| 12/30/2003 | Hey gang, sorry I haven't done much with the site lately. My New Year's Resolution is to catch up on my lists and on testing a bunch of backlogged changes to the site, mostly behind-the-scenes stuff no one else will notice. I'm also aiming for mid-January for the next column. This time around I'm writing two at once, for... well, you'll see. |
| 12/23/2003 | Heehee, that TomMage... Check these out! |
| 12/22/2003 | Adding a few more items, below. |
| 12/19/2003 | Went to check some 5-1/4" disks today and discovered my 486 PC isn't working. If you need any disks verified, it'll probably be after the holidays before I'll be able to do it. Go ahead and reserve the item(s) now, though, and I'll keep the transaction open until I get this resolved. |
| 12/07/2003 | I can't believe a classic game author could be so careless and disrespectful.
I just got my Hayden games back from Dan Kitchen, whom I sent them to so he could transfer the disk contents to image files. I also asked him to autograph them for me while he was at it. So, instead of putting them back in the nice sturdy box I sent them in, what does he do? He sticks them in a flimsy padded envelope. As a result, my once-mint Crystal Caverns now has a huge dent in it. Thanks a lot, Dan. I would have thought someone so interested in having a working copy of his game would have shown a little more care toward the original packaging, not to mention respect for another person's property. Last time I try to do an original author a favor. So. Anybody got an [F/NM] Crystal Caverns? I'm offering primo trades.
Christ Almighty. |
| 12/06/2003 | TomMage pointed this out to me. Seems Detroit, YOIS's favorite urban piss-hole, hasn't changed a bit since I went there almost 3 years ago. (I'm still going back someday. LMK if you want to tag along and help me document the squalor and lack of civilization. B-) |
| 12/04/2003 | Malinche Entertainment's Greystone is now available. |
| 11/23/2003 | Sorry for the lack of updates. My broken toe is healed and I've been making up for lost jogging time. I'm listing more items, scroll down to see just the new stuff. Quite a few Sierra Quest collections. I'll probably finish the I-F stuff tonight and get to the rest tomorrow. |
| 11/10/2003 | Finally got the rest of my shelves up today! It'll be great to finally have the sale items unboxed and off the floor. Next step, get TomMage down here with his digital camera to take some pics for the column.
Added Vintage Computer Marketplace to the links page.
Did everyone else notice this auction? 128 games, closing about $15 apiece, though I'm sure the Wing Commander special editions skew the average significantly. Lots of good stuff, though, one of the highest collectible-to-crap ratios I've ever seen in a large lot (most of which close at far below the individual item values). |
| 11/09/2003 | HE DID IT!!! At 9:02 my time tonight, he FINALLY found the news page! I think we're all more than a little proud of our Timmon right about now. (Okay, who helped him? B-) |
| 11/05/2003 | Hi, Timmon!
Yep, someone must have told the little fella about my column update because he paid another visit to the Shoppe at about 10:50 my time last night. It's not on the for-sale page, ya twit!
Heehee, this is fun! Like watching a monkey try to drive a car. |
| 11/01/2003 | A demo of Greystone, the second I-F title from Malinche Entertainment, is now available for download. The full game is due out on November 28th. It's set in a real mental hospital in New Jersey, and the author got an exclusive look inside while doing research for the game. Haven't had a chance to try it yet myself, but from reading the designer's journal on Malinche's site, it sounds awesome.
Speaking of Malinche, I've finally gotten around to posting the concluding chapter to the Timmon counterfeiter column. (Hi, Timmon!) Read some actual e-mail that Pentari: First Light author Howard Sherman got from this loser (yes, apparently he CAN talk)! Speaking of counterfeiters, I assume many of you have already noticed this putz hawking his self-burned Infocom CDs on eBay. A couple of people pointed him out to me, but I see these all the time -- people selling crappy CD-Rs full of out-of-print games for a mint price, and other people actually paying for them. The only difference is in this case they're all Infocom games. Here's the link if we want to mass-report him to eBay. It's tempting, but it doesn't really hurt collectors as there's no threat of anyone mistaking it for a real compilation, so jokers like this guy are just not worth my time to do a full-fledged column. Speaking of columns, I'm holding off on the next one until ShopKo gets the remainder of my sale-item shelves in, so I can include good pictures of the new Shoppe. Depending how long that takes I may finish a different one in between. I've now got the overwhelming bulk of vault games bagged and shelved, and will be working to get my BidVille auctions updated with some reduced bids and a few new listings, over the next couple of days. Expect a batch of new Shoppe items to go up early next week. And oh yeah, a guy from PC Gamer U.K. is doing an article on Infocom collecting and has sent me some questions. Will let you know when the publication date approaches.
