For everyone who has given up hope in finding a rare game at a garage sale or undiscovered gaming treasure at a pawn shop, don't give up hope yet. Rare games can still be found.
Readers, fellow game collectors, and friends of mine tell me stories every week of finding great games at garage sales, flea markets, pawn shops, thrift stores, etc.
A loyal VGPC user named Andrew Petrie told me he found a boxed copy of Hot Slots at a pawn shop and bought it for $3, the game usually sells for $1,300 if its complete.
An acquaintance told me a friend of theirs gave them a copy of NBA 2 Ball, a Playstation demo that was given out at the NBA All-Star game, and there are only a couple known copies in existence. The game has never sold before so who knows how much it is actually worth.
A friend of mine finds garage sales every week with bundles of games for $25-30 but have games like Chrono Trigger and Ninja Gaiden Trilogy plus 10 or 15 other games that by themselves sell for $40-60.
And there are games that are even more rare that are yet to be found. Twenty six Nintendo World Championship Gold cartridges were given away by Nintendo, but only 13 are accounted for. That means there are 13 more cartridges in some attic, garage, pawn shop, yard sale, thrift store, or closet just waiting to be found. There are hundreds of Nintendo World Championships, Donkey Kong Country Competition cartridges, and other rare games just waiting to be found.
Don't give up hope. You might be the next person to email me saying "Guess what I found at Goodwill!"
Details About Hot Slots Found At Pawn Shop
I had a good laugh when I read the email from Andrew about Hot Slots so I thought I would share it with everyone else.
He was looking through the stack of games at his local pawn shop and found the usual $10 sports games that seem to dominate those kinds of shops. He asked the guy behind the counter if they had any more games somewhere else. The owner said they had another box in the back and brought it out for Andrew to look through.
After rummaging through the box a bit he saw what looked like a VHS movie and thought it looked out of place with the other games. When he took it out he saw that it was Hot Slots a rare unlicensed game for NES. The item was listed for $5 but sells for $1,300 to collectors.
If I heard it was $5 and is actually worth 260 times that, I would say "deal" and pay the $5 on the spot. Andrew on the other hand decides to negotiate the pawn shop down to $3 instead. Making $1,295 wasn't quite enough for him, he wanted it to be $1,297.
7 comments :
Thanks again for writing up the blog about my Hot Slots purchase JJ!
Well done Andrew! Great rare gaming find! You've certainly provided some motivation to your fellow retro video game collectors.
I would not have known, upon seeing it, that it was a collectors item. I like the cover though, so I probably would've bought it for that, and thought nothing of it. I usually put my blinders on when flipping past all the sports games at the Goodwill Computer Store.
I'll have to check out some garage sales and flea markets around here. i need to replace some snes games ive lost and hopefully find a rare.
Matthew - the problem with finding the rare games is you need to know what to look for AND you need to have lots of patience. Most games you find are going to be almost worthless but every now and then there will be diamonds in the rough.
haha thats a true bargain hunter, talks the guy down 2 less dollars for a game worth over a thousand, lol.
i found a 6in 1 caltron nes cartrige only for 5 dollards and suikoden 2 ps1 for .50 cents at a flea market
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