flea markets/yard sale

i know a couple of you guys check out flea markets and the such and usually come out with some pretty good finds. currently i'm looking for a SNES and an NES.

when you guys go to these places, how frequently do you run into these machines/games? i'm considering going around my area sunday to see if i can score these things, and i wanna know what an approx. chance of me finding these is. i know it's definately a shot in the dark, but i'm interested to know how much older stuff you guys usually find (whether you have it already/buy it/or just look it over)?

Me, personally their is always one booth at these block long flee markets that sells games, not always old ones but sometimes their are. As for garage sales its hit or miss, no guarantee.

I find snes's every time and I think I saw an nes or two. There is tons and tons of atari 2600 crap at mine.

I rencently found like $80 of nes for $28 (snow bros, megaman 1,2,4,5. Kirby, zelda.) The ones I usually goto have nothing tho (the nes stuff was at SF). I live in small town, if you live in like Seattle or san fransisco or just any big town there's usually good stuff.

i never see anything but sracthed up ps1 and games that are kiddish at that as well as n64 and dreamcast games and their are all overpriced cause for some reasons the people think there worth so much it like i went to one yard sell and dude was a gaming and he was charging good prices like i got sly cooper and jak for 11 bucks for the both that when their where dropping to 29.99 a piece there wher complete and mint i never see systems.

It probaly depends on where you live, i've got a pretty good one where people from other towns come because its so large, its many building and pavilions, pretty neat stuff sometimes.

thanks guys! there are 2 indoor markets and two outdoor ones that i can think of. i'm gonna hit them all up and try to find some stuff.

I usually find all sorts of stuff. Here's a couple of pointers:

Smaller communities often yield more games. Fewer people are aware of them, and even fewer are likely to know about Ebay (major plus)

Check your pawn shops. People will pawn anything, and pawn shops are often clueless on games. My greatest all time find was Ninja Gaiden Trilogy for SNES for $2.50

Use your game knowledge to your advantage. Many people at flea markets selling games know little about them. Sometimes they can be talked down.

Inspect your purchase THOUROUGHLY. Know if something is missing parts, or if it seems in bad shape. Most people don't mind letting you test it before you buy.

Good luck man.

yea, i live in WEST VIRGINIA...people around here don't know what good in the video game world. all they know is the newest generation of stuff.

unfortunately, over the years, people have wisened up and have gotten with the times...so i'm gonna work with what i got.

there was a guy selling a nintendo on ebay, not far from me, for a dollar, no one bid on it...and i was gonna do a local pickup (they were raping on shipping) but they wouldn't let me, so i let it effing pass.

I live in Boston, and only know of one flea market and it sucks. Every so often I'll find some games being sold but it's highly unlikely it'll be anything more than overpriced commons.

The best thing I got from there was a Sega CD/original Genesis 1 for $10! And everything worked perfectly. I saw a complete 32x w/box for $20 but decided to wait until next week and someone bought it before I did.

Here in Phoenix I can't find crap anywhere...

there's only two flea markets in my town

the big one doesn't have ANY good shit... best thing i found was street fighter 2 turbo for a buck and i already have one of those

the other one is in the ghetto part of town, where the only thing i can get is shot at

im in Los angeles... and i cant find crap here. everything has gone mainstream and eBay has commercials left and right. flea market booths turns into a EBgames outlet where the games are not much cheaper... pawn shops have a better understanding for games than best buy employees, they wont take a regular gameboy for over 50cents and sells it for about 2 dollars (i saw goodwill sell a reg gamboy for $15... wow... and it was donated) sigh.. the nightlife is good here, but the gaming life is EXPENSIVE!

in my experience, pawn shops are the way to go. got my gamecube last summer for i think $70, with two nintendo controllers, at a time when that would have gone for $180 new... never paid more than $15 for a game either, and usually paid from $5 to $10. quality of games and condition can be hit or miss, but they get new stock so often that i find good deals pretty frequently. when they get older systems, they tend to try and unload them quickly too... N64s and playstations tend to run for $15 with a controller or two, i've noticed, and if you can find an SNES, they usually go for around $10. NES and SNESs are somewhat less common, though... pawn shops tend to go mainly for newer items, since they bring in the most money and don't sit on the shelf for so long.

as a side note, i've found some pretty damn fantastic deals on musical equipment at pawn shops, as well. starving musicians seem to go in pretty often to sell off all their old gear... being in the right place at the right time has found me some very good deals on that stuff.

also, my experience is primarily with pawn shops in my hometown, nashville... it may not hold true with other cities (the music part, especially, probably doesn't).

so, check your local pawn shop! thank me if you find something incredible.

patrick

i check my local pawn shops very frequently. my best find was the puppet master dvd box set, it was marked 90 bucks, but the guy who was working there started to talk to me about my tattoos (the shop i get tattooed at is about 30 seconds away from the pawn shop) and then he noticed my plugs, so after talking for about 15 minutes, he sold me the box set for 60 bucks, this thing is in mint condition and sells on ebay for 150-200.

i checked a flea market near my house today, it's indoor and open everyday. it was VERY crowded. i think i was the only customer...but everything was so close together. anyway, i found a ton of SNES/Genesis/Xbox/PS2/nintendo games, but no NES's or SNES's. so i'll check back at another time. there are three more flea markets around here, but they're only on the weekends, so i'll check that out soon.

i just got some action, i'm happy, it's 5:20, good night all, i'm sleeping.