Geesh, rains it freakin' pours. Think that's everything. |
| 10/24/2003 | Shoppe is reopened. Had a great visit with fellow collector Pix_Z and game-hunting in Chicago with TomMage. Got some really nice digital pictures of my Infocom posters, expect some new vault pages soon. |
| 10/16/2003 | Got another collector coming to visit for a few days, plus my e-mail client's acting all screwy, so I'm closing the Shoppe until things settle down. |
| 10/13/2003 | Son of a bitch. Son of a goddamn, motherfucking bitch.
I am SO FUCKING PISSED at eBay right now. Their POS server went down last night and my snipe (and probably a few other people's) didn't go through. Of course eBay didn't extend it, those fucking incompetents. This is why I don't sell there anymore.
Sorry for the language, but Jesus Christ. |
| 10/05/2003 | Thanks to the collector who pointed out today's User Friendly webcomic. This is actually pretty close to what it was like when I moved (well, the game boxes part was). They also have an Infocom-related t-shirt (don't worry, it's not a fake job B-). |
| 10/04/2003 | The Drash auction closed at a mind-blowing $865! That's for just a loose cassette, remember! I'll have an article on Drash in the next column. If the winner would like to contact me and share his/her perspective I'd welcome it. (I promise to protect your secret identity if that's what you want.) Meantime, let's be careful out there, people: There are bound to be scammers out to make a quick buck after seeing this. I know people who own originals, who have said they'd be glad to act as appraisers if needed. |
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I've updated the YOIS privacy policy to reflect my stance toward counterfeiters, and to make it available to registered users, since it was previously only visible from the registration page.
I'm back to walking a little again, thanks to a bracing shoe. Plan to get more of the vault games shelved this weekend. Wanna see an X-ray of the broken toe? I looked it up in the radiology database at work. The physician's report calls it a "mildly comminuted transverse fracture of the second distal phalanx." ("Captain, our inverse particle warp field can't hold against the gravimetric fluctuations in the space-time continuum!") I thought about uploading a picture of the actual toe, but it's still pretty bruised and purple, and you're already traumatized from my cat story. | |
| 09/28/2003 | On a more positive note, the Ultima: Escape from Mount Drash auction is back up. I've already started the bidding. |
| UPDATE: Easy come, easy go. I was outbid in the Drash auction. Eh well. | |
| 09/27/2003 | SHIT. I somehow managed to slam a door on my foot last night and am now on crutches with a busted phalanx on one toe. The good news for Shoppers is, I won't be jogging for awhile, so I should have extra time to take care of stuff around here. The bad news is, I won't be lugging any large boxes to the post office anytime soon. If it can't fit in my backpack, it's just going to have to wait, at least until I can get a friend or co-worker to act as pack mule. This is also going to hold up getting the vault shelved (and I was up to "Z" under Infocom). Like I said: SHIT. |
| 09/26/2003 | Wow, what a week for Ultima collectors! First one lucky guy scores a complete Escape from Mount Drash, then this goes up on eBay. Unfortunately it looks like a few too many would-be bidders wised the seller up on the game's rarity, as he first added some information lifted from Underworld Dragon's pages, then ended the listing early when someone made him an offer he couldn't refuse (error in the bid amount, pshyeah RIGHT!) If the buyer reads this, I'd love to hear how much you paid him off. B-)
So, that's a total of four confirmed copies in existence... and I know of one other collector who's been negotiating with a guy claiming to have two! People falsely claiming to own Mt Drash are more common than the game itself, though, so we'll see. UPDATE: Okay, here's the story with the eBay Mt Drash: The guy hasn't sold it yet. He pulled the auction when he realized the ultra-rare status of the game. That happened when he received only one bid, but a TON of e-mails from people asking him to close the auction and sell it privately. (I suspect everyone else was waiting to snipe so as not to draw attention to it.)
