Does anyone still go to flea markets and such to find retro games? I occasionally find something but its usually just like 3 mexican dudes who buy up everything when the fricker opens and sell it at the same spot.
Flea Market?
Does anyone still go to flea markets and such to find retro games? I occasionally find something but its usually just like 3 mexican dudes who buy up everything when the fricker opens and sell it at the same spot.
Yeah, that’s typical of flea markets or trash and treasure, collectors conventions. Guys who buy from other tents then place it in theirs, price well above eBay list price. Flea market often has untested/dirty stock.
I do some thrifting, games are something I check out when I’m there but not a priority, - mostly common modern stuff like Just Dance, FIFA or military shooters. I’ll buy an odd PS2 game like Virtua Tennis 2 or MotoGP because there’s Arcade pedigree. I figure people know the restock days/times, or have their phone number on file.
My peak was buying a copy of Ranger X for a dollar maybe a decade ago, yet to top that.
I always keep my eye out for them at thrift stores and garage sales but it’s so rare to find anything for a decent price now. I’ve gotten a couple nice lots of NES games off of Craigslist and bought a complete copy of Windwaker off of a guy on the street in Manhattan for $2 but that’s about it. There are too many autists obsessively refreshing and/or setting up keyword alerts for Facebook marketplace/craigslist to compete with now.
Nope, they are all pretty much dead.
They're still around and can be fun to shop at every once in a awhile because you have no idea what you'll find but the hive mind internet pricing has killed the mega deals. Sometimes you find some sellers that try to keep the old school feeling alive by pricing things like $5 for anything in this bin or whatever and not pricing everything individually which is appreciated.
Depends where you are, when you go, etc
I find thrift deals all the time. I also go often (at least weekly), only at certain times, and certain times I find nothing. I look for other things to even it out, but have found a decent amount of mid-card ($30-$60) games cheap this year. Garage sales only started and they are harder to find but you're more likely to find larger lots.
Realistically you will find good mid-cards for cheaper if you continuously search and maybe 1-2 great hauls a year. The days of finding someone selling 40 NES boxed games and console for $15 or being unable to give away gamecube games are pretty much over. But you can still find stuff, but you have to enjoy it as a hobby even if you find nothing because some people just don't and value the time. I just enjoy it, even though I can buy just about any retro game I want right now for resale
A fair assessment. Last year's big score for me was at the citywide garage sale in Santa Clara. Guy had worked at 3DO, had a whole set with the console, games, and a customer made wooden joystick that came right from the 3DO offices. Also, Luciene's Quest! Like, it was the absolute white whale find of 3DO collecting. Was a terribly placed garage sale. Guy only wanted $40.
Flea markets suck ass now. I can't find any good ones anymore, except some good stuff at my local, but my local is the famous Laney flea.
Thrifts still yield some finds if you take the time to go through the CD and DVD sections, as sometimes games get filed in there.
Rock Band instruments are peaking in value and are getting rarer at yard sales, but full sets go for a couple hundred now....
>a custom made wooden joystick
got pics?
>Guy had worked at 3DO, had a whole set with the console, games, and a customer made wooden joystick that came right from the 3DO offices
Even this is a more insane haul then the few grail hauls you might get a year, these hauls exist (and no not the dev shit that's impossible to get) but are insanely rare in the last 10 years
live near a thrift store where the prices are incredible, highest price i've seen there is a $15 tv
Found an JVC X'eye for 20 bucks with Sonic cd among other games, best find by far. Also try pawn shops. Back when I was collecting I found cheap PS2 and Xbox games among others.
A welfare parasite stands at the backroom entrance of my local thriftstore from noon to 4 when the staff stops sorting goods, everyday. So no.
Got my current PS3 a couple of months ago for $65 from a charity store with controller. Not super cheap and the controller was a dud but came with tons of dlc and vr preloaded.
An Amish market near me sells old games dirt cheap, last time I went I picked up NASCAR Thunder 2003 and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for 1.50 a piece
WTF why do the Amish have video games
I think half of them don't really do all that non electronic stuff
the frick are they doing at an amish market?
There used to be a ton of Mexican and Chinese bootlegs at my local flea market. You could find
>all the Exodia cards in engrish gibberish
>bring a new fake Pokemon game to school to show off every month
>movies and TV shows and albums for a couple dollars when they were $20 or $30 new
>consoles with mod chips and shit
It was a paradise. Miss the days when you could get a game for 50 cents and there was a 50% chance it was the actual game you bought.
it's not 2008 bro. everyones tech savvy and scalping.
Man, buying retro games at flea markets used to be the SHIT. I was broke as frick back when I frequented them, though, so I passed up a lot of shit that I'm still kicking myself about, but I did walk away with some nice bargains. The best part was being able to bargain. You could take two or three games and offer a price for them all, and often you'd get a good deal for the bunch.
I knew the winds were changing when I ran across a stall ran by what I can only describe as the Mexican version of pic related. Not even kidding, literally picture this guy but with brown skin and black hair, and unironically wearing a black shirt with the Nintendo logo. Fricking obnoxious motherfricker, too. He wanted $25 for Super fricking Mario World in like 2012. He then tried to sell me a copy of Conker's Bad Fur Day for about $150. I told him I already had a copy, and then he point blank offered to pay me $50 for it. He had a stupid tag line too, where he'd tell every single customer "Buy it or regret it!" I was really hoping he'd be an outlier, but soon after everyone was selling games at stupid prices like that.
I saw a swap meet advertised for today in my town and was excited but then I looked closer and saw it was a "railroad swap meet" just for model railroad stuff.
Me, but I live in south europe so plenty of Megadrive, PC and PS2 games.
Flea markets are very popular in germany, 99% of games are ps1/2 with odd N64 or gameboy game. Sometimes you can snatch some good shit, like this soulsilver and a working pokewalker at a different market.
Also this ZoE gba game I used to play on an emulator, feels nice having a physical copy of it.
Rarely. I have everything I want that I could realistically expect to find.
I tried to visit a couple nearby last season, but I live near the city, and there is too many people looking for it. So if there's anything, you have to be there on opening and run like it's like some american black friday shit, and I simply won't do that. So I have given up on the hunt. Kinda sad, as as I liked the excitement looking. Live in Norway btw.
You've got Resident Evil 3 at the bottom of the stack when the other REs are grouped together.
I got some decent stuff across various platforms from pawn shops but i guess my last good trip out was goodwill, got ff tatics, mega man x4greatest hits and gta 2 for ps1, it was like $20. I tend to check pawn shops and thrift stores, work usually doesnt give me a chance at a flea or farmers market.
I'm barely mobile so no. I just stick to fleabay.