Atari 2600 - Heavy Sixer

They call it the "heavy-sixer" Atari 2600 system. It was the first system that atari produced and it was very heavy. You have to plug the joysticks into the top back of the unit! I picked the unit up for $30, listed it on eBay for $49.99 (starting bid), and sold it for $63. Not bad. I did pull out some of my doubles to add some cartridges to it, and it was worth it for me to hold onto an old Combat game in the box purchase from another thrift store trip.



Having an inventory of parts or cartridges for pieces like the Atari system, will help you to build a more robust auction and get your investment back and possibly yield more! The eBay market has certainly returned over the past year and a half. I've seen many of my auctions yield better prices than late '08 and early '09. The trick for me has been to build an inventory, and then when I find something like this Atari, I have things that I can add in to the auction that will help me get more bids.


The "heavy-sixer" is the Atari to watch out for at the yard sales, auctions, and thrift stores. Since it is the first one, it will probably need some cleaning up and you can find videos on youtube that show you how to clean and repair an old atari or any system for that matter. When you can find one like I did, in the box, that also adds to what the collector desires. Oh, and I ordered an instruction booklet off of eBay and threw that in.

Happy Hunting, and I'll be sure to post soon!

Still hunting for games in 2010

Hello. Long time, no blog. Well, too busy with a new job, move, and a baby girl!! My new years resolution was to blog a little more in 2010. I went through 2009 without one blog! That's how much my life has changed, but I still go to the stores and hunt out games. I have definitely grown more conservative with the economy. I really only grab those games now that I know will make twice my money for me. The Fantasy area still remains a good find - IE: Lord of the Rings RISK. Something about the geek factor and that they will pay high dollar for items they really desire.

It's a little different search here in KY. The Thrift Stores are OK, but I am told that the yard sales are the way to go! I still go to the stores, but I don't pick up 1/2 as much as I used to in the DC area. I have found over this past year in a Good Will Store a Stratego Game with Wood Pieces that I sold on eBay for $50. I found some other items but they didn't hit the profit that the Stratego game brought me. As I have said in the past, it really comes down to knowing what you are looking for and making sure that you can sell for a good profit.

My recommendation for 2010? Only pick up the games that you know can turn a 40 to 50% profit for you. Seriously, it's not worth it considering the higher eBay fees that now exist to hunt for games that only give you your money back. YES, continue to pick up games for parts. I purchased an incomplete Risk game (2007 version) recently and will hold until I find another one to complete. 30% profit is not bad, but try to factor in the eBay fees and you may only be looking at a 20% profit margin. You now have insertion fees and final valuation fees, so that eats at your profits. In the coming weeks, I'm going to go through how to list on eBay and what kinds of games are good to hunt for in this bad economy.

Happy Hunting!

Thrift Store find of the year --- Air Raid for Atari 2600

Thrift Store find of the year - Air Raid for Atari 2600. I have been reading lately in several Atari collector sites that AIR RAID for the Atari 2600 by Men-A-Vision is NOT a real Atari game. You might wonder why I care? Well, I found an Air Raid game for the Atari last year at a Thrift Store in Northern VA for .49cents (pictured right). I found the cartridge in a pile of old cassette tapes. I frequently find Atari and other old video games mixed in with tapes.

At first, I was not sure if this was an Atari or Intellivision cartridge. I tried the Atari first, and it worked (see picture below!). It took several days of searching the web to locate exactly what this cartridge was about. I finally found a great site called, Atari Age, which has a rarity guide for Atari games. It was extremely helpful to me in listing the item on eBay and I even linked back to this site in my auction listing. I played the game before selling it, and it was a real game and had the "MenAVision" tag on the opening screen. It was a little like Space Invaders. One central ship trying to protect the buildings below.

I was surprised to learn recently that several collectors have started questioning whether or not Air Raid was a real game or not! I posted on a site and got several responses that people did not believe that I had sold the game for $2,000 on eBay. Well, I cashed the check a long time ago but I did buy the game for .49cents and sell it for $2,000. That still remains my best return EVER on a thrift store find. I am an Atari collector, but I decided to sell this gem to pay off some debt. I was hoping for a few hundred bucks; I never expected that final bid. I have another rare gem that I found that day. Whoever "L" was, he or she had a heck of an Atari games collection. I found several unopened Atari games that day along with the Air Raid cart.

So, let's put the debate to bed. Air Raid was a REAL game made by a company called MenAVision. The game is lame, so of course they went out of business fast. Keep looking for those rare Thrift Store finds!!!