A primer on collecting factory sealed retro video games
gaming·@retro-room·
0.000 HBDA primer on collecting factory sealed retro video games
 Finding 20 or 30 year old games that have never been opened is a rare discovery. Its simply unlikely that people would ever buy games to just bring them home and sit them on a shelf, unopened and pristine. It might happen more often today, as brand new games can be sometimes picked up for under $10 on sale, but back when it was uncommon for people to have libraries with dozens if not hundreds of games seeing people buy games to just bring them home and never open them was a rare occurrence. Collecting factory sealed games is a high-end subset of game collecting, as the prices for these games can vary from high to crazy. Do these appeal to you, as examples of a game exactly as you would have found it in stores back in the 80’s or 90’s? Or do you see games as something that needs to be played regardless of its condition or rarity? # Where do I stand? *** I have a few factory sealed games in my collection. Several were titles I picked up long ago before the game collecting craze took off. One was a game I actually found in person -- shopping for a Confirmation gift for my Catholic nephew at at Christian bookstore, I actually found a shelf with several, brand new Wisdom Tree NES and Genesis games. Without a second though, I grabbed a copy of *Exodus* for the NES and walked out a happy game collector that day. In retrospect, I wish I had bought out their entire stock. In my opinion, the rarer a game is the more I lean towards opening it. This seems counterintuitive, but I feel that more common games are better kept in factory sealed condition. Its easy to track down another copy of common games if you want to play them, so keeping a loose and sealed copy of a common game is easy. Rare games, on the other hand cannot be easily tracked down. Sure, a factory sealed copy of *Little Samson* might sell for double the price of a complete game, but first you’ll need to find a collector dedicated enough to pay that price (eBay has tracked 1 sale of a sealed *Samson* in the past year). If you want a sealed copy and a copy to play, you’ll need to drop another $1,000 to acquire a loose cart. # What about fakes? *** Unfortunately as retro game collecting has exploded in popularity, scammers creating fakes has become a big problem. Faked game carts is bad enough, but faked factory sealed games is a horrible scenario -- a shady seller can buy a $70 complete copy of *Mike Tyson’s Punch Out* and shrinkwrap it and sell it as a factory sealed copy for $700. Its the perfect crime, since the buyer never intends to open the game and would never discover if they were being ripped off. Every console generation has a specific way in which games were sealed, so if you're interested its best to consult detailed guides on how to spot re-seals by platform. As NES is my favorite console, here's an example of a factory sealed game: the "H-seam". All licensed NES games use what's referred to as an H-seam, which has lines along the vertical edges of the spine, which meet in the middle and cross the middle of the back of the game. Here's an example of an H-seam:  # In summary *** If you do decide to start collecting these rare treasure, just make sure what you're buying is legit. Do some research to make sure you know what you're getting. While games are meant to be played, there's something wonderful about seeing a game in the exact same condition that you would have seen it in a store 20, 30 or even nearly 40 years ago. <center>  ## Thanks for reading. As always, upvotes, resteems and comments are appreciated! ## </center>