Re: Game values

Just some of my rambling thoughts on the subject...

I've read several of these replies and believe also that game prices are
currently declining. Just look at ebay. Most of the sellers don't seem to
agree with what is being said in this thread as most of the reserve prices
are still up there...and those games are going unsold for the most part (low
& limited production games not withstanding- the Major Havoc and so
forth...).

<<Snip from Andy Welburn's reply>>

>Look at 1970's black and white raster videos... how much do they make on
>ebay? PENNIES!! by the common thought of, "the older it gets, the more its
>worth" this doesn't ring true at all does it!!!???!! Where are all the
>people that played these videos in the 70's?? too busy with family/house
>stuff probably.. Lets face it, most early eighties video collectors are 30
>somethings with money to burn (kind of).
>

I have to disagree with this comment however. There are exceptions to every
generalization. When I began collecting, I picked up, for the most part,
only b/w raster games. They are still the largest part of my collection with
somewhere around 11 or so out of 30+ games. Why? Because I fall into the
group mentioned above as a player of these games during the 70's. I wanted
the games I played as a teenager. I have a family and a house, but I still
like my collection and barring some sort of family emergency, don't plan to
sell it off in the near future.

But you know, it is very difficult to collect decent examples of these games
as well (almost as hard as vector games! ;^) ) as most of them are beat to
shit, or not working, missing parts, or whatever. It took me over a year to
find a working 19" b/w raster monitor for my BiPlane after I gave up trying
to get it working again. These games are disappearing as we speak and that
is a shame and I applaude Al Kossow for this bronzeage preservation
activities. Asside from the common Breakout and table Pong games, think of a
specific b/w raster game then ask yourself when was the last time you saw
one for sale? I have an Atari Orbit (Space Wars clone) that I love and have
seen it for sale only once since I picked up mine.

Of course there are the b/w games that still bring in big bucks such as
Computer Space, original Pong, Death Race, Maneater and so forth.

>The recent slump i can only attribute to the fact its summertime, and year
>after year prices hit rock bottom, then pick up in the winter... however,
>prices really have hit an all-time low and i think we're on the downward
>spiral.
>

I have to agree here and I hope it's right to some extent. I'd love to pick
up a prime example of an Asteroids Deluxe for less than 500.00+. I sold mine
3 years ago for 300.00, in prime condition and have missed it since. Doh!!

Regards,
Tom Cloud

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Received on Sat Jun 30 13:33:34 2001