YOIS News Archive (2013)

12/17/2013 Aaaand we have our first blocked user. Anyone else?
12/12/2013Welllllllll FUCK. Just got the diagnosis from the repair place. Hard drive failure.

*sigh* Since I have neither the time nor the inclination to dink around with setting up a new computer at the moment, I'm living without one. I'll do my best to keep the Shoppe running, but this means slower response, and none on weekends. This is also going to indefinitely delay the coding of my method for selling the rare Infocom pieces.

First person to ask "Did you get my message?" gets banned from buying. I'm serious.

12/09/2013Heads up to everyone, my stupid computer is acting up again so I'm probably going to be slower responding to emails until it gets fixed. I'm also really busy and stressed, so I'm probably going to be less patient when responding to people asking why I'm slow responding. Just sayin'.
12/07/2013Just going through my collection database and updating the values on the Adventure International titles based on the recent auction insanity. It's been fascinating to see how the 1% collects. ;p
12/04/2013Holy crap... Have you seen what sealed Adventure International games have been going for at auction? And not their actual adventure games, I'm talking $250-$300 for a sealed Rear Guard, and even $600 as a BuyItNow... Unbelievable!

Thanks to the fellow collector who sent me this tip. That definitely explains the guy who just tried to buy all of mine up at once. Hmm, maybe I should start using the 'Bay as a price guide again. Do you still have to be a member to search completed listings?

UPDATE: It looks like it may have been a passing fad. This one cracked $50 but didn't go much higher. I'll keep monitoring them. So for a few brief hours I thought I was suddenly thousands of dollars richer, but then I lost it all. This must be how day traders feel, at least the ones who are bad at it.

Topic shift... Has anyone else had problems using the "yois.biz" domain to access the site? It's set up as a redirect to yois.if-legends.org, but it seems to be frequently problematic, for me at least. I may have to Go chat with my Daddy about this... *sigh* My labors are unceasing.

12/02/2013Just a reminder, the YOIS Black Friday / Cyber Monday deal closes at midnight tonight.

I'm putting together packages tonight, and will get everybody's items in the mail first thing tomorrow morning, and then your refund amounts back to you later in the day.

11/29/2013The YOIS Black Friday deal is officially extended through the end of Cyber Monday. Because why not.
11/28/2013Today's listings:

  • The last of the grey boxes, including several shrinked.
  • The last Fooblitzky.
  • The last Classic Mystery and Sci-Fi Classics slipcovers.
  • The last Infocom Sampler.
  • Plus I added a few loose disks and parts to some of the incomplete items.

That's pretty much everything for now. Check back in (hopefully) December to see the new system for selling rare items and some stuff you couldn't buy in stores!

11/27/2013All right, I have Decided. The YOIS Black Friday deal is a go:

  • $1 off every individual item priced at $10 or higher.
  • Plus 5% off all orders totalling $100 or more (before shipping).
  • Plus half price shipping on ALL orders.
  • And your choice of a free InvisiClues pen or Moonmist "Legendary Ghosts of Cornwall" booklet with ANY order, while supplies last. (Which they should... Seriously, I have a ton of these things.)

For all orders opened between Friday, November 29th and Sunday, December 1st. I say opened because I work with flexible prices, and sometimes hammering out a deal can take a few days. So as long as you start the trade discussion during those days, the deal is still good. And since I'm personally in U.S. Central Standard Time and the YOIS server is on UTC/GMT +1 hours, I'll even be somewhat flexible with the cutoff time.

Just place your orders as normal and I'll do a partial refund afterward, since there's no way I will have time to code this into the site before then.

Maybe not as good as what you can save at Best Buy or Wal-Mart, but c'mon, they're megacorporations, and I'm one guy with a basement. Plus here you don't have to wait in lines or fight crowds.

