Sales Yard Finds - VIII
-David, webmaster DVGI

It had been quite some time since I headed out to the Sales Yard to see what wares were to be had.  With temperatures mounting well over 100 degrees the rest of the day would be shot so I got an early jump and went to the Sales Yard around 7:30 or so in the morning.  Most times of the year this is about an hour early if you're looking to be there at peak browsing time but due to the heat it's right about the time when the majority of the sellers will have just finished getting their items out.  I really wasn't looking to spend much money at all, as with my last couple runs to the Sales Yard I'm only picking things up if they are cheap or just an extremely good value.  So as I went out the door I was thinking to myself "ahh, maybe I'll spend about ten bucks if anything."

Even though it was early in the day the temperature was already quickly rising and was well into the eighties.  Of course the sellers were already feeling it, usually to do well in the summer you need to be at the Sales Yard no latter than five o'clock in the morning or you don't get a good spot to sell in.  The night before was rather warm so the conditions play well to the buyers but most of the sellers want to dump their wares and get the hell out of there before much past noon.  I really didn't see a whole lot that interested me.  A copy of Treasure Master for the NES for $4, not bad, but not a game I really need at this point or that commands a high value.  Just the same when I do grab a copy of Treasure Master I want it to be a complete one.  Continuing on I came upon one of the miscellaneous "boxes of junk" sellers and as always I dig through most of the boxes looking for cheap items.  This particular seller was sitting atop his truck calling out that everything is fifty cents, so there was a larger than normal crowd, no where near as many people as at the Chinese junk dealer's truck but quite a few just the same.  I found an LCD Little Mermaid game in excellent condition but as I would just let it collect dust in my tiny LCD game archive (which I once regularly sold out of) or sell it for a couple bucks, I put it back in the box from which it came.  There were really a lot of good things for fifty cents but as I haven't sold at the Sales Yard in a LONG time and don't have the storage space for resale right now I held off.  However I did grab a complete boxed Trivial Pursuit Genus Edition (that means it's Genus I so that puts it around the early 80's), again, for fifty cents that surprisingly enough contains ALL its pieces.

After that it was onward to the next row over and another boxes of miscellaneous junk dealer however he had some larger items as well.  I really didn't see any boxes worth digging through but atop of one I did see something that I almost never come across.  It was a box for a Game & Watch game, Mario's Cement Factory.  The Game & Watch games were some of Nintendo's first electronic games and were designed by none other than Gunpei Yokoi who also designed the directional pad, Game Boy, Virtual Boy, Bandai Wonderswan and much more.  The box was in horrible shape, it looks like it has chicken pox, which means it was probably in a very humid climate and was allowed to get wet yet be very hot.  At this point I was expecting the box to be empty, as most finds like this end up being just that.  Much to my surprise the box had weight and upon sliding the foam insert out the game was revealed to in fact be in the box and be in excellent condition.  I quickly slid the game and insert back inside the tattered box and took it up to the seller.  Of course I acted like it was nothing and asked how much, guy said a dollar and I hesitated for a moment before paying him, standard move.  The game isn't worth a whole lot but I had yet to obtain any Game & Watch titles and for a dollar I couldn't pass it up.  Upon getting the game home I cleaned the box as best I could and ended up wrapping it in sealing tape so I can at least keep it.  I found the original price sticker of $24.95 inside and stuck it to the front of the box.  The foam insert cleaned up nicely and the game itself is perfect.  It is, however, missing the battery door but I've found some services that can replace it and since I got it so cheap tossing a couple more bucks to complete it is no big deal.  I've given it a test play and it works perfectly, another testament to the design genius of Gunpei Yokoi.  As for the instruction booklet there was only a single page of it inside the box which I threw away.

