the "I mowed 48 lawns for Game X!" topic

[Steven]

I always love hearing stories about gamers doing such and such to earn enough money to buy game X. Obviously, this is more catered to when we were 10, 12 years old. Stories about a 26-year-old working as an electrical engineer to buy Super Metroid obviously doesn't have the same "style" as a 10 year old who mowed 48 lawns in the summer of '94 to get his copy of Super Metroid.

So, if it applies to you -- what crazy chores/jobs did you do to get game X, and what was game X? Was it worth it? What year was it? How old were you? Any other little anecdotes you want to include.

Me... never mowed 48 lawns. Didn't buy any games really growing up. My bro bought them and I played 'em.

[dedtech]

Well... How about this..
I would have been in my 20's but I was working for a company called "Singles Telephone Service" which was much like a dating profile site but over the phone on a 1-900 #.
I can guess that I has over 48+ black girls ask me if I was "Light Skinded" and if I had a "lady mans curl" (Jerry Curl). People that know me know that I sound like a black man on the phone due to my deep voice and, southern drawl. The funny thing was they would have been suprised if they met me. I had long blonde hair, wore a leather jacket and, was lanky as hell.

[Slimedog]

To get my NES, I took a paper route. I got it around the time the Action Set was released and there were major supply problems. I ordered one online from Q-Link and it took 3 months to arrive. No wonder Q-Link went under. ;) By the time I got the system I had amassed 5 NES games and I quit the route to have more time to play. I think I was 10.

I also remember saving to get a Gameboy before it came out. There was a school fundraiser with a $100 prize for the most candy sold. Me and a friend sold candy outside a supermarket for two weekends and I used my cut of the winnings to buy a Gameboy.

[norkusa]

Back when I was in 7th grade (think this was '88), my mom always used to bribe me with things to get decent grades because I was such a poor student back then. One time she said she'd buy me a NES if I didn't get any D's or F's on the report card (almost an impossibility back in those days). I said "sure, whatever" not expecting to do well.

School ended that year and my grades were actually decent. All B's & C's. I don't know if it had anything to do with the promise of an NES (don't remember really trying hard) but I ended up getting my NES. The rest was history.

When the SNES came out, I actually had to use my own money to get that. Since I was 15 and had no job, that was going to be tough. Had a garage sale that summer though selling a lot of my old toys and made enough to buy the $200 system. That was a great summer.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

Me and my brother parked cars for some local event. My dad had worked on a house near the event, getting it ready to loan out to college students. Because it was the summer and no students were there, we parked cars on the lawn. We worked for about 3 or 4 days, and when we were done, my dad gave us enough money to go buy Starcraft at the store. Pretty much the only story like that I have.

[blue lander]

I wonder if anybody ever mowed lawns to buy Hovver Bovver, a game about mowing lawns...

[Simply Dave]

I mowed a bunch of lawns (back in 89? 90?) in order to save up enough dough for Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest. That's all I could think about day in and day out; how great it was going to be to finally own and play the game.

When the day finally came and enough money had been saved, when my folks went into town I wondered into the video game section and....they didn't have Simon's Quest in stock.

So I got Bases Loaded instead. I played that game forever and still have it to this day.

It's not in the best of condition, but I refuse to replace it with a better looking cart because it was the first game I ever bought with money I had earned the hard way.

[Pantechnicon]

You know...I'm racking my brain here and sadly I don't have a story of my own like this, and I really wish I did because it would reflect better character on my younger self. During my pre-adult gaming years all of my games were either gifts, trades, bought after the `84 market crash and in a few cases were shoplifted :embarrassed: :shameful: :embarrassed: . I only had around 25 2600 carts and nothing else by the time I left home. But when I think about it none of it was acquired through either any pyrrhic or wholly honest efforts on my part.

I never thought about it that way before, but perhaps it was just as well that my pre-adult collection was eventually lost (sold without my consent, actually) and had to be rebuilt - and ultimately expanded - solely through more honest and hard-working means.