11/24/2013Starting to wrap things up. Today I've listed:

  • The last of the InvisiClues.
  • The last of the Infocomics, including some packaging mockups for ZorkQuest #2. (In case you missed it, that's the first official hint I've dropped as to where all of this stuff came from!)
  • A few loose game pieces.
  • Loose InvisiClues pens.
  • A couple of Cornerstone demo kits.
  • Science Fiction Classics slipcover set.

There will be one more wave of greys sometime next week, but nothing I haven't already listed. And I have a stack of loose disks to go through and possibly complete some of the incomplete packages. Email me if you've bought an incomplete one in recent weeks and I can send you the disk, no extra charge. After that I'll begin seriously working on my method to sell the ultra-rare pieces... and preparing to acquire the second half of this amazing collection.

Yes. There is more. :O

I may need to hold a Black Friday sale.

11/23/2013Another batch is up. I'm at the point where I can fit the unlisted stuff on a single table. The collection room is actually starting to feel a bit empty when I walk in now.



I'm also on the trail of an interesting artifact from the Infocom era that I stumbled across last night. Hopefully it's still available; I need to call the place tomorrow and find out. (Sorry for being deliberately vague. I'll share more details once I have it confirmed.)

Oh, and the copy of Building Applications with Cornerstone that I have listed? Turns out it might not be the last copy I get after all. Fingers crossed.

11/19/2013To those of you who wrote to check, yes, I'm fine after yesterday's tornadoes (and thanks for asking). Peoria dodged them but they hit several towns across the river. The worst the Shoppe had was strong winds, blinding rain and pea-sized hail for about an hour. I have been pondering my good fortune.

If you want to help others who weren't so lucky, please go to the Red Cross or Salvation Army. Beware of charity scams, as this is the kind of thing that brings them out in droves.

I'll post more items tomorrow.

11/17/2013I just listed about 20 more items, including a copy of the Building Applications with Cornerstone book. It's quite possibly the last one I will ever get in stock.
11/14/2013More greys listed. At this point I'm about halfway there. The pile is shrinking noticeably as I list and shelve them:



Also, spammers? Please stop sending me messages about the amazing video that will show me how to seduce any woman I want. I am not and will never be desperate enough to open one. Seriously, it was mildly amusing at first, but after about 500 of them it's just sad. Try something original.

(Yes, I know they will never read this. I just wanted to say it.)

11/10/2013New items are up. And it turns out, so is my regular Post Office, thankfully.

Just a reminder, you can ask for pictures of anything if you feel my text descriptions are inadequate. Even though all text worked well enough for playing Infocom, it may not be quite as ideal when you're collecting them. I've had photo functionality written into the site for a while. Maybe once I get all of this listed I'll actually try it out.

Finally, if you have something reserved and you get the automated warning from the site, you'll need to either send payment or drop me a note to refresh the trade. This system was put in place when I designed the site, to keep items from being reserved indefinitely for people who never respond. When I get busy like I currently am, I don't always have time to check and refresh for you, so definitely send a reminder, or your items may get freed up for someone else to buy. (Thanks.)

11/08/2013More listings. I'm trying to plow through the grey boxes and InvisiClues, while throwing in the occasional rare gem. Saving the rarest for last, as I'm still coding up my method for dealing with those.

I might be slow shipping things out, depending on my Post Office. On Wednesday they were completely shut down, citing technical problems, which I assume meant their entire computer system. I ended up driving to the downtown distribution center, which meant navigating a maze of twisty little one-way streets and lane closures due to construction. Signage was inadequate, so attempting to find my way around was a complete painus in the anus. I couldn't even drop a different item at each intersection to help me make a map, because of littering laws. I'm not enduring that again, so if my usual P.O. is still closed, mailings will have to wait until I can get to the one in the next town over (meaning weekends, probably). Apologies in advance if that's the case.

11/06/2013Another dozen items listed, including the original Infocom Sampler. Probably nothing tomorrow night, as I need to get laundry folded.
11/04/2013Quick question for collectors in Europe: Have any of you seen this variation on the Infocom Masterpieces collection disc?



The "Made in EU" notation leads me to believe it came from the blue "Essentials" release, but mine is sealed so I can't (won't) check. If someone out there has an opened one, can you confirm?

