Equally Worthless and Not So Worthless
Along with the unopened baseball cards, the farm house basement cleaning also yielded these two handheld games by Tiger Electronics. They were evidently some of the forerunners in the handheld game industry that was starting to explode in my youth. I consulted with google and found that while not worthless, they aren't real valuable. Many people were trying to sell them on eBay for $12 to $14 each in working condition which these are according to my kids who played them a bit when we got home. I'm not going to go out of my way to sell them but if I run into someone who might appreciate them, they might go to a good home. I really don't remember playing them but I suppose I did at some point.
Not everything I found was worthless though. Also in the same stash was an original Game Boy in a box in extremely good condition. I do remember my brother and I both having one at some point so I couldn't tell you whose this one belonged too since there was only one of them found. Google was quick to show me that working games in the original box can go for upwards of $180. I not only have that but I also have the accessory rechargeable battery pack and adapter also in a similarly well conditioned box. My kids took it out of the box, put batteries in it and played with it for about ten minutes before getting bored and I haven't seen the game since. I may have to locate it when they get home from school before something happens to it and throw it up for sale sometime this winter after the holidays are over.
My nephew was about 5. He could read well at that age. I pointed to his GameBoy box and stated, "Well I can read that." I was pointing at the Nintendo name. I said, "It says nine ten do!" He rolled his eyes as he always did when talking to his crazy uncle.
ReplyDeleteNow you have me pondering the origin of the word nintendo.
DeleteI just looked it up.
DeleteWhat does Nintendo's name mean?
Etymology. From Nintendo Company, Limited (任天堂株式会社), the Japanese video game manufacturer, from Japanese 任天堂 (Nintendō, “Luck of Heaven”).
Thank you for doing that Kay! I suspect you were the perfect person to understand the meaning.
DeleteMy oldest re-found her Nintendo DS some years ago and had a lot of fun "rediscovering" all the games she played when younger.
ReplyDeleteI've resisted the temptation to play any of them thus far so I don't lose track of several days of my life.
DeleteIt's surprising what items aren't worth much and which ones are. People who game love those retro ones! I wonder if I could find Pong somewhere, even though I was terrible at it, not being a spatial type.
ReplyDeleteI remember my parents having a pong set when I was really little. It had a huge console with dials on it that you turned. I bet it would be worth money if it still existed and functioned, though I'm sure it connected to the television with spade connectors as it was probably before coaxial.
DeleteMy husband was just researching VHS Disney movies at eBay earlier today. (we have quite a few that are still in good working order) It's amazing what folks are asking for them! (the operative word, as I told him, being "asking")
ReplyDeleteI've given up on VHS. I converted a ton of them years ago to digital formats and then donated the VCR to my daughter to take apart for some school STEM related project. Then I found another important VHS tape (my wedding) that I didn't get converted. I actually bought one from social media here in town for what I felt was highway robbery. I got it home, plugged it in and it ate the tape. Fortunately it didn't destroy it but it ate every tape I tested afterwards. I finally gave up and tossed it. I'm not sure where our wedding VHS tape is right this moment but it still hasn't made it to the digital world.
DeleteA bit of nostalgia there, at least on the Game Boy. Much has passed trough our hands. A part of me wishes that I still had my first computer — an Atari 800. What fun that was, and I used it for word processing spreadsheets, and so on.
ReplyDeleteI have my parents first computer, an Apple IIe and associated software. It still works though the keyboard has a sticky 'E' key that needs fixed.
DeleteNice finds. Kind of fun to play with these with your children. I wish my parents had kept my radios!
ReplyDeleteMy most cherished "toy" were Lego Space Legos and my mom kept all those in two suitcases which I now have in my basement. I have thought about downloading the instructions online and rebuilding some of those for display.
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