Remember that red paperclip guy- he traded a paperclip for a pen

[furcointalk]

then he traded the pen for a doorknob.

This guy was able to trade One red paperclip into a house in a series of online trades over the course of a year.
This might be cool to do with videogames.
i collect coins and comics, and collectors are running their own experiments.

i figured this would be cool to try with video games. I don't know what the final item will be, or how far it will go, but the journey should be fun.

check it out for a trade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xaQzdG09mo&feature=plcp

[Gameguy]

Someone tried this out years ago and it didn't really amount to anything as most collectors won't trade more valuable games for less valuable ones. It cost more in shipping to get the ending game than it would have cost to just buy it.

http://web.archive.org/web/200702270...ures.php?FID=4

I'm not sure if the internet archive loads from a direct link, so just search it with this. The date I used is February 2007.
http://www.eightbitonline.com/features.php?FID=4

[wiggyx]

It's cool, but it'd be even cooler if he started the same way as the guy with the paper clip. I.e. with a copy of Super Mario/Duck Hunt for the NES.

[furcointalk]

then he traded the pen for a doorknob.

This guy was able to trade One red paperclip into a house in a series of online trades over the course of a year.
This might be cool to do with videogames.
i collect coins and comics, and collectors are running their own experiments.

i figured this would be cool to try with video games. I don't know what the final item will be, or how far it will go, but the journey should be fun.

check it out for a trade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xaQzdG09mo&feature=plcp

yeah, i am not really doing this to make any cash. especially since in the beginning shipping costs will cost me more than what i am trading. if someone makes a trade with me, they will only have to pay for shipping once, i will have to pay for it over and over again.
i already got some interesting trade offers. my question is; where should this be posted for maximum exposure? what is the largest video game forum?

as far as value goes, that is subjective. people will trade a more valuable item if they really want what i have to trade. for example- is isn't inconceivable for someone to trade for a sega saturn with a wii console. even though the wii might cost a little more, the person may have two wii's or they may really want a sega saturn. besides after you sell on ebay with fees and shipping costs, a ten dollar difference is meaningless.

lets use this as an example. someone sells a wii for 60 bucks on ebay. after all the ebay / paypal fees they clear 50 bucks. they then turn around and buy a sega saturn for 40 + another ten for shipping costs. why not get rid of the ebay middle man and trade direct. a few bucks difference won't matter to some people. especially since they won't have to do the work that posting that item on ebay entails.

i collect comics and coins, and similar things are going on in collectors forums with spectacular results.

i would have started it with duck hunt mario- unfortunatelyi don't have that cart.

p.s. those links are dead.

[Bojay1997]

Not to be critical, but isn't this something that has already been done and in fact isn't there a reality show on A&E called Barter Kings where they do this every episode?

[Gameguy]

i already got some interesting trade offers. my question is; where should this be posted for maximum exposure? what is the largest video game forum?

Besides here, I'm guessing Gamefaqs.

as far as value goes, that is subjective. people will trade a more valuable item if they really want what i have to trade.

If you're just sticking with trading games for games, they're not really unique one of a kind items so nobody will be desperate for anything. Not like a recording contract or one afternoon with Alice Cooper which is how the guy traded for a house, he just kept trading up across several hobbies or interests accepting everything from free rent for a year to vacations to movie roles to snowmobiles. If someone has a bunch of old games but collects audio equipment you'll get a better trade for the games if you have some audio equipment. If someone collects games they won't let go of something really valuable unless you have something already close to the value of what you want from them, they'll most likely already have the games you're trading.

lets use this as an example. someone sells a wii for 60 bucks on ebay. after all the ebay / paypal fees they clear 50 bucks. they then turn around and buy a sega saturn for 40 + another ten for shipping costs. why not get rid of the ebay middle man and trade direct. a few bucks difference won't matter to some people. especially since they won't have to do the work that posting that item on ebay entails.

I could see that working, mostly because a used Wii is worth about the same amount as a Sega Saturn system and the prices of Wiis are only going down. I was assuming that you'd eventually hope to trade for a rare game comparable to Stadium Events, Hot Slots, or Cheetahmen II. You won't be able to trade up that high unless you trade for multiple games and keep that going, 1:1 trades just won't work out long term as the jump in value between common and rare games gets too large. If your trades only get you something a few dollars better it will just take too long to trade up to something really valuable.

i would have started it with duck hunt mario- unfortunatelyi don't have that cart.

