#She found it in an antique shop and - not having any money - traded her boots for it because she liked it that much

[marietheran]

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[8bitbobby]

Spoiled in Seattle

 I am freshly home from a 6-day vacation with the family.  Our travels saw us visit Port Angeles, Poulsbo, Bremerton, Seattle, Everett, Edmonds, Kingston, Arlington and many stops in between.  It was an exciting trek across the Pacific Northwest.  We put our feet in the ocean while snapping pictures of a bald eagle nestled in a tree that could’ve been 100 or more ft. tall. 

The idea of the trip was conceived by my wife and her childhood friend who stopped by our place while traveling through a few months prior.  The plan they set in motion was for us to come down for a thrifting trip of sorts.  They had a camper parked in their driveway that we could sleep in to save some money and then they would show us the sights, etc.  

Because there were 5 of us traveling we decided to rent a vehicle rather than try and all pile in one of our little compact sedans (or take 2 cars).  We ended up with a brand new Ford Expedition (after some classic bait and switch by the rental company).  It was a little more expensive but came loaded with features.  In the end, we were very happy we upgraded our wheels.  The truck had onboard GPS, Sirius satellite radio, heated and air-conditioned seats, moon roof... the whole shebang. It also had ample cargo space (in case we were knee-deep in second-hand treasures). 

A quick check of the mileage before we left told us that this vehicle had only 1,500kms on it thus far.  By the time the trip was over this vehicle will have crossed the US/Canada border twice, taken two trips on the Kingston/Edmonds ferry, parked at Pike Place Market and spanned 1,800 new kilometers in distance.

Our first 3 or 4 days were spent with visiting with my wife’s friend, her husband, and their 3 boys, listening to their dog snore louder than a drunken lumberjack, several games of Cards against Humanity, roasting smores and day tripping to scenic locales.  The last few days off the trip, however, were spent scouring as many Target, Good Will, thrift and retro game stores as we could find. 

As with all great stories I had plotted our things beforehand even going so far as to print off a list of every Retro game store that came up in a google search of Seattle and surrounding area.  I think in total I probably visited about a half dozen or so stores. If the total was 6 I did pretty well because half of the stores yielded a game I didn’t have.  

The trip to Poulsbo was definitely a highlight and as I had just recently got into the show Vikings it was neat to see all of the street names, statues, and stores that were related to Norsemen, Vikings and the like.  One town over the clerk who helped us at the Good Will was even named Thor (true story). We headed further south to Bremerton and there I found a store called:  Back in Time Gaming and Collectibles.  This was a smaller store that seemed a little bit dated but still had some pretty cool stuff.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find any games that I needed and even though she told us about their other location it was a little too out of the way to visit this time around. If only we had a Delorean.

While in Seattle we went to the world famous Pike Place Market and for most of the bustling people on the walk the fish market was the highlight.  For us, however, it was something much different than seeing fish hurtled through the air.  For us, it was the lower levels of the market.  One such shop, Orange Dracula was my wife’s match made in heaven.  The decor was pulled straight out of my wife’s dreams:  Halloween, dolls, vintage toys, scary stuff, 80s stuff, 70s stuff, kitschy stuff, the stuff of nightmares.  Equal parts girl and ghoul, cutesy and terrifying, Orange Dracula was a veritable cavalcade of coolness.

After Dracula, it was off to a shop that specialized in poster reprints.  We scoured page after page of advertisements, movie posters, gig posters and the like.  If we only had more wall space at home we would’ve come back with armloads I’m sure.  Next was a brimming business called Rummage Around that begs us to do just that.  It was floor to ceiling chock full of antiques, oddities, collectibles and the like.  It was like all of the best flea market and garage sale items came to meet at the same place at the same time. A one stop for collectors. These places made up for the confusion and frustration we had at trying to find thrift stores in the U.S.  Every time we plugged thrift into a search it came up with antique stores. Perhaps something was lost in translation and charity shops are called something different down south.  At any rate, these two stores alone made up for some of the duds and absence of stores along the way.

