The DREADED stickers, markers!! Dirty Pins!

[Oldskool]

I just cleaned some marker off a copy of King's Knight for the NES. Had "Property of" and the guys name on the back with a #15. Came out perfect! I used a variation of methods that's been mentioned in this thread. I cannot reiterate how well tooth paste works for cleaning things! I took a cotton ball, dabbed a little bit of alcohol on it. Rubbed the hell out of it, and it was SLOWLY coming off, but not fast enough. I then decided to try using some tooth paste in the mix. I rubbed some tooth paste on the writing until it somewhat dried out, THEN proceeded to rub with the cotton ball with alcohol on it. The combination of the alcohol and tooth paste took it right off! I think that might have been a bit quicker than using a tooth brush. Also, I didn't have an electric tooth brush either. So if you have a cotton ball, some alcohol, and a little tooth paste you can take the writing right off! And it didn't mess up the texture of the cart either. The bathroom is my friend..

Anyways, just thought I'd chime in again.

[SamuraiSmurfette]

Easiest way to get stickers off of something: Warm it up with a hair dryer.
Works like a charm every time (unless we're talking stickers that have been on for like 10+ years)
Just don't keep the dryer aimed in one spot (move it around constantly) especially if you are trying to get it off of DVD-style cases

just today, I got an NES game at a thrift with a big price tag straight across the label. Warmed it up, and got the price tag off perfectly, without damaging the cart label at all.

You can also do this on cardboard boxes, etc

[darkslime]

Wow, you guys are hardcore. I buy so many carts, I don't get around to testing them all. The ones I do test I blow off and if they don't work I use rubbing alcohol and a q tip, if they still don't work magic eraser, after that i usually don't bother unless its a rare / expensive game, i'll open it up with the gamebit and clean it more thoroughly.

[kgenthe]

Wow, you guys are hardcore. I buy so many carts, I don't get around to testing them all. The ones I do test I blow off and if they don't work I use rubbing alcohol and a q tip, if they still don't work magic eraser, after that i usually don't bother unless its a rare / expensive game, i'll open it up with the gamebit and clean it more thoroughly.

Any time I have seriously cleaned something it was for resale on eBay. Otherwise I have plenty of crap with permanent marker and rental stickers on it.

[Octopod]

I have always been able to remove marker with rubbing alcohol, though it does take a bit of work.

[Oldskool]

Wow, you guys are hardcore. I buy so many carts, I don't get around to testing them all. The ones I do test I blow off and if they don't work I use rubbing alcohol and a q tip, if they still don't work magic eraser, after that i usually don't bother unless its a rare / expensive game, i'll open it up with the gamebit and clean it more thoroughly.

I just don't like my collection to look ugly. And it does help for the resale, if I decide I don't want the game anymore.

[jb143]

I just cleaned some marker off a copy of King's Knight for the NES. Had "Property of" and the guys name on the back with a #15. Came out perfect! I used a variation of methods that's been mentioned in this thread. I cannot reiterate how well tooth paste works for cleaning things! I took a cotton ball, dabbed a little bit of alcohol on it. Rubbed the hell out of it, and it was SLOWLY coming off, but not fast enough. I then decided to try using some tooth paste in the mix. I rubbed some tooth paste on the writing until it somewhat dried out, THEN proceeded to rub with the cotton ball with alcohol on it. The combination of the alcohol and tooth paste took it right off! I think that might have been a bit quicker than using a tooth brush. Also, I didn't have an electric tooth brush either. So if you have a cotton ball, some alcohol, and a little tooth paste you can take the writing right off! And it didn't mess up the texture of the cart either. The bathroom is my friend..

Anyways, just thought I'd chime in again.

If the writting is on a textured surface(like the plastic of most carts) then a q-tip alone won't work. What I usually use is the green scrubby back of most kitchen sponges with the alcohol. The permanent marker will come right off with very little work at all because it helps it get down in the groves.You don't have to scrub too hard either so it won't damage the cart. The toothpaste is doing basically the same thing but it's much messier and not reusable.

THe only thing I really haven't found a good solution for is removing marker from cardboard. It's it's glossy then alcohol works like a charm, but if it's not then it will just soak in and start to ruin it if you try too hard.

[Zyobee]

I have to try some of these tips out!

Goo-gone does work really great for stickers or residue, even on NES boxes and game inserts, although you have to be careful with it so the ink doesn't come off on certain things. I've rubbed some off on a gamecube cover insert before.

Magic eraser does work good, but of course it's abrasive, but if your careful and the marker isn't really bad/set-in, it shouldn't damage it.

I've actually come across one game that had marker on it that seemed to have actually gotten embedded in the plastic. The only things that worked were products that actually damaged the plastic like magic eraser, and even magic eraser barely did anything at all to it.

I've come across one game that actually had the persons name carved into the plastic.

[Oldskool]

Yeah I've come across a few games like that too. Why someone would carve into a cartridge is beyond me! I guess there's no way around that unless you are an expert at plastic repair/plastic welding.

[MASTERWEEDO]

I knew kids who used their wood burning kits to burn their name into the game.

[Ryaan1234]

I knew kids who used their wood burning kits to burn their name into the game.

Ooooh I've got a copy of Pesterminator (for collecting purposes) that has a kid's name, address, zip code, and phone number on it. Now that I think about it the information has a "melted" look around the edges, like one would get with using a soldering iron. So yeah, it was probably made with a wood burner. Why any kid would value Pesterminator enough to put their name on it is beyond me.

Speaking of "ZOMG BBQ WTF, THE DREADED STICKERS!!!1!!1!" is anyone familiar with those silver rental stickers, that when you peel off they a big "VOID VOID VOID" pattern on the carts? Actually those were pretty ingenious old school video store security measures. Nowadays they're annoying and hard to get off, though I imagine some GooGone would do the trick. I have a few games with those stickers that I just haven't cleaned up because it's extra work. (And it doesn't really matter to me if my games have rental stickers on them)

[darkslime]

Ooooh I've got a copy of Pesterminator (for collecting purposes) that has a kid's name, address, zip code, and phone number on it. Now that I think about it the information has a "melted" look around the edges, like one would get with using a soldering iron. So yeah, it was probably made with a wood burner. Why any kid would value Pesterminator enough to put their name on it is beyond me.

Speaking of "ZOMG BBQ WTF, THE DREADED STICKERS!!!1!!1!" is anyone familiar with those silver rental stickers, that when you peel off they a big "VOID VOID VOID" pattern on the carts? Actually those were pretty ingenious old school video store security measures. Nowadays they're annoying and hard to get off, though I imagine some GooGone would do the trick. I have a few games with those stickers that I just haven't cleaned up because it's extra work. (And it doesn't really matter to me if my games have rental stickers on them)

i got a lot of those off by scraping them with my fingernail, then goo gone.