Unitdaisy and I were so inspired by the (now defunct) drunkgamers.com's garagesaling adventures that we went out about Chicago, scrounging for games, and forced others to relive our experience.
For those unfamiliar with the term drunksaling, it's simple: It's garagesaling for video games, executed with the intention to drink. How else can one bear this sort of social interaction? The following excursion took place on July 2nd, 2005.
Sadly, it appears that along with fireworks and horrid traffic, July 4th weekend brings with it a dearth of garage sales. I suppose people have better things to do with their time than try to sucker in strangers to buy their junk. However, that doesn't mean there were no garage sales:
G. Turner: We normally aren't 'early birds' — heck, we don't wake up early enough to be early birds. However, apparently these people liked to sleep in even later than we did. Yes, we were chided for arriving 15 minutes before 10am.
unitdaisy: For serious garagesalers all the good stuff is gone by 11am, I don't know why someone would miss out on attracting those paying customer by opening so late.
G. Turner: And apparently for naught, as they had little of interest. Unless you're a doll collector.
unitdaisy: You know 3 out of 4 people reading this are doll collectors.
G. Turner: What a strange combination.
unitdaisy: Rosie probably riveted the Iron Giant together; he would be nothing without her!
G. Turner: The following sale was ..terribly ambitious, including horribily worn scales selling for $40. Overpriced? Certainly. Did they care? Apparently not.
G. Turner: Walking into their basement was like entering our own little Silent Hill.
unitdaisy: If we had room I would've bought the stove, mmm toasty.
G. Turner: I wish garage sale managers would follow through, and sell alcohol on site. It'd make haggling a much more pleasant experience.
unitdaisy: Naw more likely you would just hand over the contents of your wallet to tip the sellers.
G. Turner: Want a reason to hate Chicago? Here's one: The street the former sale was housed at was far too narrow to drive both ways. After spending 10 minutes trying to park on said street, we were then held up an additional twenty minutes because the car one spot ahead of us required towing. Perhaps I'm a bit more frustrated at the situation than others since we, at the time, were terribly voracious.
unitdaisy: I felt sorry for the woman being towed, but more so for the people who live on that street and have to deal with those headaches everyday. What if someone buys a Hummer and parks it on that street? No one would be able to squeeze through!
G. Turner: After satiating our hunger with some horribly mediocre Dunkin' Donuts foodstuffs, we realized that we had already exhausted the garage sales we were slated to visit, and it was only 10am. Having nothing better to do, we decided to hit up the local thrift stores.
G. Turner: Yes, ourcolony.net even extended as far as Boystown, but apparently wasn't terribly well-received. I don't blame them.
unitdaisy: I am in full support of bug extermination.
G. Turner: Ah, we made the right choice! Starfox, boxed. Vectorman 2, boxed and shrink wrapped. Also there, but neglected, was Battle Arena Toshinden 2, Twisted Metal 2 and Tony Hawk 1. I'm sure someone will ream me out for not buying one of these.
unitdaisy: Hey the Road to Perdition was shot right down the street at that place, you know!
G. Turner: I then spent about an hour sifting through thousands of CDs, as very often video games are hidden next to promotional copies of The Real McCoy and Ace of Bass. Sadly, all we found was...
G. Turner: ...a copy of the first Hitman and...
G. Turner: Deux Ex!
G. Turner: No, wait. Deus Ex's packaging. Sans Deus Ex.
G. Turner: So we ambled over to the next thrift store, which apparently had problems labeling their 'Nightwear' section.
unitdaisy: It's completely logical; nightwear is what you put on when you take your eveningwear off.
G. Turner: This pig was ferociously guarding this copy of Microsoft Golf, so we left empty handed for the final thrift store on our list.
unitdaisy: Pigs wallow in mud.
G. Turner: Upon walking through the door we were greeted by Genesis games!
G. Turner: And NES games! For those that scoffed at my prior neglect of a little game called Ice Hockey will be glad to know that this copy went home with me. Also, there's a slightly used copy of Ice Hockey now available on eBay...
unitdaisy: Hey! Since you left it last time I just bought you a copy of Ice Hockey on eB... oh...
G. Turner: More fun for your NES! RC Pro-Am! Mega Man 2!
unitdaisy: You so should have bought Amagon.
G. Turner: Tempest 2000??
G. Turner: ...darn.
unitdaisy: Probably still in the machines.
G. Turner:This is video game related. Just think about it for a few seconds.
unitdaisy: Ahem.
G. Turner: Bless my mess and call it home. Maniac Mansion for the PC? Sure, they wrote the price on the cover, and obscenely taped the box shut but all of the discs and documentation still reside inside it!
unitdaisy: That girl is tarty.
G. Turner: Finally I can tote around my Game Gear in a case worthy of it.
unitdaisy: I've never understood carrying bags labeled for the products they contain "Look! - this bag contains a expensive piece of electronics - envy me - and uh don't steal it." Nevertheless they are kinda sweet.
G. Turner: Could we finally have found a Sega Master Game?
G. Turner: Sigh. Maybe next week.
unitdaisy: I bet the cool spot game was really refreshing.
G. Turner: More Genesis games (and one Sega CD games)! These will come in handy on our...
G. Turner: ...new Sega CD/Genesis combo! Yes, $20 garnered this fusion of hardware: one first-generation Genesis combined with a second-generation Sega CD player. Fully knowing we couldn't top that, we exited Village Discount with our arms fully loaded to head home (which, as indicated by the presence of my cat, was where this photo was snapped).
unitdaisy: Always an excuse to take a picture of the kitties.
Find of the Week: Maniac Mansion. While the Sega CD/Genesis combo might be the more financially impressive find, Maniac Mansion is of far greater interest to me personally. Also, Maniac Mansion came with a manual and requires no wires whereas I still haven't been able to track down the required cabling to get the Sega CD up and running.
Lesson of the week: Assemble a list of the games you already own, and make sure to note the condition. This will save you the trouble of buying duplicates, or passing up games you thought you owned but don't actually already own. Case in point: the acquisition of Starfox, a game of which I now own two copies of. Fortunately, the prior copy lacked a box and documentation but it did remind me to remind you to make a list.
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