Maybe if you're lucky you could trade up for it?

p.s. those links are dead.

Which is why I said to copy them into the Internet Archive yourself, or click on the first link and then click on "Impatient?" in the bottom right corner. I'm viewing the page now so I know it's correct. This has already been done with games and it didn't go anywhere.

[Sysop]

Looking at the choice of game you've started out with, it'll definitely be interesting to see what the next step will be.

[Collector_Gaming]

actually i wanted to try this 2 years ago. tried it with a much higher end item. My Sony H5 Point and Shoot digital camera.

Got no where. Got a money offer but that was it

[furcointalk]

actually i wanted to try this 2 years ago. tried it with a much higher end item. My Sony H5 Point and Shoot digital camera.

Got no where. Got a money offer but that was it

i think the key is getting maxim exposure so that is a large group of people willing to play.

i already got three offers. which should i take.
1- silver half dollar
2- 17 issues of game informer
3- a game boy advance sp

to the naysayers, all i can say is that paperclip trades are ongoing with coins and comics collectors. the threads are about two years old at this time. trade values started off under 1 dollar, but they are currently 300 to 400 dollars worth in value. sometimes it takes weeks before someone new is willing to pick up the trade and move the chain.

[Scissors]

There's someone over at Nintendoage doing the same thing:

http://nintendoage.com/forum/message...threadid=78890

[Bojay1997]

But if people are "playing", then what is the point? I thought the whole idea is that you are engaging in a series of arms length transactions to turn essentially nothing into something super valuable. You can probably convince people to give you much more than they ordinarily would if they think you're playing some type of game here and they think they are getting some exposure or other benefit. I'm not seeing the challenge in that and I also don't see why anyone would really care to hear about it. Why not just play the game in secret while documenting it privately and then reveal the final outcome at the end?

i think the key is getting maxim exposure so that is a large group of people willing to play.

i already got three offers. which should i take.
1- silver half dollar
2- 17 issues of game informer
3- a game boy advance sp

to the naysayers, all i can say is that paperclip trades are ongoing with coins and comics collectors. the threads are about two years old at this time. trade values started off under 1 dollar, but they are currently 300 to 400 dollars worth in value. sometimes it takes weeks before someone new is willing to pick up the trade and move the chain.

[furcointalk]

But if people are "playing", then what is the point? I thought the whole idea is that you are engaging in a series of arms length transactions to turn essentially nothing into something super valuable. You can probably convince people to give you much more than they ordinarily would if they think you're playing some type of game here and they think they are getting some exposure or other benefit. I'm not seeing the challenge in that and I also don't see why anyone would really care to hear about it. Why not just play the game in secret while documenting it privately and then reveal the final outcome at the end?

HUh? i Don't get your point. the fun is in the journey. of course i am going to document the trades as they happen. i don't expect anything big, but playing is half the fun, it isn't all about winning.

people aren't going to make trades that screw them. no one is going to take my x-men and give me a brand new copy of skyrim. people will make trades that they want to make. if someone wants x-men because they want it, and they want to trade away something that they no longer want, well, they are going to be happy with the trade.

as far as hearing about it- from the paperclip threads that i frequent on coins, some people are very interested in following- others aren't. if you aren't interested, then don't follow.

[Kitsune Sniper]

It's cool, but it'd be even cooler if he started the same way as the guy with the paper clip. I.e. with a copy of Super Mario/Duck Hunt for the NES.

Super Mario / Duck Hunt is worth more than a paperclip.

The better equivalent would be an E.T. cart for the Atari.

[Collector_Gaming]

Super Mario / Duck Hunt is worth more than a paperclip.

The better equivalent would be an E.T. cart for the Atari.

which i have still yet to see turn up loose in my travels oddly enough. but i have seen a ton of the Duck hunt/mario carts.. in fact i found the duck hunt/mario/world class track meet last time i was at a good will (passed on it though). oh well

anyways in the spirit of i would be interested into seeing this thing flourishing and succeeding. I am gonna vote on the silver half dollar or the gameboy sp.

considering the item your starting with is going for about 10 bucks to be fair on ebay.