[DeputyMoniker]

My family was poor and I wasnt allowed to do work for the neighbors. My dad considered everybody on the planet to be liars & thieves so I was lucky when I got to leave the house. My best story would be convincing my dad to let me spend my christmas money on a $10 controller. XD

[drewbrim]

I had a paper route growing up, but I wasn't allowed to spend most of the money I made (the parents made me put it in the bank), but I was allowed to "blow" $10 of it a week on whatever I chose. So I went down to my local Hills store and put Duck Tales down on layaway. And every week save one I went down to the store and put my $10 towards it till it was mine. The one week I didn't pay towards the balance I bought the Beastie Boys album License to Ill instead. :rocker: "Yo what's the time!?!"

[Kid Ice]

Yep I tossed some newspapers too. The first game I bought was "Skyfox" for the C64. Big disappointment...the graphics are (were) absolutely amazing, but the game was no fun. It took a couple months to save up for that one. After my route expanded and I was getting better tips I was able to buy a couple games a month.

[weirdguy]

Around 7-8 months ago, I started keeping all my loose change. I told myself I'd buy something nice when I have around 100$.

Took me around 5 months to get 130$, since in Canada we have 1$ and 2$ coin... it helps...

What did I got ? Growlanser Generations Deluxe editon. It never felt that great to buy a game.

[keiblerfan69]

I haven't eaten school lunch since the 7th grade. I am currently in the 11th grade and still don't spend my lunch money. It has become known as a my money.

[SeiruKoji]

In 99 and 2000, I had these crazy neighbors that offered me $15 a week to mow thier lawn for them. Thier lawn was not even half the size of mine. I made about $300 before they moved away. At the time, I was a pokenut, so when Pokemon Gold and Silver were coming out I reserved them. I don't remember what I bought with the remaining money. (I was only 13)

[aaronpetrosky]

In the summer of 93' I did work around the house for my grandpap and he would pay me $10-$20 everytime and I saved up to buy A Link to the Past and it was well worth it. I played that game to death and still own it. It's one of my fav games of all time.

[kentuckyfried]

I spent many summers and months working my ass off helping to develop the parents property, cutting trees, burning stuff, digging, to buy my NES, Game Gear, and TurboDuo (had to earn enough to buy one of them fancy TVs that had AV connectors in the back to work with the Duo, the TV's the only thing I still have)

And then great family members bought me games for christmas :)

[CYRiX]

I'm mowing around 25 for my 360 :D

[Jumpman Jr.]

I actually remember spending months scavengering up any change I could possibly find around my house to make it so I had enough to buy my first Super Nintendo. I vividily remember trying to do anything to try to get a nickel out of the little space between my washer and dryer. I had some saved up cash origionally (maybe $50), and then over the months, I found like $50 in change (all over the place, not just my house), and my parents ended up paying the rest for me.
:D

[exit]

I was in the 2nd (or third maybe?) grade and the SNES just came out. Well of course my parents wern't going to just buy it for me, so me and my brother saved up money and put it all up for one. I don't remember any detail except that I came home one day and saw a SNES sitting by the door. I couldn't have been any happier, except for the fact I had to goto open house at school that very night and being quite angry about it.

Other than that, I usually got whatever I wanted through birthday/christmas/easter/ect money. I would also put lunch money aside and go to the cd traders to buy stuff, sadly that place shut down 3 years ago which sucks because they had great stuff there.

[vahn401]

Only time I can recall was a few years back when they first announced the Arc The Lad collection. My mother and I went to the local EB and they were just putting a display box on the shelf, I saw the working designs name and knew I had to have it. This was right after I was given the pleasure of playing through the Lunar games for the 1st time. When the clerk told us the game was going to cost $75, my hopes dropped fast. I pleaded with the woman (mom) for like 10 minutes, and then she made me sign a contract sorta stating i would do dishes, lawn mowing, cleaning, etc. for like 3 weeks whenever she demanded. I signed willingly, hell, the game was mine to reserve now.

So we get up there and the clerk asks us if I'd like to pre-order the 2 guides that were to go along with the game, that 3-4 weeks turned into, I was a slave until the game was released.

