A Game Collector's Haven

The year was probably 2001 or 2002. My video game collecting itch was very strong at that point. I don't think a lot of people were really into game collecting as they are today. So this whole story will make sense if you realize the time that this happened. I mean I think Lord of the Rings had just come out and maybe even Harry Potter. The internet was just burgeoning. I don't even think MySpace was around back then. I think I had an Asian Avenue account or GeoCities at the time.

Anyways one of my favorite things at the time was to go to thrift stores or flea markets to buy old games and movies. You have to realize this was the absolute best time to be buying games because no one had any idea what the value of these things were. To be fair, they weren't worth that much back then because the popularity wasn't that high.

As I didn't have a vehicle at the time it was pretty tough to buy large amounts of things. So I would have to buy things very carefully. I would make these trips to pawn shops or thrift stores whenever I had time off and there was a Salvation Army story right across the road from my workplace at the time.

When I walked into the store it would always be in some sort of disarray. People would pile them with garbage and they had too few people to sort out everything. At the time not a lot of people were shopping at these thrift shops so they had huge surpluses of inventory that they never sorted out.

Immediately when I got there I would peruse the things they had on sale. I noticed this day in particular there was a massive amount of stuff on the side that they had to sort out. Curiosity got the better of me and I had to take a peek at what was there. Lo and behold there was a Sega Master System that was peaking out of the rubble. It was still in its box. Still in the box! It was in pristine condition, or so I thought it was.

One of the notorious things about Sega Master Systems is that they have some sort of power failure. I've had 2 in the past where they just shut off and won't turn on again. The system is great though. I loved this game called Action Fighter on the system but I didn't have a system to play the game on anymore.

This was my chance to get the system again. Even in those times Sega Master Systems were really hard to come by. I had to buy them on eBay but the one that I bought from eBay I got burned when I found out it didn't work. After that experience I didn't want to buy from eBay again.

I walked up to the cashier and inquired about the system that was in the rubble. He replied oh that? You want it? Yeah I want it! Of course I was trying to calm down and not show my excitement for the system. He looked through the pile and dug up some more. It also included a few games, two big joysticks and pair of 3d glasses! I was trying not to hyperventilate. If he could see how much it meant to me he might mark the price up.

With as much restraint as I could I asked him how much did he want the whole set for. He said oh how about 20? My heart almost exploded with anticipation. Me being my dumb self I wanted to haggle with him. I asked him if I could get the whole thing for 15. He had no idea what the thing was and said sure why not. Jackpot!!

This was one of the most special trips to a thrift shop I've ever had. Then again the system might be broken though. Still I had a glimmer of hope that the system was still in working condition. I asked him for a big garbage bag and was paranoid all throughout my bus trip back home. To me it was like stealing from a store. I couldn't believe how great of a deal it was. I thought I was going to get robbed on the bus back home. Paranoia was flooding my mind.

When I got home I immediately set up the system and it was a miracle! The system was in working condition! To this day I still remember this story because it was probably the best deal I've ever had at a thrift store. With game collecting the way it is today I don't think this situation would ever happen to me again!