

[scooterb23]

This is the same government who has been telling us for years that global warming was real, and the debate was over. The same government that tells us the carbon dioxide we all exhale is a pollutant.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/scooterb23/100_0508.jpg

Just throwing that out there...no reason at all...

And you know, drinking water is fine, but trying to drink the entire ocean all at once...might kill ya.

Be smarter than that. I know you can be. Loosen the tinfoil hat, it's cutting off circulation.