Once we were finished at PIke Place Market, my wife, and her friend traveled back to Edmonds to hit up the Good Will store there while the rest of us headed to the University District to look for some game shops.  The fuchsia colored awning down the street told us we were in the right spot.  Pink Gorilla games opened its doors to us and I was immediately in retro game heaven.  Games lined the walls of the store and glass displays checkered the floors.  They had several Nintendo related items; a whole whack of memorabilia and collectibles.  After scouring the NES wall for some time I decided on a very well-priced game that would replace a torn label I have:  Roger Clemens baseball and one game that I didn’t have yet, Pool of Radiance.   The games in this store were extremely well priced with common and sports games only $2-$5.  It was tempting not to go hog wild and just stock up on a bunch of doubles just to use for trades or in lots down the road but as this was only our first game store stop I thought I should exercise caution. The staff was very helpful and even looked up a few games I mentioned to see if their other location had it. One such game I enquired about was Nightmare on Elm St. but unfortunately they hadn’t seen that one come in for awhile.

As I stood for a quick snap beside their wall of NES games, holding my purchases like a prescription, I thought to myself: this is just what the doctor ordered.

 After buying the aforementioned games as well as a Megaman keychain for my son (who is an even bigger fan of the franchise than I am) we walked further up the street to our next adventure.

Strolling another block or two up the street landed us at Al’s Music, Video, and Games.  What welcomed us was another amazing assortment of carts.  As you came in the door there was a display to your left that had a bunch of games (a few that I didn’t have) some of the more uncommon boxed RPGs and strategy games and one of the holy grails in Little Samson.  A sticker on the game stated that it was not for sale which was unfortunate, but let’s be honest it’s not as if I would have had the funds to purchase such a heavy hitter anyway.  It was just cool to see it in person and be able to take a picture of it.  I remember a few years back taking another like that of Flinstones Surprise at Dinosaur Peak.  With the exception of perhaps Stadium Events and the Nintendo World Championships carts, I think I’ve actually seen every game now at some point or another.  From Al’s I picked up Terra Cresta.  He also had Super Spy Hunter but from what I could see it might have had a bit of label damage and it is a little bit more common. I haven’t seen Terra Cresta out in the wild for some time and this one was mint condition and came with the manual.  I was actually quite surprised how well preserved this game was because a sticker on the back told me it was at one time a rental available at Hollywood Video.  This finding was interesting and helps to segway into the next store.

We left Seattle because the day was getting on and parking was starting to become both a nuisance and an expense. Next stop: Everett.   Here we took our trip to the “Next Level”.  After at least a couple inquiries previously for a game featuring Freddy Kreuger, I thought my search would be endless.  To my surprise, I found not just the game, but a mint CIB version of the game here.  Realizing that the sun was setting on my retro gaming adventure I also found a couple of other reasonably priced games that were in decent condition.  Never of these other games, I had seen in the wild to this point:  Ultimate Air Combat and Rollerblade Racer.  The latter was also adorned with stickers from Hollywood Video so it was neat to imagine that at one time they may have shared space on a shelf at the same location and then were scattered like ashes to the wind and ended up in two different cities. Now, after who knows how long, perhaps they will be reunited on my shelves.  When I brought my purchases to the counter I was asking if I could get a deal on the 3 games and the owner happily obliged.  He was concerned because they were under construction and the store was a little cluttered from the renovation.  It really didn’t bother me one little bit but if that factored into his decision to give me a deal who am I to argue.  Despite the haphazard displays I was able to find the games quite easily and was very impressed by the fact that they hand-polished the pins on the games and gave me free dust sleeves to boot.

This was the perfect end to my game related excursions south of the border. Even though we stopped at another store in the lower mainland I didn’t spend any money there. He had a few games that would’ve fit nicely on my stand at home but I kept my wallet in my pocket more because the owner didn’t acknowledge me even once (despite no other customers in the store) than that the prices were high).  What was satisfying was seeing Nightmare on Elm St. for sale here too but for way more money than I got the complete in box mint set for earlier the previous day. 

It was, I suppose, some small measure of karma or whatever you want to call it. I left with a grin on my face even though my hands were empty.  I was happy.  I was ready to go home. 

New milestone achieved of 650 games!  Here’s the running total...

Licensed games:  591/677

Unlicensed games: 59/90

Manuals:  135

Boxes: 71

CiB games:  39

Total games:  650