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Chi-Style Drunksaling: Vol. 5.7 - When Aliens and Market Days Attack

August 26, 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 took place on August 5th, 2006.

G. Turner: It was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining and it wasn't utterly oppressive outside! Perfect garagesaling conditions! Our first sale greeted us with a fine marker - a bouquet of very reflective balloons!

unitdaisy: When people care about promoting their garage sale - it is more likely to have something worth buying.

G. Turner: And what did we see upon entering the backyard?

G. Turner: Okay, besides a fence full of jeans.

G. Turner: Delicious modern games. There was a portly fellow eyeing them right in front of me, but just as he opened his mouth to ask the proprietor how much they were, I jumped right in and beat him to the punch! They were certainly worth the two bucks he was asking.

unitdaisy: I think Mr. Turner's quick fingers are due to his training as a pickpocket.

G. Turner: So it looked like we were starting off strong, and that greater treasures would await us! We rolled up to the next sale ...

G. Turner: This gets bonus points for being well-worn, but is far too common and new to be of interest to us.

unitdaisy: It fit our profile though; I wish we could find more old table games, the art is usually worth the price.

G. Turner: Old-timey fire extinguishers: handy for stifling the crankypants in the driver's seat.

unitdaisy: Hey now! At least the pleasant, expert driver can actually drive.

G. Turner: I can drive perfectly, it's just the law that frowns on my automotive dalliances.

G. Turner: En route to the next sale, we ran across this gorilla sculpture. There are a number of these type of sculptures all around the Chicago North side (maybe on the West and South too, for all I know). Sadly, he doesn't always get the respect he deserves.

unitdaisy: Darn those kids. Animals made out of old car parts deserve your respect. And gorillas are so neat!

G. Turner: In this Pokedex hides Wade Boggs.

G. Turner: Laser Tennis - for those whose moms were too cheap to fork out for Lazer Tag.

G. Turner: Skinner has a new suit!

G. Turner: ...and it lands him a curmudgeon. What a tale!

unitdaisy: I forget why I didn't buy this. It is rare to find an entire book about a life changing garment. I think I just need a bigger attic for all the things i find.

G. Turner: One of these books is not like the other...

G. Turner: I believe this was the whirlyball genre's breakout masterpiece.

unitdaisy: I can't believe the mayor's office signs off on all of these street festivals. I haven't been to one yet which I thought was worth blocking off the street. Oh wait, I avoid street fairs like the plague.

G. Turner: We attempted to hit up the final sale on our list, but thanks to Market Days, we just couldn't get to it. We eventually gave up and meandered down to a neighboring thrift store...

G. Turner: ...but not before we laughed at the antics of a local bank's mascot!

unitdaisy: I hope he is being paid a handsome sum.

G. Turner: The local thrift store had at least a few games stockpiled.

G. Turner: Pass.

G. Turner: CD-i Pinball?

G. Turner: $15 CD-i Pinball?? That is a rather nice logo...

unitdaisy: We expect nothing less from Brown Elephant, they have employee benefits to pay.

G. Turner: Wildfire - the flames of hell licks at the palms of your hand.

G. Turner: Bowlo - all the fun of tabulating bowling scores with none of the beer!

G. Turner: A very-weathered bowling pin, showcasing just what fun you can have without Bowlo.

unitdaisy: Looks like someone has been mixing too much beer with bowling.

G. Turner: Alien Attack! LEDs can be fun too.

G. Turner: This actually wasn't a game. But imagine if it were!

unitdaisy: The possibilities cannot be enumerated.

G. Turner: I'm surprised this got left behind. Hardly a week goes by when unitdaisy doesn't find a way to work this game into a conversation.

unitdaisy: No, silly, it's the old Simon I am looking for. Bleep boop bop boop.

G. Turner: Fabulous Fred's overlays were a bit too lascivious for us.

G. Turner: Ditto.

unitdaisy: *sigh* This should be hanging on my bedroom wall.

G. Turner: I was crushed when I saw the first page did not include 'plug in your Dreamcast'.

G. Turner: However, prepared slides of pollen & spores were 'life of the party accoutrement #6'.

unitdaisy: That would be a show stopper. Especially if the mold spores were taken right out of your hosts's refrigerator.

unitdaisy: Beware. You can't hide a lot in those flapper dresses, but there is certainly room for booze and cards.

G. Turner: And finally, after working our way through the entire store, I noticed a slew of PC games hiding behind mountains of DVDs.

G. Turner: Who's up for yet another disappointing adventure game? I am!! Oh, and there's some Command & Conquer there too.

G. Turner: Ultima's everywhere all of the sudden! Not that I'm complaining ...

unitdaisy: Perhaps it has won a battle with the ubiquitous Riven.

G. Turner: And right before we wandered back to our car, I spotted reams of abused Nintendo documentation, flyers, strategy guides, advertisements & other ephemera. All terribly expensive, all in horrid condition, and all ultimately left behind.

unitdaisy: Oh poor neglected ephemera.

