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Thread: How is game hunting in your area?

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    Insert Coin (Level 0) SonicBoom's Avatar
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    Default How is game hunting in your area?

    Around were I Live (Jersey City, New Jersey) Video game hunting isn't good. 1 Goodwill that normally gets nothing (Best deal was 5 Boxed Genesis games for 2 bucks a piece) Two retail stores that overprice. (One had metal gear on the NES for 9 bucks) and one flea market that is about 20 minutes away that is okay. How easy is it to find video games were you live? And around were is that?
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    Great Puma (Level 12) jb143's Avatar
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    Off the top of my head, I can think of over 15 different stores in the St. Louis area that sell retro games...a few that have more uncommon stuff, and one that has a good selection of imported games. As for thrift stores around here, there are a bunch of those as well. They are pretty hit and miss as you would expect, but it's where I've found probably 80% of my collection and generally at a really good deal.
    "Game programmers are generally lazy individuals. That's right. It's true. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Since the dawn of computer games, game programmers have looked for shortcuts to coolness." Kurt Arnlund - Game programmer for Activision, Accolade...

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    Quote Originally Posted by jb143 View Post
    Off the top of my head, I can think of over 15 different stores in the St. Louis area that sell retro games...a few that have more uncommon stuff, and one that has a good selection of imported games. As for thrift stores around here, there are a bunch of those as well. They are pretty hit and miss as you would expect, but it's where I've found probably 80% of my collection and generally at a really good deal.
    STL sure is good for gaming, huh? I've found a lot of cool stuff, even though there are no flea markets around here anymore.

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    It's really hit or miss in Buffalo, NY...I generally don't even bother going to Goodwill anymore as they suck - most of my finds come out of Amvets, garage sales, and the occasional estate sale.
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    Here in Utah it just plain sucks. I get all my games online.
    Atari: 2600, Jaguar
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    Great Puma (Level 12) Steve W's Avatar
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    As far as thrift store shopping goes, the Dallas/Fort Worth, TX area is pretty dry. I don't think I've found anything of interest in a while. Flea markets outside of the Metroplex are much better for me, although there's a good dedicated vendor out at Trader's Village flea market in Arlington. As far as brick-and-mortar stores go, it's a bonanza of retro gaming. There's several locations of Movie Trading Company stores, with plenty of games from the Atari 2600 onward. I love those stores, because they don't have any rarity lists for pre-NES games so they mostly get a blanket price of $1.99. And then there's "local" chains like FX Game Exchange (in Plano and McKinney) and Console Game Exchange (in Irving Mall, Stonebriar Mall in Frisco, and probably Collin Creek Mall in Plano). There's also a few Play N' Trade stores around, along with one or two independents.

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    We've got a TON of local shops here in Cleveland that carry old school gaming goodness. Honestly, I have to try and NOT shop too much. I'd spend a small fortune if left to explore them all.

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    Sf bay area sucks. Just plain sucks. I don't bother with thrift stores anymore. There's a tiny handfull of retro game shops. Inventory don't change much. Flea markets are your best bet and its spotty at best.

    Sadly if it wasant for flea bay my meager collection would be half it's size.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve W View Post
    As far as thrift store shopping goes, the Dallas/Fort Worth, TX area is pretty dry. I don't think I've found anything of interest in a while. Flea markets outside of the Metroplex are much better for me, although there's a good dedicated vendor out at Trader's Village flea market in Arlington. As far as brick-and-mortar stores go, it's a bonanza of retro gaming. There's several locations of Movie Trading Company stores, with plenty of games from the Atari 2600 onward. I love those stores, because they don't have any rarity lists for pre-NES games so they mostly get a blanket price of $1.99. And then there's "local" chains like FX Game Exchange (in Plano and McKinney) and Console Game Exchange (in Irving Mall, Stonebriar Mall in Frisco, and probably Collin Creek Mall in Plano). There's also a few Play N' Trade stores around, along with one or two independents.
    Any neat finds at the flea markets? I've always wanted to go to Trader's Village, but I'd hate to go all the way out there for nothing.

    Also, GameChop in Carrollton and that little unnamed place (they had a Craigslist ad calling themselves 'Classic Game Store', but I'm not sure that's the name) in Grand Prairie are pretty okay. I just wish the Grand Prairie store wasn't in an area that looks super sketchy.

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    For cartridge based games, it sucks (unless you like paying ebay price in person, or something). Everyone is a reseller here, it seems. Craigslist is full of them. Goodwill rarely has anything. Swapmeets are good for disc based games, though.

    I've never done the yardsale thing, so maybe I'm missing out on a critical element...

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    That Grand Prairie store is ok. Found some semi-rare NES games there a few years back. The area is very sketchy but if you go early on the weekend its pretty dead around there. Gamechop has some very questionable prices on some of their games. 9.99 for NES commons, etc. Occasionally a good find will slip through. I've even seen some imports there as well.