This was a huge joke, because anybody who knows this game, knows that it kept getting pushed back for well over a year, luckilly my mom let me off after a month-month and a half. One day, the game finally came, and then 2 months later I finally got the guide. And close to the 2 year mark after I pre-ordered it, they cancelled the release of the 2nd guide, very dissapointing. This game alone marked 2 important lessons in my life. The value of a dollar, and that working designs took their sweet time releasing my game. I miss them.

[MrSmiley381]

Last summer I mowed this old lady's lawn and di yard work for her. I also sold lots of games at the flea market. Then, I traded in a lot more games and still came up $20 short.

But what was I saving for?

A crazy Gamecube bundle. $120 for the Metroid Bundle that also came with Super Smash Bros. Melee and the guide, as well as a memory card. My dad tossed me the last twenty. I unlocked every character and stage in Smash in a week. It was fantastic.

[Canadian Psycho]

My dad considered everybody on the planet to be liars & thieves
LOL
My dad was the same way!

[npward.]

My brother and I started up our own little lemonade business when we saw some pictures of the Super Smash Brothers game(N64).

As soon as we saw Mario fighting Link, we set the stand up in my front yard and waited. This proved to be a good idea, and well a bad idea. Since my yard was right beside a very busy road we had lots of business. The down side to that, was everytime a car would whiz by, my mom would run out the door to see if we were ok. Anyway, We charged about a buck for each drink, and we sold some cookies n' such that my grandma had made. At the end of our four day business venture, we had enough for the game!

Yeah, I was pretty god damn proud of myself.

[Slimedog]

When I was a kid, our house was infested with fleas. We would bug bomb about once a month, but it never seemed to make much difference. So my dad put up a bounty of 2 cents per flea I could kill. I wanted a Sega Master System and I knew there were enough fleas in the house to make it happen.

The way I collected the fleas was to find them on the dog (or on me) and pick them off one by one. You drop them into a bowl of ice that kind of stuns/freezes them. Then you show them to dad to do a body count and finally you squish them with the tweezers from your chemestry set. Otherwise they hop off when the ice melts. How sad is that?

I did get a Master System eventually but I think it was a few years later. We didn't have a lot of cash when I was a kid so I had to work or do creative trading for most of my games.

[rbudrick]

When I was 8 years old I saw a cocktail cabinet SMB vs. at the local pizza shop-Milano's in Milford, NH. This had to have been some time in '86. I'd heard of the Nintendo but didn't know anything at all about it. But, when I saw this game being played by others, I was amazed. It was the coolest game I'd ever seen! The other kids playing it obviously knew a lot of the hidden secrets, and it was cool to see others play to get the gist of the game, since it was all new to me.

One of the kids told me that it was available for the home version of the NES. I decided right then and there I HAD to have one. Some time soon after, I went ot the local Ames department store (probably less than a half mile from Milano's), and saw the Deluxe set (with R.O.B., of course) set up in the electronics department. The price was $139.95. I was screwed. My parents would never buy me that, I thought. Ever.

After much begging and pleading and whining, anda little more begging, my father finally made a deal with me...if I could get half of the money, he would pay the other half.

Seventy dollars! "Where the fuck is an 8-year-old going to get that," I thought.

Sometimes I'd babysit my brother for a dollar or two an hour (I'm 7.5 years his senior). Other times, I'd do housework/chores. It felt like years (It was probably 3-6 months. I hav no clue. Come to think of it, it was warm out, probably spring or summer when I saw the Vs. machine for the first time, and it was probably Oct. or Nov. when I finally got my NES), but I finally got $70 together. The very day I got it, I was ecstatic. I ran to my dad and demanded we go to Ames that second and get a Nintendo. He said no. I pissed and moaned and went to my mom like a little brat. My mom yelled at my dad and gave him a big guilt trip. Finally he gave in. We went to Ames and he wrote a check. The Deluxe Set came with Gyromite and Duck Hunt, but he also bought me three more games: SMB, Ice Climber, and Kid Icarus. He asked if I wanted any others, and I said no, as I started to feel badly about what a dick I was, especially when he started buying more games well beyond the $70 I earned. I didn't realize my dad didn't have the dough at the time (times were pretty tough then), and he was probably floating a check to get this stuff for me. I still feel like a dick when I think about itto this day! LOL

However, as much as I loved the family Atari 2600 we'd had since I was probably 4, that day I'd earned my 70th dollar was the day my life changed forever. I think I knew it too, because that's why I was being such a bratty little shit- The anticipation of saving that money over the past months was too much, and when my dad said "no," it was like going full speed into a brick wall, and it hurt...for admittedly selfish reasons--but man, SMB ROCKED!

