Another week's finds [Compuvision, James Bond 007, Microsoft Arcade, & Space Jockey]

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Well, I've had another good weekend. I looked in the new phone book and discovered there were some thrift stores I hadn't been to yet. On the way, I stopped at a couple yard sales and got a Bentley Compuvision. It's not much different from another pong system I already have, so I'll probably get rid of it. Anyone interested?

I finally got to the thrift store. With a little digging, I came up with Sky Jinks, Keystone Kapers, and . . . James Bond 007! I got the owner to sell me just the cartridges for $1 each, rather than buying yet another system.

I also found some copies of Microsoft Arcade cheaper than normal. I finally bought one for myself, now if I only had a computer good enough to run it on. 8( I tried it out on a friend's computer and it works fine. I have two copies for sale: $20 each, postpaid. As best I can tell, it's about $38 in the stores. If someone has seen it cheaper, please tell me.

Sunday, I went to a nearby town and happened to stop at a wholesale outlet store. It's basically a store full of damaged, discontinued, and overstock merchandise. They had stacks of boxed Space Jockey cartridges, cheap. On the other hand, they wanted $4.98 for Space Invaders! Anyone want Space Jockey? I've got three extras available now. If there's sufficient demand, I might go back and get more. Make me an offer, money or trades accepted.

Can't wait for yard sale season to get into full swing!

[This post was so old, I actually wrote it with indented paragraphs. I late quit that and started separating them with blank lines because it was so much easier to edit them with vi that way.

I think I've still got that Compuvision. It turns out they're rather common and nothing special, so no one wants it.

I honestly don't remember which thrift store the "new" one was any more, but the wholesale outlet store was in Decatur where Sears used to be on 6th Avenue. Unfortunately, I've forgotten the name.

I believe the copies of Microsoft Arcade came from Bud's, a remainder chain that primarily disposed of old Wal-Mart merchandise. (Bud was Sam Walton's brother.) It was in the shopping center at N. Memorial Parkway and Mastin Lake Road. It's space has since been torn down and rebuilt as a Lowe's.

I don't recall if anyone took me up on my Microsoft Arcade offer or not. I think one person might have. And I did wind up going back to pick up several copies of Space Jockey, some of which went to Jerry Greiner, a major collector of the time who also sold games. — 1 July 2010]

This week's finds [SwordQuest: Fireworld, Super Cobra, & Star Trek]

[Originally posted to rec.games.video.classic.]

Well after being out of the country for a month, I came back and started reading this newsgroup and caught the fever again, maybe worse than before I left. I hit as many thrift stores as I could this weekend. I came up empty mostly, except for one store.

This particular store is run as a business, not a charity. Apparently, the owner had just recently gotten an Atari 2600 & games in. They were all in wonderful condition, almost like they were new. Most of them still had the manuals in great shape, too. Unfortunately, the selection was small and I had most of them. I ended up buying three: SwordQuest--Fireworld, simply because it had the manual & comic in almost perfect condition; Super Cobra; and ... STAR TREK, complete with the manual and joystick overlay! They were $2.50 each, well worth it.

I am very pleased with Star Trek. It's a rather incredible translation of the arcade game for the 2600. Of course, it's not perfect, but I don't think it could have been much better. Thank you Sega and Lady Luck!