Question about collecting...

[Cobra Commander]

As I delve ever deeper into the wonderful world of DP, looking at game rooms, and marveling at your collections, this question haunts me:

How the hell do you guys get all of this stuff?
I mean I always thought I had alot of games...but christ, I have nothing...
This is my entire collection:
http://www.planetnes.com/images/my_room/DSCF0217.jpg
http://www.planetnes.com/images/my_room/DSCF0213.jpg

Now I'm constantly buying games. If I see a game somewhere, I buy it. Almost without exception. I average about 6 or 7 games a week with my somewhat busy schedule.

So, do you guys just frequent ebay, or are all rich? I know getting there is half the fun of a big collection, but man oh man....

[Speedy]

Your cartridge collection is bigger then mine ... (hopefully you feel better now ), but when i look at my stuff i'm still amazed what i collected in 1,5 years now. (i'm a eu collector so i don't have those nice garage sales and NES games for 0.25 cents ).
I think those with the big collections are collecting for a long time now and in that time a lot of systems went out of the running and they scored games cheap (at least that is what i had done, and planning to do when the new consoles hit the stores).

[HellStar]

Yea..your collection is bigger than mine too.
I think the guys with the massive collections have been collecting for a long time too...hopefully ill get there someday*prays*

[Cobra Commander]

Well, I've been playing since the the late 70's. I still have almost everything we had back then. But at least the main reason I don't have as much as I would would be mostly money. It's much easier for me to pay bills and but a ton of games without a girlfriend.

[Happy_Dude]

Collecting is about the hunt. I have a story for every single thing in my
collection. I can tell you I paid $10 for my N64 light at retravision in Naroma
Or that a friend stole my Ms. Pac-Man from a Salvation Army store
or that the thrift store lady keept my MIB SNES in the back room until she
could sell it to me.

The point is you don't accumulate all this crap for the sake of accumulating it
It just sort of happens while your having fun, and One day you'll look at your
collection and say "Damn, Thats a lot of crap".




N.B: Crap = Stuff

[qbertandernie]

i just started buying games one day and ended up with a room full. im not rich, but can pay my bills and have a girlfriend, and have only been collecting for about 3 years. my collection is smaller than some but(ive found) larger than most. i thoght i had an average sized collection til i got on here and found im in the upper percentile(with about 2700 unique titles). i really like finding the games i dont have, so i guess all my stuff ive just found when rooting through other peoples used 'junk'. the vast majority of my stuff has come from junk stores, garage sales or used game stores, and in the grand scheme of things i bet ive probably spent less than most people on a lot of the rare stuff in my game room. i guess my collection came more from time searching for goodies than from money spent(my girlfriend goes out looking with me and is very supportive).

[RetroYoungen]

That's a nice-looking collection there, Cobra. You're lucky about your collection; you had games in the 70s. I wasn't even alive then.

I get a lot of my games from Gamestop stores, not as much as I used to. Backwhen Funco was selling NES carts for like a buck apiece tops, I was buying them up as fast as my allowance would allow me. Nowadays I'm broke, Funco doesn't have that great a selection, and I only buy games every once in a while.

[PapaStu]

I was one of those kids who took super good care of all of his toys, and never ever got rid of the games. Being an only kid, Xmas and Bdays have allways been pretty nice to me. To this day I think that ive only sold back 1 PSOne game, and havnt gotten rid of anything else, ever. Ive been helped along by the fact that as ive gotten older games have become a standard present from most friends, who know better to check my online games list, or to just buy something out of my hold box at the local game store (yes i buy that much, that they let me have a hold box, and when stuff comes in, they check my collection lists to see if i need is and put it aside).

I worked at a Music Retailer that also sold games, which ment that many came home that way, Im not afraid to buy used, and to wait for games to drop in price. And the biggest reason that ive been able to build such a sizeable collection, focuses on the fact that while ive been in school, any money that i basically got from work was allowed to be spent on whatever, and the parents have been gracious enough to foot the basic bills, ie school, insurance and the like.

I'm far from rich, (currently about 100 bucks in the account ), part of its luck, and part of its the hookups that ive built over the year, my indy shop takes very good care of one of its best customers. I only ebay on rare or very special occasions, for that is the crack of the devil, and it feeds your needs something fierce, and once you start, it really doesnt stop.

[charitycasegreg]

Ive been collecting for about 8 months. YOu have a little more stuff then me. You have to hit up garage sales, thrift stores, and flea markets frequently to get good deals. Most poeple on this forum aren't upper class people with a lot of money. Its about getting good deals and selling your extra stuff on ebay to make a profit. ie. many times garage sales will have a nintendo with like 10 games for like 5-10 bucks. Get it, then sell the system on ebay abd you will make about 25 bucks. You made a profit of 10 bucks and got 10 free games! Its all about the hunt as said earlier...dont just stick to ebay and gamestop. Oh, also many collectors here have been collecting for 5-25 years and just keep finding stuff and garage sales and thrift stores and such. One more thing, make sure to ask anyone you know if they have old games. Just be like "I enjoy playing the old games and was wondering if you had any of that old junk?"

[dogbowl2]

2 words: Time and money.

I've still got my original 2600 in its box, and I've held onto every game purchase I've made since then. Over the years, I hit up garage sales, thrift stroes, usenet, and now I primarily rely on Ebay.

I always looked ahead thinking that in 5 years what items would be desirable/interesting. I held onto wierd promo's, magazines, you name it. ANd even today, I'm grabbing up XBOX sales fliers and PS2 demos


But theres no way I could rebuild my collection today. Theres not enough time or money!

[Richter]

money is the hard thing to get ;_;

[Naiera]

Yeah, it's not exactly easy to expand your collection when you're a student

I try though, but since I just bought a Neo, I don't think my number of games will rise significantly in 2004... The value of my collection, is another issue, though

[13u1313a]

Im a student in the UK collecting consoles and I have to agree. the thing is to have a good time doing it like Happy_Dude said, best thing about it is the thrill of the hunt. Money's the worst thing for me think ive just about run out now damn. I really wanted that mint boxed SNES as well.

(Woo won Sonic CD on E bay.co.uk for £10/$18 glad ive got a copy now, fed up of waiting for a really cheap one)