What to do with my old computer games?

[drnickriviera]

I'm cleaning out the closet and going through my old game collection. I had been keeping them for nostalgia, but I see that some are worth a few bucks now. Guess it's Gen X like me with money to spend and want that nostalgia back. Question is, sell them or keep them? I know it's a personal decision, but I was hoping someone here would be into game collecting and could give some insight into the market. i.e sell now as they will be worthless later.

Just to name a few
Doom 1 with box and 3.5"
Sid Meier's Pirates! from 87'
Police Quest 3
Space Quest 4 from the good ole sierra days
Wing Commander 1

 

[shortylickens]

Do plan to play them?
No?
Sell the things on ebay for a crap ton of cash.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Like @shortylickens suggested, you can pull all their contents together and sell the games for some cash, but if you're feeling nostalgic about them that might not be appealing.

Old game boxes can actually make some fun game room wall art. As a kid I used to pin the boxes of my favorite games to my wall, but I'm sure there are nicer shadow box-esq frames that can display them nicely.

My plan with all my jewel case games is to put the disc cover art of my favorite games into those case display frames and put them up in the computer/office room, then just keep the CDs in one of those big CD binder for posterity.

 

[CP5670]

I have kept all my old boxes, CDs and manuals in a big box at my parents' house, going back to the 90s. Some of them are actually quite rare and hard to find now, even electronic copies.

 

[drnickriviera]

Old game boxes can actually make some fun game room wall art. As a kid I used to pin the boxes of my favorite games to my wall, but I'm sure there are nicer shadow box-esq frames that can display them nicely.

That was actually my plan. I just never had a dedicated room. Now I have my own man cave i've been thinking about it again. I guess i'll follow Marie Kondo and ask which ones spark joy for me. Pirates! was the first game I bought and logged no telling how many hours playing. Doom for the wow factor. Seeing 3 720k files on the local bbs for the shareware version and saying What?! That's absurd, that will take me forever to download!

 

[WhiteNoise]

I still have a bunch of my old games. I sold 200 PC games in the box around 13 years ago because my new wife told me they had to go. I didn't make much on them tbh and I wish I would have just kept them. I still have 50 or so old PC games that I refused to get rid of.

 

[Zenoth]

If you are nostalgic, you'll regret selling them. But if nostalgia isn't much of a thing for you, go ahead and sell them.

 

[Martimus]

IMO the small amount of money you get from selling them isn't worth the hassle of doing it. I've regretted every sale I've made, and the money I got was never worth it.

 

[IronWing]

Keep them in the AT family; sell them to the twins! @Ichinisan @CZroe

 

[WhiteNoise]

I have sold so many consoles, console games and PC games and I regret all of them. Now I keep them all and consider them part of my gaming collection. They all have a place on my bookshelves.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Do you have a working copy of Transport Tycoon?

 

[drnickriviera]

Do you have a working copy of Transport Tycoon?

Nope, but god did I play that game too much. I even have open TTD on my computer now

Think i'll sell off ones that don't spark anything in me like Harpoon II and Carmen Sandiego type stuff.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Once I was confident that I couldn't be forced out of business, either through competition or something else, I would run the thing overnight and be shocked at what was there come morning. The competition was so far ahead of me it was amusing. My strategy, as always, was to build a single track/road length across their road/track with two stations on either side and start a engine/truck and park it on that one segment to take out their train or cause a pile up. It worked beautifully. Then I would build a competing airport and a station next to their airport and build a railway or bus line between the two. Siphoned off their customers.

 

[mooncancook]

I donated some and threw away some a long time ago and never regretted. If I feel nostalgic I can just go to gog for the digital copies that can run on modern systems. Though I can understand if you have a large collection with original boxes and you have the room, it's kind of cool to show them off in bookcase, like the local pc game shop back in the days.

 

[Oyeve]

Unless you need the $$$ I would keep them. I still have all of my old game boxes. All of the infocom games and boxes and all the crap that came with them. Like the glow in the dark rock that came in the infocom game "Wishbringer". One of my favorite boxes was the OG one that stonekeep came in.

 

[RPD]

It is funny, there is a period of time for a just out of current console that you almost want nothing to do with it, but after enough time you are like, man I wish I could fire that system up.
I regret selling any gaming system and games I had.

