Thirfting Quests

A friend pointed out these down at the local Salvo shop - some pretty awesome old PC games. King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella, 7th Guest, and Police Quest IV: Open Season. All complete with disks and manuals. The Quests were $5 each, while 7th Guest was $8.50 - too much, but I took it anyway. They also had Kings Quest II and VII, as pictured, but some douche stole the disks from the packaging. So I was able to take the boxes anyway.

Bought: $238
Sold: $184.36
Diff: -$53.64

I'll be in the green in a week or so :)

It's raining, it's pouring.

It's been raining all week, and about time too. Unfortunately, not very good car booting weather, but Australia really, REALLY needs it.

Either way, I found yet another copy of Final Fantasy VIII. Third one in like, two months. This one is a little broken unfortunately, the casing isn't sitting right - was 8 bucks. Plus I picked up Mickey's Wild Adventure [aka Playstation version of Mickey Mania] for $10 for my own collectors sake.

Spyro extravaganza!

This'll be a long message, since I didn't get around to it through the week, I've been scavanging through my quarters to, well, make it look clean, and it's not a small task with all the gaming crap I have lying around.



I picked up these three Spyro games at the car boot sale last weekend - each one for 5 bucks I already owned Spyro and Year of the Dragon, but not Gateway to Glimmer - so now I have the set! I'll sell off the other two seperately, they usually go for $20 each.

I did see some dude pick up some nice old software like Office '97, but missed it all :|

Then at the local Cash Converters - a large chain of second hand stores here in Australia - I found a Saturn, some complete NES games, and Final Fantasy VIII.



This Saturn only came with the controller and console, but I had an extra RF switch and power cable handy. The controller doesn't seem to work very well, and it's some sort of official SEGA pad with Turbo buttons on it. I'll try and clean through it.

This Saturn is a little different because it's an initial release variation - which has a plastic front and oval buttons, compared to this model. Works fine otherwise, bought for $20. Not sure how much I can sell it for - but when I do I'll chuck in a bunch of Saturn games I don't want anymore and don't sell well seperately.



Kung Fu, Excitebike, and Tennis for the NES, 5 bucks each, probably paid too much since these early NES games aren't sought after for, nice trinket item though.



And lastly, Final Fantasy VIII. Unfortunately a Platinum version, but still sought after like everything Final Fantasy. $10. I recently sold an original version for $40, this up and down world of eBay might give similar results.

Today I went through some garage sales and finally had some luck. One thing you'll find is that some people forget that they have this stuff, even when they're selling it. If I go to a garage sale which had kids toys or some computer bits, I always ask if they have video game consoles. So I had two great pickups today:



Playstation console, two dual-shock controllers [one a wacky 3rd party controller], memory card, Crash Bandicoot 2, Spyro 1, Need for Speed High Stakes, and Pro 18 World Tour Golf. $20. I sold a Playstation recently with one game for ~50, and again Spyro is worth 20 odd dollars. I'll keep Crash 2 for my platformers collection :)



Nintendo 64, limited edition gold controller version, all boxed and working great. A green controller also in box, both the controllers are like new with little movement problems. Goldeneye and Mario Kart 64 also included. Total: $5. Baaaargain.

Current Total Purchases: $201.50.

I've just sold a bunch of things from auctions: 13 of the magazines I've sold for a total of $25.50. The Silver Gamecube was sold for $42.15, the memory card was seperated for an extra $20.50.

The Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak was taken from the console and sold for 25.65, as well as the clear purple controller for $14.50. I sold the 64 with an AV cable and another booster pak and a copy of Duke Nukem 64 instead of Goldeneye for $36.

Total $184.36 sold. So I'm negative $17.14 right now - that's without selling the Master Systems, Amigas, and a whole lot of magazines - I should get payment for a few more items soon, so I'll be out of the red :)

Easter Weekend Haul, Part 2

Continuing on from those awesome Amiga pickups, I was also able to pick up some other awesome games and consoles.

While still in the country, I picked up 3 Playstaton games - DOOM, Time Crisis, and Medievil. I've been on a kick of trying to find some classic PSOne platform games, and I already have Medievil 2, so the original was a nice pick up. I don't have the gun for Time Crisis which is a shame, and DOOM is DOOM. The latter two are good games to pack in with consoles, so when the time comes, they'll be added in. I picked up all 3 games for a total of $5AU.

