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Thread: Big finds in decrepit locations ?

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    Strawberry (Level 2) Technosis's Avatar
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    Default Big finds in decrepit locations ?

    I was recently telling another collector about the time I found a lone Atari cart : Boing! at a decrepit flea market. It was located in a dark corner of a very run down converted textile mill (yeah there were still pulleys and cogs and stuff left over), among a whole pile of old IBM monocrome monitors.

    Another gamer I deal with in Florida found a Mangia' in the basement of a partially flooded junk store. I knew of a guy who found a bunch of rares in the attic of a slum dwelling being demolished.

    Do you have any tales of rescuing Atari games from less than stellar surroundings?

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    I found a loose copy of Super Baseball 2020 for the Genesis in the clearance section of a local Half Price Books. It was sitting there on a shelf amongst books on tape, old VHS tapes, and long outdated PC software. Not necessarily a decrepit locale, but a sad, lonely place for such a fun game. I was compelled to rescue it.

    Oh yeah, it was only $.75.

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    In a filthy flea market in Louisiana, I came across a whole bunch of Atari, C64, Colecovision, and Intellivision games, and the lady didn't know how much they cost so she sold them for a buck each. I also picked up a boxed Atari Pro Trackball for $5, and at an outdoor booth in the far back I came across an Apple IIc and a couple less than common Colecovision games, all for $3. He had a Nintendo arcade cabinet out there, an old Donkey Kong that had been converted into an Eight Ball Action game. I don't have the room to collect arcade cabs, but I would have passed on this one anyway. It was left outside in the middle of their junk area, completely exposed to the elements. God knows how many times it got rained on.

    When I first started thrifting a few years back, I spotted this tiny little thrift store in a miserable part of town, in a complex that used to be strip clubs 20 years ago until the neighborhood got too rough. First thing I saw when I walked inside was a Rastan arcade cab, with a $50 price tag. Poking around, I came across a device I had never seen before in person, so I didn't quite recognise it right away. It was a Vectrex. No controller attached, but they plugged it in and it worked fine. They only charged me $5 for it. I wanted that Rastan cab, but didn't have any place to put it. Once I finally decided to go back and get it regardless, it was sold.

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    Most Salvation Army stores could be considered decrepit. The one closest to me was real bad in the late 80's and early 90's, the type of place you were embarrassed to even be seen in. The location was next door to a smoke shop on one side. The other side had a house that was the home to dozens of unmovable cars and trucks, most of them up on cement blocks. It was a literal junkyard (obviously unlicensed) and for years the police never did a thing about it. Eventually the Salvation Army moved a few blocks over and the new building is far more respectable.

    My best find in a decrepit location? Several years ago, I used to find common 2600 and Intellivision games in this vintage clothing store a couple towns over. It wasn't the type of place anybody would think to look for video games in, not even a hardcore collector or reseller. They strictly sold used vintage clothes and it wasn't really a thrift store since they paid cash for old clothes people brought in. I liked going in there since occasionally you'd find used cd's, tapes, vhs movies, books or Atari/INTV games all stuck on a shelf reserved for items other than clothes.

    The woman who ran it told me people sometimes included other stuff in the boxes or bags of clothes that would be brought in. The store would only accept it to take it off someones hands, she wouldn't "pay" for anything that came in except for vintage clothes. Since she wouldn't buy "other stuff", whatever price she marked games and other items for would be 100% profit on her part. It was usually 50 cents per item. Pretty cool. The lady is now deceased and the store has since been closed. I miss visiting that place, even though the games were mostly common and the only stuff I ever saw was 2600 and INTV (no Nintendo/Sega stuff or anything more recent).
    Last edited by bangtango; 02-18-2007 at 12:06 AM.

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    Can't really say I've saved any games unless I didn't realise it...

    There's a Cash Converters up the road I go into often and one time the manager walked up to me while looking at their video games and asked if I wanted to buy all the Genesis games for $20. Due to them being 99% sports games I didn't want to bother but a friend of mine pounced on the offer. Next thing I know there's 200 Genesis cartridges (no complete games AT all) in my back trunk! We sorted through them (and I posted the list on here what was in the bunch) and sold a few at other stores. The remaining 180+ I stashed in my garage and whenever we go out pellet shooting we bring a dozen along for target practice and usually burn them. We hope all the Berkley, Madden, NHL and other dirt common games we destroy will make the Genesis collecting world a better place.
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    Picture the lamest indie game store on the planet. Overflowing with $5 Atari 2600 commons, $6+ NES/SNES/Genesis commons, and $40 Nintendo 64s (in 2005!)