Thanks in advance.

UPDATE: Confirmed, it is from the European "Essentials" release. Thanks, Karl!

I'm busy putting together packages, so no new items tonight, sorry. Check back tomorrow. But I did want to mention musician Tony Longworth's Infocom-inspired album. At the moment it's only available as an MP3 download, but he's planning an eventual CD release through Kickstarter, with a deluxe grey-box style packaging. If you want this as badly as I do, please email Tony and pledge your support.

11/03/2013More stuff listed! Enchanter Trilogy, unused Classic Mystery Library slipcover, more unopened InvisiClues packs, another Fooblitzky plus I've got a disk for the first one. Right now I'd estimate I'm between 20-25% of the way through this huge collection. More to come. If you're looking for something specific please email and let me know. I'm not doing any off-Shoppe deals because it's just too much for me to keep track of, but I can move items of interest to the top of the pile and get them listed faster. The exception is the ultra-rarities (you may have noticed the Starcross saucer in those pics below). Things like that are hard to price, but I'm working on a method that will allow me to sell them a bit differently from the regular Shoppe stock.

I've updated the Cornerstone Database Database with a few new details I've learned. And yes, there will be more Cornerstone related items listed eventually.

Finally, a special welcome to all the visitors from You Suck at Craigslist. As you can see I am deliberately, even defiantly, retro in my site layout... which is a nice way of saying I suck at web design. Special thanks to T.C. for showing me the YSaC blog a while back and suggesting I put an ad up there.

11/02/2013Another batch listed. Tonight's highlights include a Cornerstone box (alas, incomplete), shrinked Deadline folio, and another Sampler. More to come! It's great to have actual Infocom items back in stock again. I'd honestly forgotten how much fun I have doing this.
11/01/201325 new items listed. Don't miss the Fooblitzky, the sealed InvisiClues packs and the later Infocom Sampler!

This is definitely the way I'll do it, pace myself, list a smaller batch every day or two rather than stress out trying to get everything listed ASAP. Some of the rarer items I'm still not sure how to price, so I'll also be working on a solution to that.

Then, once I'm ready, I'll reveal from whence all of this treasure came. Stay tuned.

10/31/2013Okay, I'm back with working USB ports and an all-new neurosis about this computer. Need to spend tonight catching up on things from the last 4 days, then tomorrow it'll be back to listing stuff. Infocom stuff!
10/28/2013Explaining the lack of updates over the weekend... My computer (the new one which I finally bought) apparently decided having 8 USB ports made things too convenient for me, so it chose to have them all stop working. No keyboard or mouse = no input = no updates. Until I can get that fixed, I'm going to have to list them at work when I'm not on company time, which is going to throttle progress tremendously. Same for responding to emails, so your patience is appreciated.

In the meantime, I did empty out the two huge boxes and sort of organize everything on some folding tables. Please stare in awe at what is soon to come your way (faster if I can get this retarded computer functional again):



(Sorry, no off-Shoppe advance purchases, so please don't ask. I've got enough to do without trying to keep track of that as well.)

10/25/2013Another day... another lack of listings. *sigh* But I'm not slacking off, I promise. Tonight I spent about an hour moving stuff around so I could put in some new shelves. Then shifting over half the Shoppe inventory onto the new shelves so I could keep everything in order. And even after all that, it's still not going to be enough space to house... well... THIS:



*sigh* First-world problems at their finest. :\

10/24/2013Fixed the shipping problem! The USPS changed the name of Parcel Post to "Standard Post", that was what was screwing it up. Spent an hour and a half tracking that down (so, no time for new items tonight, sorry). Jeez. Talk about a painus in the anus.

Anybody else use the USPS's API for calculating postage? If so, how do you deal with it when they change stuff around like that? I never get any notifications, I just end up finding out when it starts returning the wrong amount. There has got to be a better way.