Secondly, I picked up a SEGA Master System 1 console, which tend to be buggers to find. This one came with a bunch of controllers - including the Arcade Stick, Moonwalker [hah] and Enduro Racer [boxed]. This one is also the Hang On version - where Hang On is built into the system, and is harder to find. These go for plenty since they're collectable. Bought it for $10AU.

Then I found some more Megadrive games - Splatterhouse 2, Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, Super Hang On, and Crack Down. $10AU for the lot, she had a lot more on them, so that's not too bad - essentially games to throw in with other Megadrive consoles. Splatterhouse 2 is all over the place in pricing - between 10 to 40 bucks for the same kind of sell, may have to hold onto that.

After that I got back from that little holiday, I went out to the Sunday car boot sales. And I found even MORE Master Systems.

A Master System 1 & 2. The Master System came with a broken controller [which is fixable], and a single power cord - so I'll have to scrunge up some extra pads and cords from other places. The Master System is the older 'Snail game' variation, but still worth a fair bit. Alex Kidd Master System 2 - Still searching for the Sonic 1 variation. $10AU for the two.

After the weekend, I picked up a few Master System games from a Salvation Army - Agassi and Super Monaco GP II, nothing special, just filled games - $4AU total.

and lastly, found a nice copy of Donkey Kong Country 2 at another Solvos. $5.50AU

So now my spending total is up to $116.50. I've sold my PSOne console mentioned before for $40 to EBGames, so my selling total is that.

Selling: $116.50AU
Sold: $40.00AU
Profit: -$76.5AU

Easter Weekend Haul, Part 1.

Many days after getting that gigantic pile of crap, I've finally been able to go through it all. Thank god it was a long weekend [well, Jesus technically]. I picked all that up in the countryside, where everyone has a garage sales or a market for the Easter weekend.


First up is the four foam crates. These creates are filled with old video game magazines, ranging from Hyper [an Australian gaming magazine which still runs to this day], to Electronic Gaming Monthly [some awesome issues for Zelda: LTTP and Super Mario World], to Computer & Video Games [Ranging from early 100's to 170's], and Mean Machine issues, before becoming Mean Machines SEGA Magazine. A few straggler mags [APC, Games Master], but most derive from those other mags.


Creepiest cover ever?
Some are really awesome, early mags involving Sonic 1 or Amiga software. The EGM Zelda issue's Zelda coverage involves a third of a page with a couple of small shots, which just seems ridiculous. Who said they liked old EGM and not new EGM?

I got all these magazines for $5AU. The poor guy was moving and just didn't have the space left for them, so he had to let them all go. Looks like he picked them up from the local second hand store over the years for a buck or two each. Some of these are worth a bit to collectors, the problem is that they weigh so much! 3 EGMs is a kilogram, and CVG mags are even bigger. I'd like to keep them all, but I've no room for them at all - a damn shame.


The same guy was also selling 3 Amiga 500 computers, with an AV commodore monitor to play them on. I've gone through each, and they all work flawlessly. Each console includes a Mouse, Joystick, all the cables, and the weird A520 adaptor which allows you to plug the system into the AV connection of a television. It also came with a huge amount of games, most of them pirated [complete with trainer cheats], but all of them seemed to work. Two of the three also have the 512kb RAM expansion plugged into the bottom of the console, which is pretty cool.

All of them for 10AU, which is a great deal. I'll probably end up keeping one of them for collections sake, it's a shame he didn't have a secondary drive unit which a lot of Amiga owners tend to have. Trying to play Ninja Turtles with one drive is torture - it wants you to keep changing disks from disk 1 to 2 over and over again - it's very frustrating.


Brrrrrrrrt, tick tick, Brrrrrrrrt
I'm a little confused as to just how I'm going to sell them. Amiga systems on eBay tend to be loaded with a lot of crazy stuff, like extra disks and the monitors. These tend to be pickup only auctions - my packages tend to be something that could actually be sent through the mail. Also, the A520 plug seems to go for a lot by itself - I wonder if I should be a bit evil and separate it from the rest..


