Any Old School DOS / PC Collectors?

[jonebone]

I did a search of the forums and found some very old threads (2005) but haven't seen it discussed much recently. And other PC forums appear to be dead or simply not there.

But there's some VERY interesting auctions ending today and this week for some of the rarest early DOS games out there. I'll update this thread after they complete so we can at least have 2011 sales points for reference. I've searched the forums and it's very hard to find any pricing data for many of the early 80's classics.

But on topic, Sierra Adventure games were some of the best ever. Really wish there was more of a market for them. Way better than many NES games that are 10x their price...

[drmay]

I love the King's Quest games and I have collected a couple of them. But its hard to find them in decent shape.

[Gameguy]

With the Sierra games it seems more people are after the collections rather than the separate releases, more specifically the collections that came out before the most recent ones since those were very basic and lacking of extras. I pretty much feel the same way, I'd prefer having the collections instead of the separate releases too.

I really should try to play some more Sierra games, I mostly prefer the LucasArts games to Sierra ones.

[BlastProcessing402]

All my DOS PC stuff is stuff I got back when it was new(ish) so I don't know that I'm really a collector, but I do have a few interesting things, like the limited version of Wing Commander 3 that came in a giant box with a film canister inside.

[Bojay1997]

It will be interesting to see how those end up given their condition and the fact that some are not on the "lead" or most popular platforms. I'm not a huge Sierra collector, but I do collect Apple II, Atari 800, Commodore 64, Amiga and DOS games and I'm up to a few thousand now in mint complete or new condition.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I... guess I'm one?

I go for the crap, though!

[jonebone]

So Mystery House $522 . Interesting indeed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290613881407...84.m1438.l2649

[Gameguy]

So Mystery House $522 . Interesting indeed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290613881407...84.m1438.l2649

Your thread was about DOS/PC games and you're posting an auction to an Apple II game? That release is a bit different compared to the later Sierra PC releases, that was back when Sierra was first started and that first release was all duplicated by hand and sold locally. That first version is very rare, and that copy is still described as working which makes it even rarer. I'm not surprised by the final value it sold at.

Akalabeth: World of Doom is another game that would sell for big bucks for the same reason. It's important because it's the first in the Ultima series, and the original release is extremely rare because it was duplicated by hand and only sold locally. The first version of Akalabeth is even rarer than Mystery House, if a copy came up for sale and was well advertised prepare for a very large selling price.

[calthaer]

The first version of Akalabeth is even rarer than Mystery House, if a copy came up for sale and was well advertised prepare for a very large selling price.

Somewhere I thought I read an interview with Garriott where he admitted to being curious what Akalabeth would go for...so he made a new copy of the game and put it in one of the old plastic bags he had and stuff like that and put it on eBay just to see what it would do. I wish I could find that interview.

[Buyatari]

Your thread was about DOS/PC games and you're posting an auction to an Apple II game? That release is a bit different compared to the later Sierra PC releases, that was back when Sierra was first started and that first release was all duplicated by hand and sold locally. That first version is very rare, and that copy is still described as working which makes it even rarer. I'm not surprised by the final value it sold at.

Akalabeth: World of Doom is another game that would sell for big bucks for the same reason. It's important because it's the first in the Ultima series, and the original release is extremely rare because it was duplicated by hand and only sold locally. The first version of Akalabeth is even rarer than Mystery House, if a copy came up for sale and was well advertised prepare for a very large selling price.

Yeah I have to agree some of the early A2 baggie games have sold for 4 figures in the past. DOS/PC not so such so.

I think it the combination of love for the system and love of the game/series. There may be a few PC only collectors but it would be no where near the # Apple lovers. Games available on several systems almost always sell more if it is the A2 or Atari version. C64 and PC usually sell for less.

[Buyatari]

Somewhere I thought I read an interview with Garriott where he admitted to being curious what Akalabeth would go for...so he made a new copy of the game and put it in one of the old plastic bags he had and stuff like that and put it on eBay just to see what it would do. I wish I could find that interview.

I know he did auction off an original copy of the game but I'm not sure he created one just to auction. He has his own crazy collection including shrunken heads and Russian flown spacecraft so he should know better than to do something like that.

However I do know he had extra labels and a few of those found there way into the market place in the 90's I assume from collectors who just contacted him and asked for one or two...

[Sysop]

I... guess I'm one?

I go for the crap, though!

I go for anything, big box or otherwise.

[jonebone]

And softporn adventure hit $810.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290614790860...84.m1438.l2649

I didn't know there was a premium for the Apple II compared to PC version, maybe I can find the PC version much cheaper someday. I just remember my old DOS PC was some type of IBM and have no attachment to the Apple II stuff.

[Buyatari]

And softporn adventure hit $810.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290614790860...84.m1438.l2649

I didn't know there was a premium for the Apple II compared to PC version, maybe I can find the PC version much cheaper someday. I just remember my old DOS PC was some type of IBM and have no attachment to the Apple II stuff.

It might be cheaper but it won't be cheap unless you just get lucky. Sierra has a decent following and that is one of the more wanted hard to find titles.

How many other titles have a naked Roberta Williams on the cover?

[Raging Prawn]

I go off and on again trying to fill out my Sierra stuff but I'm now mostly to the pricey or at least hard to find stuff and you can see wildly varying prices on these. My wife doesn't know how happy she should be that I didn't see these auctions (although the softporn adventure... I wouldn't have won that)

There are a few rare PC titles out there that can go for big bucks (pcjr kq, ecoquest 2) but the early stuff has been brutal to try and fill out. Theres also a lot of non adventure filler that will drive you crazy tracking down...

My favorites were, of course, the kq games (first printings were tough for a few of these), police quest, and space quests (still need the foldout episode 1 sadly....).

Man I would've fought hard for the mystery house though...

[Edmond Dantes]

I don't really collect PC games, more like "just grab the ones I like."

I used to try to collect them, but too many headaches involved, and there are fewer PC games I like compared to consoles, and I own most of the compilations for games, companies and franchises I care about.

I'll still buy PC games though when I find one I've been looking for.

[A Black Falcon]

One of the major problem with buying anything on floppy disks is how often those stupid things have gone bad...

[jonebone]

And also, I think it is important to document this sale just for history's sake. "Trapshoot" for $1,315.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TRAPSHOOT-ON...item43aa06e4dc

Pic since this may not turn up ever again:



And the text description of the listing as well:

TRAPSHOOT ON-LINE SYSTEMS APPLE II 1979
THIS IS THE FIRST SOFTWARE THAT ROBERTA AND KEN EVER SOLD
They only sold few copies from door to door.
This is the only copy known in existent.
The floppy that they used is verbatim and they just put a white sticker on it.
They also put hand writing add-ons on the orange paper master.
Comes with original baggie
First time on e-bay
Due to its age (32 years) sold as is.

[Griking]

TRAPSHOOT ON-LINE SYSTEMS APPLE II 1979
THIS IS THE FIRST SOFTWARE THAT ROBERTA AND KEN EVER SOLD
They only sold few copies from door to door.
This is the only copy known in existent.
The floppy that they used is verbatim and they just put a white sticker on it.
They also put hand writing add-ons on the orange paper master.
Comes with original baggie
First time on e-bay
Due to its age (32 years) sold as is.

I think that this is an awesome find if any of it can be confirmed.

[Casati]

Are there any good online price guides for old school computer games?