Ever had to fight for a game at the store?

[Cirrus]

I recently got into a little "showdown" at a local exchange shop, and I was wondering what the rules are for this.

For instance, me and dorky gamer #2 are staring down the same bunch of used SNES games, all behind glass stacked in towers. We both want the key keeper to come over and open it so we can grab our games... and we want the same one.

What do you do? I wonder how often this happens, but I was honestly heated. I said, "Oh, I was going for that one." as we grabbed for it. I had it in my hands, but he was standing there first, so I let him have it. (Final Fight 2 for $5 or something.) Not a huge loss, but still... I felt as if we should have had a little duel or something to sort it out.

This ever happen to you guys? How did you resolve it?

[Gzilla23]

I think you handled it well. I usually differ to the person that was first or see if there is a way to go every other one...rotate to get games. Its cool you didnt blow up tho..lol

[Ed Oscuro]

Final Fight 2...good choice in games there :)

I'd love to find a FF game in the wild, actually.

[goatdan]

If I'm buying something for myself and me and another gamer are looking at it, I usually go by the first come, first served rule. That's only fair.

If I'm buying something that I intend on reselling in the GOAT Store, I will *always* give it to someone else if they are interested. I feel horrible grabbing something someone was *just* about to purchase if I won't be keeping it.

[bluecollarninja]

i saw 2 little kids get in a fight over a used grand theft auto once.

[tylerwillis]

Usually when this happens, I whip out my man-sized double edged sword and cleave the moron in half.


<---- Influenced by video game violence.

[THATinkjar]

A little while back, I had purchased practically every release of Civilization 3 and its expansions, and I was still without the original Civ 3 manual. So I had been hopefully hunting around for the original release of Civilization 3 - complete with manual. And there it was. Out of nowhere. One copy sitting amongst a plethora of new releases. God was toying with me!

And, if I remember correctly, two others were eyeing it up. Considering its price tag. Counting their dimes. Weighing up the purchase. These fools didn't want it... but they were stupid enough to buy it! The moment the second one had put it down, I swooped in and ran for the checkouts. It was mine!

But, in all honesty, I have more trouble with staff than with fellow gamers. I cannot tell you the number of times I have been told, "We can't sell this game to you because it is not in our system." And yet, there I am, holding a boxed copy complete with price sticker. The swines!

[NESaholic]

If it was mega rare i would have thought about starting a fight,but since he was first i would let him buy it i guess.

[TeddyRuxpin]

For instance, me and dorky gamer #2 are staring down the same bunch of used SNES games, all behind glass stacked in towers. We both want the key keeper to come over and open it so we can grab our games... and we want the same one.

What do you do?

Who ever was there first. And if you both walked up at the same time, only the strongest survives. :evil:

[TEXASGAMEPLAYER]

When the N64 came out there were very few in europe and people wanted it very badly. On the day the store recieved their shipment there was a line of people and when they unlocked the doors the line disintegrated, people began running to the electronic section, the kids never had a chance against men with much longer legs and speed. Guys were grabbing them out of other guys arms, their were fights, pulling matches and I walked away with one for myself. Later that same day my friend who's wife worked for the PX told me that she had safed one for me! The morale of the story is it it's better to have 2 than take a chance of having none!

[vintagegamecrazy]

I went to a garage sale recently and there was a loose NES and SNES no cords and only .25 each, I told the guy I would run to my car to get change since I didn't want to break a 20 for a .50 cent purchase, as I was walking back up with the change, this lady says I'll take these, and I told her politely that I already claimed them, "Well I need them" sorry I already paid for them, "but I teach, and they are for my students" na sorry I'm taking them, "but they are learning disorder students". The owner came up to me and said give me the change and he brought them to my car, and said "take them, she's looking at something else and she's not a teacher, I told him I knew that and she's just being a weasel. I didn't get into a heated battle but I did get to listen to some funny lines of Crap for some pushy lady though.

[WanganRunner]

I'd ask the guy if he wanted to flip a coin or something before the employee walks over.

Or Rock/Paper/Scissors 2-out-of-3, universally accepted dispute solution method.

[Daft Punk]

never had that problem .


I would say if I did if would be paper rock scissors time. ;)

[Xexyz]

I never really got into a dispute but this one time I was at a MicroPlay, browsing the SNES section. I noticed this strange (and I really mean strange) young teenager kid glaring at me in a wierd way. I didn't really think anything of it and just continued browsing. As $8 Gradius III instantly caught my eye, the kid brought the employee over and hystaricaly blurted out "Mega Man X! Please! I'll take Mega Man X! Thanks!

It was $15, a bit pricey, but I half considered purchasing it since I rarely see it in my woods. The kid was a strange, hysterical Mega Man fan as he was begging his mom to buy him Mega Man Zero 3 for the GBA too (which she refused to do so, hurah for not spoiling the offspring!) I got Gradius III instead. It was a good choice too, because 2 weeks later I found Mega Man X again for $5. I pitty that kid now...