The silver half dollar if its the genuine silver piece its worth the same in melt value alone which some of your apocalyptic event crazed prepare kinda people are buying in the event of a government melt down and using precious metals as a currency believe it or not. Also they are very collectible with coin collectors which is always a big hobby. Now as a collectible i'd goto your local coin dealer to have it checked out to get a real good value on it. They can evaluate it in terms of proof level and everything. Also thanks to the hobby being so strong they are a very easy trade item.

The gameboy sp although worth something. I think unless you trade it off to another game collector its not gonna amount to much and take awhile to trade off.

The magazines imo will get you absolutely no where unless you find that one guy or girl that collects them which is few and far in between or atleast that I have noticed.

Another note on the silver coin i'd like to point out is that since it has a much broader spectrum of collectors. It could branch off to something completely different. Like say you take that coin and trade it off for say something useful thats easy to trade like a leaf blower or something which you can trade to a home owner or that guy that runs his own lawn care service company and is in need of a leaf blower.

[eggwolio]

Is the SP a 001 or 101 model? If it's the latter, take it immediately.

[Rickstilwell1]

which i have still yet to see turn up loose in my travels oddly enough. but i have seen a ton of the Duck hunt/mario carts.. in fact i found the duck hunt/mario/world class track meet last time i was at a good will (passed on it though). oh well

anyways in the spirit of i would be interested into seeing this thing flourishing and succeeding. I am gonna vote on the silver half dollar or the gameboy sp.

considering the item your starting with is going for about 10 bucks to be fair on ebay.

The silver half dollar if its the genuine silver piece its worth the same in melt value alone which some of your apocalyptic event crazed prepare kinda people are buying in the event of a government melt down and using precious metals as a currency believe it or not. Also they are very collectible with coin collectors which is always a big hobby. Now as a collectible i'd goto your local coin dealer to have it checked out to get a real good value on it. They can evaluate it in terms of proof level and everything. Also thanks to the hobby being so strong they are a very easy trade item.

The gameboy sp although worth something. I think unless you trade it off to another game collector its not gonna amount to much and take awhile to trade off.

The magazines imo will get you absolutely no where unless you find that one guy or girl that collects them which is few and far in between or atleast that I have noticed.

Another note on the silver coin i'd like to point out is that since it has a much broader spectrum of collectors. It could branch off to something completely different. Like say you take that coin and trade it off for say something useful thats easy to trade like a leaf blower or something which you can trade to a home owner or that guy that runs his own lawn care service company and is in need of a leaf blower.

The silver half dollar really depends on condition and date. If it's 1965-1969 it's only 40% silver. Usually worth just $3 each or so. If it's 1970, it's also 40% but is not meant for circulation and is pretty rare in comparison. If it's 1964 then it's 90% silver. Usually worth $7 each. 1963 and earlier are Franklin instead of Kennedy and also 90% silver. Franklins are automatically worth more than Kennedys and the even older Liberties are worth more than the Franklins.

[furcointalk]

I want to document everything on here and on youtube so.
For the first step I traded this, for this.

Anyone interested in making a trade?

[Rickstilwell1]

I want to document everything on here and on youtube so.
For the first step I traded this, for this.

Anyone interested in making a trade?

I only have 3 Franklin halves yet (just started) and that's not one of the dates I have. In the next couple days let me see if I've got that Buffalo nickel date already or not. Also, unfortunately, I think X-Men 2 was worth more than those coins if it was a CIB copy. If it was cart and box only then it might be about right.

[furcointalk]

I only have 3 Franklin halves yet (just started) and that's not one of the dates I have. In the next couple days let me see if I've got that Buffalo nickel date already or not. Also, unfortunately, I think X-Men 2 was worth more than those coins if it was a CIB copy. If it was cart and box only then it might be about right.

No worries, no rush. thanks for your input. X-men didn't have the instruction manual. as far as value, i got a few offers, and i thought that might be the best way to get the ball rolling.

[Collector_Gaming]

i say score... nice pieces. What i would do personally goto your local coin and hobby store or a local antique shop or something get em put into those cardboard casings and label them which will make em look more displayable. Where you go from here i think is endless since coin collectors are just about anyone.