What a pain in the arse this box would have been to make.
And lastly, the guy chucked in a boxed copy of Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow of the Flame for free. Such an obscure box shape - pretty standard for the time, I suppose. Old games with these kind of boxes are hard to come by sometimes.

So let's tally - up till this point, I've spent 72 Aussie bucks on all this stuff. Seems like a lot, but we'll see how this goes. I hope I end up making more than I buy..

$15AU [$12.2US] For all this.

Today was a good day :)

Car Booting - Flipping the Wavebird

Recently I’ve started getting up early on Sundays and going to the local car boot sales. Two are near me - One at a school ground, and one at a nearby soccer field. This week is from the latter, picking up three good bargain grabs.

This Silver Gamecube came with a black 251 memory card, and two controllers - one Wavebird, and one 3d party. All of this for $30AU [roughly 24.5US].This Silver Gamecube came with a black 251 memory card, and two conteollers - one Wavebird, and one 3d party. All of this for $30AU [roughly 24.5US].Now, the Gamecube honestly isn’t worth a lot on the market - eBay will net you roughly $50AU [41 US] dollars for them – the silver kind might be worth a little more for someone who wants the colour, but pretty unlikely. Nintendo has never done well in Australia until the Wii and DS, but the Gamecube was a horrible state for it’s entire lifespan.

The 3rd party controller turn off potential buyers, but after testing it, it’s actually pretty good. If I were to hock this to EB Games, they’d give me $10AU [8US] for it. No thanks! The memory card is also worth $20AU [16US] by itself, since it’s the larger kind that came out later on.The main factor in me picking this up was the Wavebird. Wavebird controllers are notoriously difficult to get a hold of, and since my Wii has been sitting on the top of my cabinet, I’ve left Gamecube games to the actual console. Wavebirds are worth 50 [41US] dollars on eBay by themselves since they’re quite rare, so I got a great deal.

Secondly - A Nintendo 64 console with two controllers, the expansion pak, and a Goldeneye cartridge. The Cost? $12AU [10US], haggled down from 15.

N64’s aren’t worth hell of a lot by themselves – You can get roughly 20 bucks for them on eBay – so $12AU is a fine price for a small profit. The expansion pak is also worth $20AU - but I would need to find a ‘boot pak’ module to swap back over. So, assuming I can find a regular ‘boot pak’ module somewhere, I can sell off the memory pak separately.

Unfortunately, the system came with an RF switch, and not the original AV cables. The AV cables are a pain in the arse to find sometimes, much like SNES Power Adaptors. I wouldn’t sell the console unless I could find those AV cables. Goldeneye is worth nothing - an easy game to chuck into a console package on eBay

A plus to this buy is the two controllers – they’re in really good condition. Analogue sticks on the N64 wear down very easily – to the point of becoming useless. Both of these were great with no slack in the stick’s movement. Extra controllers can go for another $20AU - usually I hold onto them in case I come across another system, but the coloured variants go for more on eBay, so I’ll probably throw it up next time.

Finally, a Sony PSOne console, all cords, controller and memory card – $15AU, haggled down from $20AU. PSOnes are worth more than the original systems since they come with dual shock controllers and don’t tend to break as easily as the original – PSOnes are worth generally around $25-30AU on eBay. However, EB Games, in their infinite wisdom, are actually giving people $40AU [33US] EB shamebucks for them. There isn’t any solid reason why – they must be stocking up on them in a warehouse somewhere – but they are, so this system will go straight to them, to go towards a Halo 3 preorder!

Welcome to the Car Boot Gaming blog!

For years I’ve collected classic systems and peripherals from second hand stores, car boot sales, and garage sales - It’s something I do semi-regularly to make some extra cash, or find some classic game that I’ve always wanted to play outside of emulation. So, I’ve decided to start blogging about what I have been finding through my travels around my neighbourhood - what they are, what they’re worth, and where to sell it.

I intend this blog to help others discover the fun and rewarding hobby of bargain hunting - going out to these sales and finding that trinket the seller thinks is worth stuff all, and using that to your advantage! :)

I live in Australia, so all prices are in Australian dollars - I’ll try and throw up a US equivalent when I can - Just enjoy my rantings of being a poor bastard.