    Then what do I see in the 2600 games? Glib. $5.

    The year after that there was a guy with an outdoor setup at the flea market that contained all the usual suspects. Rusty tools, Herb Alpert discography, $5 Top Gun and Silent Service for NES, sunfaded ex-rental VHS tapes, the works.

    And an Adventurevision.

    I bring it up to buy it and he says "want another?" as he pulls a 2nd one out of his truck.

    Both for $10.

    Traded these, my 2 best finds, to friends here on the forums. Who may be reading the prices right now. Don't be mad, guys.

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    I've gotten many good thing out of dirty pawn shops. 3 Contras, 2 Super C, Kings Field V, Legend of Dragoon, Snes original, Airbuster, Kingdom hearts 2 for 8 bucks the day after it came out.
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    http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15722

    This is my tale of finding something in the darkest deepest corner of New Hampshire a few years back (queue spooky music). This place was surreal, I swear, folks...it was just so friggin out of place. Some real Twilight Zone shit.

    -Rob
    Last edited by rbudrick; 02-19-2007 at 01:53 PM.
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    My Sega CD (Model 2) was actually found in the basement of my fraternity house in '98 covered in crap. We (as pledges) were tasked to completely clean up and go through the entire house's basement. We had to do everything--from mopping and dusting to going through all the old member's junk that was left in the last 30+ years.

    I was shocked to find the system--and incredibly excited. Everyone else made fun of me. "Why the hell do you want a Sega CD?" They just couldn't look beyond Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye and Blitz at the time. I took an entire week to clean the dust and grime off it, polish the lens and get it working.

    BUT--it still works and is now hooked up to my home theater system.
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    I found 2 a SNES Mini a few years ago at the Vaule Center for like $10, I think a couple months later I found another SNES Mini for like $15 at the same place..

    But, On New Years Day in 2001..I found a NES Top-Loader for like $10 at the Value Center

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    Quote Originally Posted by rbudrick View Post
    http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15722

    This is my tale of finding something in the darkest deepest corner of New Hampshire a few years back (queue spooky music). This place was surreal, I swear, folks...it was just so friggin out of place. Some real Twilight Zone shit.

    -Rob
    Great story Rob! It would be extra cool if you had some photos of this place or something. Somewhere I have some print photos taken in the 90's of some of the decrepit flea markets that yielded big stuff. They are "safe" to post now since the fleas are out of business !

    BTW, the story of the completely unmotivated seller (who got up because a TV commercial came on) reminded me of a gas station owner in a remote village in Northern Ontario. I was working there for a hydro-electric project and used to stop at this ramshackle gas station/variety store/arcade/video store. (yeah.....it was one of those weird backwoods "hybrid" businesses) Now someone had told him that the TGX-16 was the wave of the future so he bought a whole library of the games....some in triplicate. He told me that he was selling some of them off...but it actually took him six months or so to decide which ones. He'd mention he was "working on it" when ever I'd stop for gas and he'd see me. Finally one day he announces he'd completed "the list". I ended up with a bunch of boxed TGX stuff like Military Madness, Air Zonk, etc....all on the cheap. I have no idea if the business is still there, I suspect it is as nothing ever changed in this town !

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    There's a pawn shop in a bad area of Winnipeg that's been around for a long time. I've gotten more video games there than any other place ever. I found a whole stack of brand-new Atari games awhile back, and games for pretty much every other mainstream console afterwards. I've bought quite a bit of LP's, tapes, older computer games, and other stuff since then. It's rather dry now but the guy who works there looks around in the back rooms for me.

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    Here I go necro-bumping a topic from 11 years ago. Yes, I do have several stories from a real dumpy place that, late in its life, the owner didn't even replace light bulbs in so it was a dark, damp place and eventually it had its second floor cave in to where all these games were once stored. The building's since been leveled.

    EDIT: Update, almost 4 years later - the building's second story only fell in on itself about 3 - 4 years after it closed.

    1: February or March 2004: An Atari 2600 Darth Vader, Atari 400, NES and Atari 7800. Power adapters for the 2600, 400 and NES were there but the 7800 didn't have one. There were some 2600 cartridge storage units (4 of them) included and maybe 50 various games. 2600 games included Atari Video Cube, Frogger II and Sorceror's Apprentice. Total price: $20.

    2: Some months later or the next year: Sega Genesis 1, Super NES (Non-yellowed plastic but it was a smoker's edition system,) Odyssey 2 (with box) and a variety of games (Some had blue-corroded contacts, making them the worst contacts I ever saw) - $30

    3: Commodore 64 Keyboard - $1 (bought a few minutes after I saw the second load shown above; it was 9 feet away from the lot above.)