    Trader's Village is hit or miss. I've found some great deals there for some rare games. But then for each great deal there's about 5 sellers trying to overcharge for common items. $10-15 for sun faded SNES games, Busted ass NES's for $75. Their reasoning? "They're collector's items' Well obviously if you're going to charge collector prices then at least make sure the item is in quality condition. Also saw a few vendors assembling pirated GBA games. I found it very hard to find any real deals the past time I was out there. Still it's worth a trip every once in awhile, and there is a regular vendor who has been there for 10+ years that has a ton of games at some pretty decent prices.

    Also, if anyone in the area hasn't been yet, a new Play N Trade opened up on MacArthur Rd in Irving a few months back.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tupin View Post
    STL sure is good for gaming, huh? I've found a lot of cool stuff, even though there are no flea markets around here anymore.
    Have you been to Bam! in Mid Rivers Mall? That's the newest store I've discovered. They haven't been open too long and are where the Borders used to be. One floor is used books. The other floor is DVD's and a ton of retro games. You could easily spend hours in that store.


    Quote Originally Posted by Polygon View Post
    Here in Utah it just plain sucks. I get all my games online.
    My CIB nearly mint NES came from a D.I. in Utah...3 bucks it cost.
    Last edited by jb143; 04-10-2012 at 10:22 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by jb143 View Post
    Have you been to Bam! in Mid Rivers Mall? That's the newest store I've discovered. They haven't been open too long and are where the Borders used to be. One floor is used books. The other floor is DVD's and a ton of retro games. You could easily spend hours in that store.
    I've been to one of their other locations, they call themselves V-Stock now. They have a good selection, I'll admit that. Strangely enough, it's mostly the modern games that are overpriced, most PS2 games I saw were $10 at least no matter what, even if they were sports titles. Yet earlier games are cheaper.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tupin View Post
    I've been to one of their other locations, they call themselves V-Stock now. They have a good selection, I'll admit that. Strangely enough, it's mostly the modern games that are overpriced, most PS2 games I saw were $10 at least no matter what, even if they were sports titles. Yet earlier games are cheaper.
    Yeah, we just happened upon it. I was surprised to see so many Lynx, TG16, and NGPC games...though I think I manly bought books at the time. Also it's not far from Game Trader, a pretty cool local store.
    "Game programmers are generally lazy individuals. That's right. It's true. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Since the dawn of computer games, game programmers have looked for shortcuts to coolness." Kurt Arnlund - Game programmer for Activision, Accolade...

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    Quote Originally Posted by jb143 View Post
    Yeah, we just happened upon it. I was surprised to see so many Lynx, TG16, and NGPC games...though I think I manly bought books at the time. Also it's not far from Game Trader, a pretty cool local store.
    Ah, the one in St. Charles? That's a good place to get imports.

    I only went to the Pevely Flea Market once, and got Super Punch Out! and Mega Man X for $20 total. Too bad it closed.

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    It's always been hit-or-miss in my area (Northeast Georgia) for games.

    Last week I picked up a boxed Game Boy and blue Game Gear at a local thrift. Before that? Well, unless I drive 30 minutes to one of the major population areas, I usually don't find anything. There's one pawn shop that carries vintage games but they're usually overpriced. There is a mom and pop "thrift" store (aka resale general stores) chain but outside of a 3DO marked as a DVD player, their selection has been historically terrible in the two years or so they've been opened. I sometimes find games at local thrifts or yard sales but it's pretty hit or miss. I rarely see gaming items at local auction houses but I can snatch them up for cheap when I do.

    However, two of the three flea markets I regularly frequent almost always do well for me. The third flea market is very small but will sometimes have some decent merchandise.

    You also have to keep in mind that I live in a town of ~2500 and a county of ~25k. I usually have no competition for games and electronics unless I travel to one of the large cities.

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    Pretty good, considering I live in small town. There are a couple of pawn shops, various thrift stores, a collectibles/antiques place, and an independent game shop.

    So yeah, I'm pretty much covered as far as game hunting spots goes.

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    Not to bad in my area,I usually find decent games at my goodwill,just the other week I bought 7 nes games,one was LOZ,all for 2 bucks a piece.
    Then I go to my local game store that has a nice selection of import games,most of my famicom games I bought from there and some good super fami ones as well.

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    I have only been to Goodwills lately. The rule of thumb down here is that Goodwills never have anything except the occasional loose NES common (I only see about 2 a year, not exaggerating) or a CIB Genesis sports game. There's another part of the rule, being that the pawn shops are pretty good. There's a pawn chain here which is good for finding loose NES, SNES, and N64 games, and CIB current-gen games at low prices. The mom and pop pawn shops do turn up a treasure from time to time. Resellers in the area have made it more difficult the past few years though.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Genesaturn View Post
    It's really hit or miss in Buffalo, NY...I generally don't even bother going to Goodwill anymore as they suck - most of my finds come out of Amvets, garage sales, and the occasional estate sale.
    Amvets is awesome indeed.

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