[fishsandwich]

I had a spat with a flea market operator and an emasculated would-be customer some time ago that still irritates me to this day.

I was at a shitty flea market off some podunk highway in North Carolina and I saw an older guy manning a booth with a small stack of Sega CD games. This guy was pretty darn old and was generally an asshole... I had bought some stuff from him before and made several reasonable offers on other games that he either countered with a ridiculous offer or flat-out refused like the $10 I offered for the loose Sonic & Knuckes. I still went by his booth, though, as he sometimes had some decent stuff. He had a closet in the back of the market that was FILLED with boxes and very unorganzied, but he never would let me dig through it. He just brought out stuff when he felt like it. He didn't even come to the market very often.

ANYWAY, back to the Sega CD games. He had 5 of them (complete) in a pile. Three of the games were actually very good... Lunar, Lunar II, and Heart of the Alien. The other two were some FMV games like Sewer Shark or some crap like that. Anyway, there was no price on them. I asked how much, and he said $30 for all five. I countered at $20, and he accepted (to my surprise.) I passed him my $20 and stuck the games in a bag with some paperbacks I had bought from another booth.

I wandered around the market for a good while longer and I was about to leave when the old dude comes shuffling around a corner, sees me, and almost YELLS "There you are!" as if I had stolen something and had been sneaking around trying to avoid him. He had some chubby goth-type character following behind him.

"Give me those games back!" he said (or something close to it... it's been awhile.)

"What?" I said.

"Those games you have! You ripped me off! This guy said he'll give me $100 for them!" (The goth dude wouldn't look at either of us and never said a word throughout the entire exchange.)

Then the old SOB actually GRABBED MY BAG and THREW my $20 bill at me and tried to walk away!

I snatched my bag back from him, telling him I had bought the gemes AND that there was more stuff in the bag that was mine.

I don't recall much more of the exchange (I have a bad temper sometimes and I get all red and don't remember stuff too well) but it seems that the goth guy had asked to reserve the games for $30 and asked the old asshole if he could come back and pay. It seems the old man agreed but didn't take the games off the table. I don't know how long the goth guy took to come back, but the old dude seemed to have forgotten about him until the goth guy came back and evidentally said he would have paid $100 for all five games.

The initial yelling of "There you are!" attracted the attention of some security guard and he walked over to find out what was going on. He old guy started screaming at the guard, telling him (guard) I had ripped him (old man) off and that he (old man) had returned my money (the money was still lying on the floor where he had thrown it.) I told the guard I had PAID for the games and that they were MINE. The old dude started yelling about the $100 and how I had "ripped him off."

Seems the old guy was unpopular with the guard and this had happened before (at least the screaming part, since the gurad told the old guy that he "needed to stop yelling NOW.") He (the guard) asked me if I wanted to keep the games, and I said that I did. The old man started yelling at the guard again, and I just walked away with my books and games in my bag and the $20 laying on the floor. The old guy tried to follow me, but the guard blocked his way. He was still yelling "Rip-off!" and "F---ker" when I walked out the door. I remember several people staring at me disapprovingly.

I'm not a jerk... I would have even considered giving (selling, really) the games back since the goth guy had supposedly reserved them and it's not like I NEEDED them or anything, but the old man was such a blubbering angry asshole that I got pissed and I got stubborn. The goth guy never said a word, so I didn't feel so bad. I don't think he ever even looked at us. I know old people can get cranky and such, but the guy was such a jerk with all the yelling and spittle flying out of his yapper that I became an asshole, too. The guard certainly didn't like him.

That's the only time I've ever been in the middle of an ugly situation. I've deferred to a couple of little kids before and picked up something that someone put down (and tried to find again later) but never an out-and-out screaming war.

I still get mad to this day. :angry:

[yuppicide]

Wow some good stories in there. Great story about the guy at the fleamarket yelling.

I've never got into it with anyone. If I was in a Gamestop or something and some kid was waiting for someone to open a case and we were both going after the same item and I really wanted I would cut the person off or be like "Is that your car someone just hit outside?" lol.

If I didn't want it that bad or it wasn't rare I'd let him have it.

[Cirrus]

I don't recall much more of the exchange (I have a bad temper sometimes and I get all red and don't remember stuff too well)
...


Tell me about it. I actually got pissed just reading your story!

[maxmouse2008]

I got the only copy of Neverwinter NIghts left in town and i set it down to tie my shoe and some girl came up and TOOK IT!!!! Luckily the store employee had one more copy left! Still makes me upset (also happened with the Sims 2, only I didnt get another copy)

[chadtower]

You got the only copy left in town, lost it, and then they had another?