10/23/2013In case you're just joining or hadn't noticed, I've stepped up my listing and am trying to put up a few new items every night. I really want to get everything listed so I can start updating the vault and want-list, plus double-check to make sure everything currently listed is actually in stock. This is sort of shaping up to become my project for the winter.
10/22/2013Just noticed that the postage calculator is acting up again. It's giving really low insured parcel post rates for domestic shipping, and is allowing Media Mail when it shouldn't. If you submit a purchase through the site, I'll need to follow up with you on the shipping costs.

*sigh* I'll get it fixed when I have a chance. Trying to get this huge backlog listed.

10/13/2013If you submitted a trade offer and got an error message, please try again. I fixed the error, it was related to the recent server migration.
10/11/2013Finally, new items listed!

Quite a few gems this time, including those Japanese items I asked long ago whether anyone was interested in. Some of them, I'm interested to see if anyone else even knew they existed. This update has been a long time coming, as I have been extremely busy lately, and will likely continue to be for the foreseeable future.

Right now I'm in the process of acquiring several large collections, so there will definitely be a lot more listed. I'll share more details when I'm ready, but for now let's just say I'm putting the Infocomme back in Ye Olde Infocomme Shoppe. You've probably noticed over the years that my Infocom inventory has gradually depleted, replaced by games from other companies. That will be changing, beginning very soon. The plan is to try to keep to a regular schedule and list a batch of new items on a weekly basis, probably on Sunday afternoons, around 2-3PM CST. But I've also been doing flea markets on Sundays, so there's no guarantee I won't skip an occasional update, or post on a different day and time.

Since I'm sure this new lot will spawn many requests for pictures, I'd like to recommend that newcomers and people who have been away from the Shoppe for a while take a moment to re-familiarize yourselves with the FAQs, especially this one. As I said, I have been extremely busy lately. If you pester me with a question that is already covered in the FAQ, I will only respond to you using Internet memes. Because Internet memes are tired and annoying, just like those questions.

Have fun browsing, and check back regularly.

08/16/2013If you were having trouble viewing individual items for sale over the last few days, that problem has been fixed. (Thanks, Stefan.)
04/05/2013Last call for Japanese Ultima games and books. I'm placing the order with my source next week, so LMK if there's anything you want.
03/20/2013Question for the Ultima collectors out there: How interested are you in Japanese Ultima games, clue books, and other tie-ins? How would you value these in relation to their North American counterparts? Higher, since they're harder to obtain, or lower, since they're all written in Japanese?

I have an opportunity to purchase a sizable quantity, but wanted to gauge the interest first, to make sure it's worth it.

Thanks.

02/08/2013Okay. The automatic postage calculator should finally be fixed for both domestic and international Shoppers. Talk about an ordeal. The USPS started blocking direct page calls from YOIS last year, so I had to recode my process. Their API is kinda persnickety, their documentation is outright wrong in several places, and their technical support is as annoyingly unhelpful as... certain individuals from SWCollect I won't mention by name. It's like trying to read braille using your elbows. If anybody needs to pull USPS postage rates for their own website, just email me and I'll send you the code I used, save you a lot of aggravation. And if you do still encounter an error with it, please let me know.

One thing that's changed is Media Mail. USPS is telling me I can no longer use this method unless every single item in your order is a book (and the fact that Infocom games have the browsie doesn't count, in their eyes). So the Shoppe checks first, and won't offer it unless it qualifies. Sorry about this. It's their call, not mine, and I don't want to lose money on returned packages. Same with international orders, I have to declare the full value on the customs forms. Please take that into consideration when deciding how much to spend.

I know I haven't done much with the site lately, but wanted to reassure everyone I'm still here and still collecting. Admittedly it's much slower without eBay, but I'm still not going back to them. I do have a couple of big boxes full of various items that I need to list, but I'm waiting until Rick Thornquist's book comes out (hopefully this year) since it reveals a number of relatively unknown items, of which I've slowly been accumulating stocks. Yeah, still as capitalist pig-dog as ever. (Not selling any of it off-Shoppe, so please don't inquire.)


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