-Rob

[aaron7]

"Where the fuck is an 8-year-old going to get that," I thought.

LOL Exact words of an 8 year old?


I don't want to sound spoiled, but Santa got me my systems. NES for xmas of 86, Genny later on, SNES the xmas it came out, etc.

[Dobie]

In order to buy Street Fighter II for SNES one summer, I babysat for the neighbors ($2.50 an hour), mowed my parent's lawn ($1 for the front $3 for the back), and helped my favorite neighbors move for a flat fee. I forget how long it took, but between SFII and a new bike, I was very busy that summer. I think I may have sold off some of my treasured baseball card collection too.

[hezeuschrist]

Heh, the only game I really remember saving every penny I possibly could for was Killer Instinct for SNES. I had a jar on the top shelf of my closet with the witty phrase, "Fulgore Fund" on it. I can't remember what I did to save, most likely just save my allowance and try not to spend anything on stupid crap like I did all the time.

I finally got it, and I was actually stoked it came with the soundtrack. I had just got a CD player for my birthday recently and I listened to it all the time.

I actually have a copy of the game, new sealed, on the way to me right now as well. I can't WAIT to bust out my Capcom fighter stick on that badboy while blasting the CD through my 12 speaker soundsystem. I'm guessing it'll last about 5 minutes, haha.

[XianXi]

I once mowed 286 miles of lawn to buy a telescope.

[Ed Oscuro]

During my pre-adult gaming years all of my games were either gifts, trades, bought after the `84 market crash and in a few cases were shoplifted :embarrassed: :shameful: :embarrassed:
haha, oh well.

Me, I used to get games as presents only; now I pay for 'em myself. Haven't bought too much recently though. Money crunch!

[krooked love]

I was thinking today about how i have gotten all of my video games and systems. My first system ever was a Nintendo 64. when i was a little kid i was very bad so i didnt get a choice of things i wanted. then when the N64 came out i wanted it but since i was always bad i couldnt get one. then my mommy(yes i said mommy) told me that if i was good for an entire month and didnt get in trouble once i could get a N64. so everyday i would sit in class and not do anything then when i got home i just stayed in my room or watched tv because after school is when i got in the most trouble. i finally made it an entire month of being good so i got my N64. then my mom told me if i wanted a new game i would have to be good for a week for each new game. so thats how i got my N64.

my next two systems i got were easy to get. i was in my uncles garage on day and a seen a box with a sega masters and sega genisis 16-bit systems. i asked him about it he told me he was going to throw them away and said i could have them if i wanted. so i asked my dad and he said i could have them but i would have to do a super cleaning in my room. so i spent four hours and it was done.

my next system which i worked the hardest for and had nightmares about for a few years was the playstation 2. i had just gone to the store and spent a 100 dollars on N64 things. then the guy at the counter told me a ps2 was coming out after i made my purchase. the ps2 was 300 dollars. i had just spent my 100 dollars on something else i was mad as hell. so i started by doing extra house work for more money then i would ask my neighbors if they needed any help and had finally got enough money to buy one then i did something bad by accident then i tried to cover it up then that made it worse then because of that somthing else bad happened then i tried to cover that up then both of the problems started getting worse until it blew up in my face and i was grounded for a year......so close then by the time i got off grounding i had spent a good part of my money on everyday things so i was far away again. but i started working again and finally had enough money. i live in an area were there is only one game shop. so i went to the store to buy my ps2 but the clerk told me they were having some shipped to them because everybody came and bought them all up. i also live in an area were there area huge amount of kids so alot of kids+one game store= game shortage. but i came back a week later and finally purchased my system and went home and had the best time of my life