 

[Oyeve]

It is funny, there is a period of time for a just out of current console that you almost want nothing to do with it, but after enough time you are like, man I wish I could fire that system up.
I regret selling any gaming system and games I had.

Ha! I whipped out my Atari 2600 this weekend and hooked it to my 80" 4k TV. Looks like crap but playing bezerk at that size was amazing! Gotta hook up my ti99/4a this weekend.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I'll never understand why brand new accounts will necro old threads like this with a generalized message and never post again. I can understand the bot accounts that hide links in their messages are doing it for a reason, but anytime we have an old necro, it's always a very broad statement that usually adds nothing.

That being said...

As a kid I used to pin the boxes of my favorite games to my wall, but I'm sure there are nicer shadow box-esq frames that can display them nicely.

Displates are the go-to for hobbyist artwork - especially video game box art. That way you're not ruining anything of value and you can get art that actually looks like art. I know this comes off as a promo and honestly it kinda is, but I've purchased a lot of art from Displates in the past and I highly recommend them to everyone.

 

[RPD]

I'll never understand why brand new accounts will necro old threads like this with a generalized message and never post again. I can understand the bot accounts that hide links in their messages are doing it for a reason, but anytime we have an old necro, it's always a very broad statement that usually adds nothing.

That being said...


Displates are the go-to for hobbyist artwork - especially video game box art. That way you're not ruining anything of value and you can get art that actually looks like art. I know this comes off as a promo and honestly it kinda is, but I've purchased a lot of art from Displates in the past and I highly recommend them to everyone.

Oh god damn, didn't even notice the necro bump

Ha! I whipped out my Atari 2600 this weekend and hooked it to my 80" 4k TV. Looks like crap but playing bezerk at that size was amazing! Gotta hook up my ti99/4a this weekend.

I have some model Atari in storage in my garage with probably 30+ games, but always look at those connectors and can't be bothered to figure out how in the hell I'd adapt those to current HDMI plugs.

 

[Oyeve]

I have some model Atari in storage in my garage with probably 30+ games, but always look at those connectors and can't be bothered to figure out how in the hell I'd adapt those to current HDMI plugs.

I went with these and just plugged into my 4k TV and "tuned" to channel 3. Works like a charm but your TV has to have a tuner. Fortunately my large screen LG TV has a built in tuner. Hell, I even plug in old rabbit ears to get OTA channels that look way better than HD cable TV.

 

[RPD]

I went with these and just plugged into my 4k TV and "tuned" to channel 3. Works like a charm but your TV has to have a tuner. Fortunately my large screen LG TV has a built in tuner. Hell, I even plug in old rabbit ears to get OTA channels that look way better than HD cable TV. View attachment 77884

I'd have to look again, but I recall a prong type connection from the Atari.

 

[Oyeve]

I'd have to look again, but I recall a prong type connection from the Atari.

You mean this? You don't need it. The cable from the Atari attached to that but the doohickey I posted eliminates the whole switch-box.

 

[RPD]

You mean this? You don't need it. The cable from the Atari attached to that but the doohickey I posted eliminates the whole switch-box.

View attachment 77889

Yea thats what I was thinking. I'm just guessing, maybe I'll bring it inside and take a look to see what it'd actually take. Would be funny to see my kids reaction to me playing Joust on a 85"TV. Assuming the damn joysticks still work.

 

[Oyeve]

Yea thats what I was thinking. I'm just guessing, maybe I'll bring it inside and take a look to see what it'd actually take. Would be funny to see my kids reaction to me playing Joust on a 85"TV. Assuming the damn joysticks still work.

Yea, funny thing is when I took mine out to play this past weekend none of my sticks worked 100%, some would go up but not down, some left but not right. All 5 were bad in some way so I bought this stick a few days ago. Works great.

 

[HardWarrior]

I'm cleaning out the closet and going through my old game collection. I had been keeping them for nostalgia, but I see that some are worth a few bucks now. Guess it's Gen X like me with money to spend and want that nostalgia back. Question is, sell them or keep them? I know it's a personal decision, but I was hoping someone here would be into game collecting and could give some insight into the market. i.e sell now as they will be worthless later.

Lately I've gone through my old games to see if I can re-live some cool experiences. If the game can't deliver I trash it.