Does your collection STINK?

[Anexanhume]

I've never seen this topic addressed before.

When you have old items, which sometimes have been through a variety of environments, and pack them together in a room, odor is a possibility. Surely, someone has had something that smelled musty or dirty before.

So, has anyone ever had/has this condition, and what did you do about it to make the stinky go away?

LOL

[ganonbanned]

not anymore, but one time i was buying a whole bunch of old sega genesis stuff from a friend and it was all in his attack. it all smelled like mothballs

[Anexanhume]

not anymore, but one time i was buying a whole bunch of old sega genesis stuff from a friend and it was all in his attack. it all smelled like mothballs

In his attack? Did he use the stinky genesis games as projectiles?

[Moo Cow]

lol, he meant attic.

[cyberfluxor]

lol, he meant attic.

LOL
I'm thinking that too.

As for smelly though... hmmm I do happen to have a few games that were owned previously by smokers or houses full of pets that crapped everywhere. Although it's not noticable, if you stick some cartridges up your nose I can smell it. The most annoying one is my Super Puzzle Fighter II for the Saturn because whenever I open it, the little foam CD holder is reaking of smoke and pours out upon opening. It's like opening something up and an old fart sneaks out.

[Steven]

Yeah, I get games in occasionally that smell horrible... you can smell it as soon as you rip open the package! My mom has this cabinet downstairs, and I dunno why but she has a bunch of fresh-smell white pearls in a big bad. I just leave the cartridge in there overnight, one night label up, the next night the other side.

And then it comes out smelling fresh and the odor is forever gone. Then I stick the game in with the rest of my collection.

I can't stand games with a bad odor.

CD cases also can have bad odor... and I do the same with cases as I do with cartridges. The thing is, the case/cartridge... if one is smelly, it will permeate (sp) to all the others, so it's good to make sure each one is "clean".

Then again, I'm sure some people don't really care.

[boatofcar]

Simply airing out my games usually makes any smell they might have go away, although if i went extreme close up on some of them, i might still pick up some cigarette smell or something. I try not to get that personal with my games though :)

[Haoie]

Nope, no terrible stench.

But if you're asking if it figuratively stinks, then yes.

[FullCircle]

I don't have anything that stinks anymore because I clean everything inside and out when it comes in the door. My room and closet do smell like a mixture of the cleaning agents I use, though. It's like walking into a sterile room in a hospital. I won't let my dog in for fear of her stinking the place up.

[RetroYoungen]

The only stinky part of my collection that I can think of is when I bought my PS2 used. It obviously was owned by a smoker before me, as every aspect of the system and controller reeked of cig smoke. Just... eww. :/

[RegSNES]

Thankfully, no odd smells come from my collection. At the most, my games get dusty on the outside from sitting in one place for so long, but that's pretty much it.

[hezeuschrist]

I'm pretty sure someone used my Lunar 2 hardcover guide as an ashtray at some point, because I've had it for years now and it STILL reeks like smoke. It's in great condition otherwise.

[lordnikon]

I ran into this problem as well recently with a complete copy of Truxton for the Genesis. The thing WREAKED of cigarette smoke. I didn't know what to do. The case, insert, manual, and cart all smelled so bad. It made my whole room smell like cigarette smoke.

I tried cleaning the case and wiping down the cart with a bit of water and soap. However this did not really work all that well.

The problem is that the paper part of all was saturated with smoke.

In the end I learned how to get the game to stop smelling!

Here is what you do:

Get a house fan, and set it on low. Lay everything out on the floor in close proximity. Open the case and have it spread on the floor, as well as the insert, manual, and cart. Now this will take anywhere between 5 days to a week to get it smell free. You need to watch this kind of like a BBQ. Walk over every day and turn a page on the manual, and flip the insert over. You are going to have to flip over EVERY page in the manual, and it would be good to use the cart to hold the pages open so air can travel over it. If you are airing out something like a Game Guide, then you would have to do this same thing, turning over every page every half a day or so.

