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Chi-Style Drunksaling: Vol. 5.3 - Family Matters

July 14, 2006 By Glenn Turner

Unitdaisy and I were so inspired by the (now defunct) drunkgamers.com's garagesaling adventures that we decided to follow their example and searched about Chicago, scrounging for games and, when we were done, forced others to relive our experience.

For those unfamiliar with the term drunksaling, it's simple: It's kamikaze garagesaling for video games! The following excursion took place on June 24th, 2006.

G. Turner: According to the classifieds, this week looked not-so-promising. In fact, there was a distinct lack of electronics in all of the week's listed sales, with the exception of one sale far, far, far out west in the outskirts of 'Chicagoland', in an area that neighbors Chicago but is much too far to be considered part of the city-proper. Yeah, we aren't driving that far for anything less than a guaranteed Turbo-Grafx 16.

G. Turner: After checking out several dull sales, we finally hit upon some games. Of course, we have very little interest in sports games and most of these can be purchased for pennies at your local used video game shop but, it's better than a copy of What Would Lizzie Do?.

unitdaisy: I wonder when the time will come when these yearly sports games will become highly coveted because of the nostalgia associated with the players and time period. If I could play NFL '64 and use Jim Brown to run roughshod all over the other teams with appropriately inspiring NFL Films music in the background, horn-rimmed glasses on the fans, and that washed out sixties film stock - you bet I would.

100_1507.jpg

G. Turner: Here's your bowling pin lamp.

unitdaisy: Sadly, here isn't my bowling pin lamp. Mr. Turner, henceforth to be referred to as 'Big Meanie', would not let me purchase and bring home said lamp. (big meanie)

G. Turner: I had my reasons! I don't remember what any of them were right now, but I had them!

G. Turner: Rather sharp, for pinball golf.

unitdaisy: Much better than Golden Tee.

G. Turner: Next up was a sort of estate sale: three Greek sisters were selling off all of their mother's possessions, as she has recently been moved to 'assisted living'. Among the goods were loads of dilapidated board games:

unitdaisy: Ah... what family arguments were started over these very boards!

G. Turner: Beautiful, but in far too poor condition to cart home. I felt like even the camera's gaze might cause it to fall apart.

G. Turner: Well what do ya know - it turns out that their mother loved the NES. Buried away in this desk was a complete NES and a number of games, including Castlevania III, Zelda 2, Bubble Bobble, Ghosts 'n Goblins. Of particular interest was a copy of Fester's Quest, which also came with a dog-eared copy of Nintendo Power opened to a walkthrough for Fester's.

unitdaisy: I hope when I am 80-something I am picking up some newfangled kids toy and enjoying it as much as this lady.

G. Turner: The sister had particularly fond memories of Sunsoft's vision of Fester, which we briefly bonded over. $20 garnered me the whole lot, including another NES Advantage, plus a copy of Gauntlet II that was hidden in the NES itself. Not the rarest of finds, but considering I lost my original NES pads in a recent move, it was a welcome one.

unitdaisy: Not nearly as good as her box of recipes I got for free!

G. Turner: The next sale also had a few hidden games, all of which the wife had pried away from her husband's collection. Sadly for us, there was nothing of interest.

unitdaisy: Yeah - she went and found him in the house where he was hiding from the yard sale he had disowned.

G. Turner: From there it was a hop, skip and a fender bender to a local block sale. As you can see by this $15 copy of Diablo II, they have a tendency to over-value property in this area. (It's a great game, but come on. I can buy it at retail for less.)

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G. Turner: A bowling ball and bag, fit for champions like us!

unitdaisy: Not many people know we are bowling champions - though indeed we are - which is why a bowling lamp would have been most appropriate. (big meanie)

G. Turner: We have the trophies to prove it! And I said I had my reasons!

G. Turner: This is a garage sale, not Gamestop. Price your games accordingly.

G. Turner: After that array of disappointment, we hesitantly trucked further southwest than normal as there were a number of sales there, including one that looked especially attractive. Unfortunately, this was all we found. We couldn't even find two of the bordering sales, and the one we made the trek for was nowhere to be found. Either they screwed up the details in the ad, or they decided to just pack up early and screw over stragglers.

unitdaisy: I know this isn't a retail business, but if you advertise hours and then change them, at least have the decency to put up a sign.

G. Turner: By now we were simply exasperated. I swore never to return to Logan Square for sales ever again and we drove back north to find a good pub (we tried out Four Moons Tavern, an adequate place with 312 and cider on tap to sate our thirst). Feeling fully refreshed, we made the thrift store rounds and found the following:

G. Turner: A Genesis, model 1, mostly intact with all of its cords, AC adapter, controller, etc. and an XBand modem. The XBand, not the first console modem ever made but the first real attempt at North American online console gaming, was somewhat successful in its day. Of course, now the damn thing is utterly useless as the service has been unavailable for close to twenty years.

unitdaisy: But now you own past-future technology. That's something special.

G. Turner: In addition to this boxed Genesis, there were two others. One was priced the same as the above Genesis, but it was in far worse condition. In fact, it looked as if someone dropped a milkshake on it. The third was priced at $8, $4 less than the other two. We wondered why so we opened it up and found...

G. Turner: Say, that's no Genesis!

Find of the Week: Again, another week when we found some substantial games, but nothing worth shrieking about. The XBand modem will have to fill the position as it's a nice little piece of multiplayer history, even if it's only useful as a paperweight now.

Lesson of the Week: If the box isn't sealed, always open it to make sure you're getting what you think you're paying for, otherwise you could be in for a rude awakening when you get home!

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9 comments for ‘Chi-Style Drunksaling: Vol. 5.3 - Family Matters’

#1 Grimson Jul 14, 2006 12:31pm

I think you have something there in the retro NFL idea. Why isn't anyone developing this yet?

#2 Servo Jul 14, 2006 02:35pm

I have a guaranteed Turbo Grafx 16 at my aunt's house, so there!

Also, we demand bowling stories

#3 KillerTeddy Jul 14, 2006 05:26pm

Dave Mirra BMX 2 was quite possibly one of my favorite games way back. Such a good game :)

#4 Glenn Turner Jul 14, 2006 11:12pm

Servo wrote:
Also, we demand bowling stories

If you haven't seen it before, I posted pics of our bowling league shirt last year.

Of course, last year we sucked eggs. But this year, boy oh boy, we had the dream team!

#5 w3a2 Jul 16, 2006 06:36pm

KT i fail to see how you can refer to any PS2 games as being anywhere near 'way back'.

Especially not on the same page that features such hidden treasure as Gauntlet 3.

Honestly :o

#6 KillerTeddy Jul 16, 2006 08:17pm

Well, I was reffering to the Gamecube version, and you're right, its not way back...

But hey, 13...12...those years seem so far back.

#7 jt-3d Jul 19, 2006 07:05am

Drunksaling how I missed thee. Just one question: where's the 'drunk' part?

#8 w3a2 Jul 19, 2006 07:49pm

^^ there

#9 WholeFnShow Jul 20, 2006 04:03pm

Fester's Quest kicked my ass. I would've killed for a strategy guide.

And even to this day, I was only able to successfully make it through Castelvania III one time. The damn thing is still sitting in my nintendo.