    4: Last time I bought games there, no later than 2006, IIRC: A box of NES games in a NES game carrying case that held, I think, 16 games. Mario Bros. (Arcade,) Super Mario Bros. 2 and 3 among others were included. - $10.

    - Austin
    Last edited by Slate; 06-02-2022 at 07:37 PM.

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    Many years ago, there was a crackhead renting a house my dad owned. The guy stopped paying rent, got evicted, and abandoned most of his belongings, leaving behind a total mess. In the process of cleaning the place out, I found a SNES, PS1, some games, and a small CRT. There wasn't anything of great rarity or value, but the CRT has been my primary TV for gaming when visiting my mom.

    Further showing my family's bad luck with renters, just this past spring, I was helping my mom move from one house to another she inherited. With the inherited house, my grandfather had been renting out the bottom floor to this guy who was supposed to be something of a "caretaker", watching over the house and maintaining the yard. The guy was there for probably around 20 years, did jack shit, and left the bottom floor in a despicable state, despite my mom giving him tons of advance notice about having to move out. He abandoned most of his belongings as well, and everything was beyond filthy. Literally piles of dead bugs everywhere, dead mice and droppings, a piss-soaked couch, you name it. We took a dozen truckloads of junk to the dump, and among all the stuff, I spotted a few game-related things. A magazine, a N64 system manual, a DS charger, etc. Usually, I won't say no to free game stuff and will clean things as needed (the PS1 from the aforementioned house was even covered in bird crap, presumably from being left next to a cage, and I still cleaned it up), but this place had me so disgusted that I threw everything away. It made the crackhead's mess seem clean in comparison. I supposed if I had found something amazing in there, like a Stadium Events or something, I would've kept it, but I guess even I have my limits on what kind of environment I'll accept my game stuff coming from. I guess ignorance is bliss with eBay and such.
    Last edited by Aussie2B; 09-07-2018 at 01:17 PM.

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    I've seen a few walking around that come to mind, both new and ancient.

    * My friends and I were walking home from middle school, around 91-92, and spot an RF cable hanging out of someone's garbage can. So they decide to empty it out, and found a Coleco Telstar pong console! . It still worked.

    * A couple years ago, I'm walking my dog, and it's trash night, and I see a waterlogged box (it rained earlier). It had albums and stuff, that were ruined. However, I see an Intellivision at the bottom, that was literally covered in mud. Pulled it out and carried it home. Didn't quite work, but sent it to someone on Atari Age for parts.

    * Back to eons ago, around 89-90, my grandparents' condo building had storage in this big basement thing. It was pretty dusty, and what not, but we're down there and I spot a Colecovision. Games and all. I think whoever lived there had moved and just left crap. Anyway, I took it, and tried it, but it didn't work, so my grandmother made me put it back!
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
    Many years ago, there was a crackhead renting a house my dad owned. The guy stopped paying rent, got evicted, and abandoned most of his belongings, leaving behind a total mess. In the process of cleaning the place out, I found a SNES, PS1, some games, and a small CRT. There wasn't anything of great rarity or value, but the CRT has been my primary TV for gaming when visiting my mom.
    The only thing I could think of was a similar story to this. Someone my dad rented to had to be evicted and left a complete pigsty...which I had to help clean up. Though the only game I found was Donkey Kong Land in between the couch cushions.
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    Not necessarily decrepit, but very remote. On the Hawaiian island of Maui, there is a remote town called Hana. You need to take a road full of twists and turns and areas big enough to only fit one car through at a time. Anyway, I drove to this town to explore it. I stopped at some random church type thrift store. There wasn't too much of interest there, however I was driving a rental vehicle and decided I wanted to maybe get some CDs to listen to. As I was going through the CDs, I randomly found a 3DO game in the stack. There was nothing else 3DO related there. Very strange how that ended up in a place so remote.

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    I would have to think about my own finds to remember any particularly bad locations, but I remember several stories from other collectors that would be appropriate for this thread.

    Finding a Sundance arcade game in a former crack house.
    https://arcadeblogger.com/2016/06/03...nics-sundance/

    Arcade games found on an abandoned cruise ship.
    https://arcadeblogger.com/2016/05/06...ancaster-ship/

    A pair of Computer Space arcade games found in a barn ready to collapse.
    https://arcadeblogger.com/2017/06/23...ce-barn-finds/

    Side note, I remember reading these articles years apart from various websites. They all seem to be listed on the same site now when I searched for them again.

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