Quote Originally Posted by YoshiM View Post
My wife took me to some seasonal flea-market type event called "Maxwell Street Days". It takes up a County fair ground. It was basically your mix of antiques, hand made goods, rummage and collectables. I saw a video game store with a tent at this event, selling their wares. I think I saw them at MGC before.

Many of the games, systems and accessories I saw were "collector priced", even on items that were pretty beat up. There was an Intellivision with bad controllers and a handfull of commons for $50. The sun umbrella that was covering where the dealer sat fell when I was looking at the stuff, so I took that as a sign from Bira Bira to move on.
Yeah, you don't really see people selling old games at flea markets anymore, it's all resellers. Since the uptick in retro gaming awareness as of late, nobody is selling their old gaming stuff too much. I've stopped going to thrift stores altogether, and will only go to a flea market (on the rare occasion my boss will let me have a Saturday or Sunday off) maybe two or three times a year now. I only buy games at overpriced game stores nowadays.

Speaking of which, I picked up this TI -99/4A version of Miner 2049'er for $19.99 today. It looks odd because Texas Instruments made a revision to their computer in 1982 that essentially locked out any non-licensed cartridges from playing. So Tigervision made their games play through the side expansion port, hence the weird shape. I saw one of these in a convention in 2008 but the guy in front of me snagged it, and I've never come across another one. I'm glad I have one now.

I also ordered these little arcade cabs off Amazon for something like $22 to $30 each. The screen resolution is low, but they actually play. The fire buttons have a nice click to them and the joystick is a little tricky to use considering its size. I just wish companies would expand beyond Namco's early titles and go broader. How about a tiny Tron cabinet? I'd murder for one of those.