I don’t know many years I’ve been saying this, but with the arrival of fall; I’m finally going to get a proper inventory of my game library that I’m estimating is at about 7000 + games. Around 2008, I started doing an inventory on what I had for insurance purposes and in that time my collection has morphed into various states. For one, I trimmed out systems that I picked up that I simply never played; like the NEC PC-FX, Sega Game Gear and a plethora of loose Atari stuff. I still struggle with potentially getting rid of my Atari Jaguar system and games, but I simply can’t stop revisiting AVP from time to time. As a result, I’ve left the system in a module state that is easy to plug in if need be, but not a “instant access, instant on” system. I also can’t tell you how many different layouts my game room has had. I’ve had multiple ways of displaying games on screen with up to four screens at the same time! That has changed and now I strictly play them on one display, with a CRT in my Sega Saturn kiosk as a back up. The only constant that hasn’t changed would be the game shelves; which are not easily moved due to how many games on are on them.
I always thought the most ironic way I could die would be by one of shelves of games falling on me.
Other then the changes I noted above though, getting a solid inventory of the library shouldn’t be too bad. The amount of games I’ve picked up the last couple of years has slimmed down extensively due to how much the prices for older games have inflated and the shrinking of places to actually find classic games. Around 90 percent of the stores that would sell classic games have closed down and the amount of flea markets in my area have stopped happening as well. Any flea markets that do have sellers of these games have them marked up beyond eBay levels, which isn’t worth my time or money. These days I stick to picking them up at conventions where I can it least have a better chance of negotiating prices on games, but those opportunities are slim as well. Focusing at the task at hand, I’ll most likely start by doing inventory on my boxed games before I hit my shelves with the loose games. What will the final number of games be? I’m looking forward to finding out, if my shelves don’t kill me first.
Many thanks to Emmie for the art! 🙂