G. Turner: Time for our local Village thrift store! Yes, these are the folks who scream & shout whenever I photograph anything in their store, which is why this copy of Space Quest 4 was photo'ed in the car. And sadly, I couldn't purchase it by itself, I had to buy it with this:

G. Turner: This dog's hitting the bin.

G. Turner: Last stop: PC games at the thrift store a stone's throw from our house. Decent. However, they did have a sweet dictaphone on display:

Find of the Week: I'd say Alien Attack, had we actually bought it. Last I saw, unitdaisy was cradling it and then half an hour later when we were ready to checkout, neither of us had it and we were both too numbed by the store's objects of antiquity to remember it until it was too late.

Lesson of the Week: If you're in a thrift store and said store actually has carts or a hand-basket available, take one lest you set your items aside and lose them, like poor Alien Attack.

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7 comments for ‘Chi-Style Drunksaling: Vol. 5.7 - When Aliens and Market Days Attack’

#1 Anne Packrat Aug 25, 2006 04:19pm

Why the hell do you guys have all the cool thrift stores? Best I've found is a Genesis copy of MKIII...

#2 Rex Warner Aug 27, 2006 02:41pm

Anne Packrat wrote:
Best I've found is a Genesis copy of MKIII...
The best thing I got anywhere near your area was a broken Capcom Fighter Stick with an SNES cable for a buck, at the Canton Salvation Army Thrift. Someone cracked the board. I can fix it. I'm like OCP.
Come up northeast a bit. Youngstown's Goodwill, Warren's Goodwill and Sally Army, and very rarely Andover's Goodwill have occasionally decent stuff. Actually, Warren is afflicted with the dreaded EBAY PRICES IN THE REAL WORLD disease. $120 for a used Gamecube? Good luck with that.

But I digress. Ye've got the greatest of luck, yardsaling in the belly of the beast. Keeraist, nothing but overpriced junk out here. And the absurdly cheap that I didn't buy, then sorely regretted for years to come. Hahah... Oh god, I need a drink.

#3 unitdaisy Aug 27, 2006 05:34pm

or you could move on up to chicago like i did after i grew up in north canton
actually the first person to interest me in garagesailing was my childhood next door neighbor who used to find the most wonderful antiques that she would buy and fix up then her daughter would them sell in her antique store
the most important thing i learned about garage sailing from her was that you had to get up early (she was out at 7 am), learned being the oprative word as i don't really practice it, nevertheless we tend to find things because we go out just about every saturday and spend a good 4-5 hours driving all over tarnation
nevertheless it's nice to have some fellow northern ohio peoples about!

#4 Rex Warner Aug 28, 2006 12:30am

When I go a-saling, it's usually on a Saturday morning starting at about 8:30. In the thick of summer, I go every Saturday. Nobody around here would start their sales until 9 usually, sometimes even 10. I keep going until 11 or noon, because I'm either irritated at finding nothing, or broke, with a carload of stuff. Going a good 7 miles between sales really takes it out of you, though. The last time I went yardsaling, there was a neighborhood deal going, over fifty sales in one neighborhood. I hit 49 of them and only got some audiocassettes and a pair of pants.

I'd really rather not just move out of state and sticks for the sake of cheap games. It's not a gaming wasteland out here.. I mean, I did score a TG16 for FIVE BUCKS a couple months ago. My first one, I love it to death and back. Too bad none of the game resellers have anything but goddamn Kieth Courage for $20.

I think that TG16 has landed me in yardsale purgatory. I shall not find anything of its like for such a deal ever again. In fact, I may have burned so much of a lifetime's good luck that I will never find anything but Super Mario Brothers / Duck Hunt carts ever again.

God, now I'm rambling.

Now I'm done.

Thanks for the welcome, it does my heart good to see someone escape and make good on the outside!

#5 Anne Packrat Aug 28, 2006 12:54pm

unitdaisy wrote:
or you could move on up to chicago like i did after i grew up in north canton
nevertheless it's nice to have some fellow northern ohio peoples about!

Well, I'm pretty well enscounced out here. Moved here from Philadelphia / York because I fell in love with the handsome idiot I'm married to.

I find other things sometimes (mostly cosplay related stuff) but my video game luck sucks. Ever consider checking out the World's Largest Garage Sale they have down in Kentucky and surrounding states?

#6 D. Riley Aug 28, 2006 05:21pm

People who move away from Philly suck.

Enjoy your life without AMOROSO ROLLS.

#7 Anne Packrat Aug 28, 2006 05:34pm

D. Riley wrote:
People who move away from Philly suck.

Enjoy your life without AMOROSO ROLLS.

I am. I enjoy my kielbasa, Barbarton chicken and husband.

EDIT: I think I'm getting better luck at thrift stores. Today I found a copy of Myst, and a VHS copy of Waterworld. Anyone want a Nu Bra for 15 bucks?