As I moved closer and closer to the other end of the Sales Yard all I came across was the same old stuff.  The same games that sellers bring out week after week after week but want way too much so they simply don't move.  I found it especially funny that this one guy still has not sold this Dreamcast that is just covered in dirt and has no cables or anything.  Every week it's the same, he wants $10.  I did find another somewhat rarity, a complete Sega Game Gear.  By complete I mean just that, everything.  It was the Sega Game Gear system, the TV tuner, the enlargement lens, battery pack, AC adapter, cleaning cartridge, all in the padded hardcase - the first time I've ever seen the system and all the accessories together, especially in the case which has a spot for each part.  The seller consulted with someone that was sitting in their van and got back to me with a price of $30.  Honestly, that's a fair price and really that's a good deal since again, having it all together is hard to do.  I sold my Game Gear at the Sales Yard with two games for $20 (I had gotten it there too for $5 since I turned the contrast all the way down and told the guy the screen was bad) a long time ago so really one couldn't beat the price.  Alas since I'm attempting to conserve money I passed on it.  I also passed on a complete Atari 5200, the more practical two port model, with one controller, a small stack of games, all the booklets for each game, the power supply, and RF box.  The guy that had it only wanted $25 which is amazing considering with most Atari 5200 packages like that the seller usually wants at least $60.  I'll stick with my four port Atari 5200 that I got for $20 from the Sales Yard years ago for the time being, although that powered RF switch is a pain in the ass and the box has been screwed up slightly since I obtained it.

Last row of the Sales Yard, also the front row of the Sales Yard.  Damn that Trivial Pursuit box was getting heavy after lugging it around the whole time.  I recently refurbished a PlayStation that had gone through the ringer, in fact the lid latch that is now in my modded PlayStation was salvaged from it.  The system is working pretty well except it now doesn't have a lid latch so I was looking for cheap beat up PlayStation consoles to grab parts from.  I came across just such a system, it had an old PSM lid sticker on it, lots of heavy wear on the outside, and over all it was filthy.  The woman sitting nearby told me she wanted $10 for it.  Well that's about $9 too much since it looked to have nothing.  Just above the crate that the PlayStation was sitting in there was a Dreamcast sitting atop another crate.  I asked how how much she wanted for it and she replied $15 and said that it had two controllers and a game.  The system and controllers were clean and in good condition, one of them had a green VMU plugged in.  It had all the cables as well as a pair of controller extensions.  The game, which was inside the system, was a copy of Soul Calibur.  Seeing that a copy of Soul Calibur, even disc only, fetches $10 no problem I simply could not pass up buying it all.  My main Dreamcast has been having some power supply problems as of late and for the price there was no reason not to grab this one.  As I was getting it the woman told me I could have the PlayStation for $5 - that's still $4 too much.

When I got the system home it was in near perfect condition.  One controller seemed untouched while the other needed the rubber actuator beneath the directional pad to be replaced.  What little dirt there was (mainly on the L and R triggers of the controllers) cleaned up well and the system runs beautifully.  I was going to swap it into a Dreamcast shell I painted but then I realized it's an original September 1999 machine so I'm going to leave it alone.  From what it looks like someone purchased the system back during launch, played Soul Calibur for awhile, put it away and eventually it made it to the Sales Yard.  There was only one save on the VMU, Soul Calibur, and with the nonexistent wear on the second controller I'd say that's exactly what happened.  I never did ask if the seller had the case for Soul Calibur as it was inside the machine but oh well, it's still an incredible deal for $15.

With that ended another trip out to the Sales Yard.  I spent a bit more than I was hoping to but given what I came across there was simply no way I could have not purchased what I did.  I could turn around and sell the Dreamcast bundle for about three times what I paid for it right now but I won't.  For that kind of money I'm going to put it aside as a spare.  Also a buck for my first Game & Watch handheld simply cannot be beat.  Its been awhile but another trip out to the local trading post has yielded some nice additions.

Acquired...
Dreamcast - Console with all cables (September 1999 release)
Dreamcast - Controller extension cable (loose)
Dreamcast - Controller extension cable (loose)
Dreamcast - Soul Calibur (disc only)
Dreamcast - Standard control pad (loose)
Dreamcast - Standard control pad (loose)
Dreamcast - VMU (translucent green, loose)
Game & Watch - Mario's Cement Factory (boxed)

Sold...
None
 

Written on 07-15-05 by David, insanedavid@classicplastic.net


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