Did you pass math?

[maxmouse2008]

I ment the only copy on the SHELF (they had some in the back...)

and yes I have a B+ in Algebra 1 (I'm 15 and a Freshman)

[joshnickerson]

Eh, I've never gotten into a fight with anybody over a video game. The only times I've gotten close to that is when I'm shopping with a couple of my gaming friends and one of them finds a good game that I was only seconds away from finding myself. Of course, later on they let me borrow and play it, so no huge loss.

But man, how cool of a fighting game would that be? "Super Video Game Collector Fighter II Turbo!" You would go on a quest across different flea markets and pawn shops, and at each one you would fight some geek for the rights to own a different holy grail (Stage One: Tengen Tetris!) and it would all end at NOA headquarters, where you'd fight Nintendo staff for a gold NWC cart. LOL

[imanerd0011]

Great story fish sandwich.

Anyways, this has never really happened to me. Mainly because I only look at NES games, and there aren't any other serious NES collectors/gamers in my area. If it did happen, I would prolly let the person who got there first have it, unless the person was trying to be a tough guy, which in that case I'd have to boss his tiny ass around. LOL

[s1lence]

Super Mario Bros 3, it was at a TRU. I went there in the morning with my mom, as we walk up there is people in line. They were all in line for SMB 3 so begging with my mom, we stand in line. The store finally opens and they start selling the game, a kid and his mom decided to stand in line apart so they could get two copies, even though it was one copy per family. So the mom buys a copy and stands off to the side. Keep in mind I'm the last person in line because it was just by chance that we ended up being at TRU in the first place. The lady's kid is in front of me gets to the counter and then CALLS his mom over to pay for it. So I started to argue the rule one per family for 15minutes, ended up screwing the other kid over and getting my copy of SMB 3, which was avalible everywhere in 2 weeks.

[rbudrick]

Damn, Sammich...that be a crazy flea market asshole. I've ran into some real jerks at the flea market, but that takes the cake!

Can't say I've ever had any real fights over game hunting. I've had a few things snagged under my nose, but that's about it.

-Rob

[Cmosfm]

Great story, Fish! I'd have told him to F off, I don't like putting up with stuff like that. LOL

I've never been in any fights, I've had "words" with people that work at places I'm buying from before. Like the time I was reffered to by the manager of a Pawn Shop as "eBay Guy" because I buy a lot of games.

Or the time I was accused of stealing because I put my Cell Phone in my pocket, despite the fact that I had a huge pile of games sitting aside that I was buying.

There's been a few others, nothing major, I've got no competition around here (well, I sorta do, but I wouldn't call them "competition"), so it's all good for me!

[chadtower]

One time, I had to throw down on an 8 year old to get the last copy of Math Blasters for the Genesis. So what if he needed it to learn long division? I took his crutch and bashed him in the dome, left that little loser in a heap, and for good measure, bought a copy of E.T. and shoved it in his pocket. That's what he gets for messing with me, a copy of E.T.

[Daft Punk]

Damn fish you got a much cooler temper than I do . LOL

I would have knocked him on his old ass and told him to f off. :evil:

I cant stand people like that at the flea , it as bad as the ones that say " X goes for $X on ebay" . :angry:

I just want to tell them to to stick it . ;)

[Immutable]

I cant stand people like that at the flea[market], it as bad as the ones that say " X goes for $X on ebay" . :angry:

I hear you on that one. I had a situation or two where I made an offer, and they stated "the X quote". Honestly, if people want to sell for eBay prices, they should learn to use a computer... :roll:

[chadtower]

If I had fifty cents for every time I've seen that complaint on this message board, I would own Ebay.

[rally9x]

A guy opened a flea market near me and he had a ton of nintendo games. He also claimed to have a bunch of atari stuff and PC engine stuff but is always to lazy to put it out and believes that the Atari stuff could be too valuable and never looks up the value of them so he won't put them out. Anyways he wanted 5 dollars a piece for the NES and SNES games, not too bad for some of them. I kept giving him offers though and he kept refusing. He wouldn't give me anything...like buy 10 for 95 bucks or anything. He told me his mom always told him (this guy is at least 35 by the way) to never trust math. So he could only do it so that for every two that had to be 10 dollars. I told him thats fine we could do 10 = 100 dollars and I could get one for free. That was quite a lot of inventory I was buying (I would have bought way more had he been resonable). But he refused. I know its his right to charge what he wants, but I thought that haggleing was part of the whole flea market game. I just didn't understand how you could open your own flea market and not be into dealing at all. I stopped by later many times and only once did I see anyone else buy any of the games even though he kept telling me he could charge what he wanted because someone would buy them, he could just never keep them in stock.

[Retsudo]

I would of let him have the game, then jacked his ass when he left the store.