Now my copy of Truxton doesn't smell at all. All of the smoke smell has been lifted off and I can now add it on the shelf with my other games.

I hope this helps some people get rid of that terrible cigarette smell. 8-)

[jajaja]

I bought a Famicom game from Hong Kong not long ago. When i opened it up it smelled like shit lol.

[Steven]

lord, you should buy a stack of white fresh smelling pearls... really, these babies work wonders with making games and manuals and cases smelling fresh and free of bad odor. No electricity is needed either, nor monitoring! :)

[Videogamerdaryll]

I clean everything inside and out when it comes in the door. .

Me too..

If I'm pressed for time I stick the stuff into a plastic bag until I later.
................................................
My Klax Cab and Neo Geo Woodgrain MVS Cab give off a wood smell once in awhile when the weather is really hot.

[Hammy]

old cabs smell great when powered up, but i surpose i'm the only person who likes musty smells :)

[SaturnFan]

I got a 3DO once that smelled like catpiss @_@

[Speedy_NES]

Whenever I get items in that were clearly previously owned by a smoker, I just put them ouside in the back yard in a spot free of sunlight and possible rain, and the smell usually disappears after a couple of days (probably due to the windy weather here in Europe ;)).

[Slate]

Well, my room doesn't smell, But sometimes i get stuff and it smells like cigarettes or cigars, And sometimes laundry soap if it's stored in a basement.

[cyberfluxor]

You know what, this also brings up an interesting question:
Since so many bad smelling games are from smokey houses, how many of you here smoke? Or even how many smoke while playing a game?

[grimbal]

old cabs smell great when powered up, but i surpose i'm the only person who likes musty smells :)

When it comes to my cabs I love that musty smell they have. Reminds me of some of the more seedier places I played games at during the early 80's.

[whoisKeel]

Ever get a *brand new* game (or I've had it happen with cassettes and cd booklets too) that the manual has a distinct smell to it. I don't know what to compare it to, but if you've smelt it you know what I mean. My RE4 is like that.

I'm sure my entire collection smells like smoke, I just don't notice it.

I've taken apart games before and smelt a smell. It's like how some people's house have a scent to them (not good or bad, just a smell) and it gets trapped in the carts.

[Oobgarm]

My Dad is a smoker, has been for years. I live in an attached garage, so my stuff stays away from the smoke, but I'm sure it has a tinge of the scent. I can't stand it.

I bought a large lot of games a few years ago (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18582), containing such gems as complete copies of Chrono Trigger, FF3, other SNES RPGs, a shitton of NES titles, a complete collection of Nintendo Power magazines #s 1-100, and two toploader NES systems, amongst other things. It was, no doubt, the worst smelling bunch of things ever. Apparently, the person that owned these was a tremendously heavy smoker, and the lady's daughter(who sold it to me) was as well. I know the magazines still have a bit of odor to them, adn the games are pretty much clean after airing them out for a long time.

[lordnikon]

One of the biggest problems I have lately when buying used stuff is cleaning them. It is a chore to clean used games, and try to restore the manuals, especially if they had stickers and crap all over them. Everytime I get "new arrivals" I end up sitting huddled on the floor with rolls of toilet paper and q-tips. Sometimes I get a cart and it looks like it got dipped in kool-aid.

Now, just imagine if you bought some huge lot of games. Like, 100 games off some smoker.

Sure the games can be cleaned... but man that would take forever. You would have to build some sort of fumigation tent to do it efficiently.

[jdc]

I dunno but having run a game shop........theres just this thing about old carts, PS2s and cigarette smoke that go hand in hand. If a used console was going to reek of smoke it was nearly always a PSX or PS2.

I don't smoke...I work in a bike shop LOL .....but a smoke smell on the odd used game doesn't bother me if it's something in the wild that MUST be purchased.