He tells me he's going to relist it separately with an "appropriate" starting bid and reserve price. I've already cautioned him about providing any large, detailed scans of the tape, and about watermarking any he does post, as Mt Drash is an obvious counterfeiting target. |
| Speaking of which, remember our friend timmon? Well Pentari author Howard Sherman has successfully gotten eBay to end his latest auction for a bogus copy of that game. Heheheheheheheh. >B-} | |
| 09/25/2003 | Here's a gross but true story that happened a few days ago:
I came downstairs one morning to get another boxload of vault games to bag. One thing I had done due to lack of shelf space was to take some of the box lids off (they're those big rectangular office paper kind) and set some of the games I'd get to later on top of the lids. Because I'm shelving my collection in alphabetical order, see. So anyway, I came downstairs and discovered that my cat had apparently been nosing around the disorganized vault area, and she had hwarfed on one of my Infocom folios! Either she got a sudden upset stomach and had to let it hurk up where she was, or she has something against Stu Galley's The Witness. Fortunately, (1) she just got the corner of it, the rest dribbled onto the storage box, and (2) I had the shrinkwrapped one on top of the opened one, so I was simply able to wipe the gastric ejection off with a damp cloth, and you can't even tell it happened. So everything's fine, and puddy-puke is now banned from the vault area when I'm not around. THAT, fellow collectors, is why you should always leave your games in the shrinkwrap!
That's all. Go eat dinner now. B-) |
| 09/23/2003 | Updated the Cornerstone Database Database, which has actually been on its own page for awhile, though I may not have mentioned it before. I've added details about the elusive slipcover and shipping carton, plus a couple of new items obtained by the winner of that shrinked one on eBay. There is also information about Micro/Answer package, and a correction about one of the flyers, which I found packaged with an issue of The Status Line when I was picking up for the move. (All this reorganizing has turned up a ton of stuff I'd forgotten I even had! Look for a massive new trade pile once I get it all sorted out.) |
| 09/20/2003 | Just got back from a local ham radio and computer swap meet, where I scored a few Shoppe items -- LTOI2, Willy Beamish -- plus my own boxed copy of The Neverhood for $2.50 (!)
Tons of stuff to do with the Shoppe, I hope to finally get to some of it this weekend. For starters, the mailing address on the order form page is finally updated. Speaking of which, my Earthlink account is now defunct. Check the e-mail link at the bottom of the page if you need to update your address book. |
| 09/11/2003 | I'm going to be unavailable for the next several days, so I've marked the Shoppe as closed. |
| 09/10/2003 | Okay, new one for international buyers: Some countries -- so far Finland is the only one I know for sure -- now require a phone number on the customs forms for Parcel Post packages (over 4 pounds). They won't ship without it, I've tried. Eventually I'll be updating the Shoppe registration page to reflect this new requirement, but that's a when-I-have-time, which isn't now. In the meantime please include a phone number when you're placing Parcel Post orders. If you forget, don't worry, I'll remind. |
| Just a reminder, my BidVille auctions are closing this week. Grab some stuff at a lower price (or make me a counter-offer on any of my stuff, you can do that, this isn't greedy-ass eBay). If you miss a close, don't worry, the unsold stuff will automatically be relisted.
I'm about a quarter of the way through unpacking and bagging the Infocom vault stuff. | |
| 09/06/2003 | Been working to unpack and re-bag the vault all week. Right now I'm up to the letter "I", and a rather prominent company there. B-) I believe I've hit on (for now) the safest and most practical solution for keeping dust and wear off my games. The short version: Comic book bags. The long version: Coming in the next column. |
| Oh, and check this out. I've found a kindred spirit. B-) | |
| 09/03/2003 | A few brief items of interest from over the long weekend:
I finally unpacked the vault! Well, some of it anyway. About six boxes. Watch for a column tour of the new Shoppe, once I get everything up. The waiting list has been cleared up; there were 5 users with invalid e-mails. I plan on doing this about once per year to keep the list clean. If you need to update your info, you can do it at your profile page, or, for slower results, send me an e-mail. I've also had a couple of instances where PayPal didn't notify me when a Shoppe payment came through. Of course, they blame everyone but themselves... I notice this trend started right about when the eBay blob absorbed them. But anyway. After you click through their payment pages, you'll be given a choice of two buttons. Clicking the "return" one will take you back to a Shoppe page that will send me another notice, to ensure your payment isn't overlooked.
Oh, and Pentari author Howard Sherman is on the trail of Timmon. (Hi, Timmon!) I'll add an update to the column to let everyone know what happens. Timmon's also been selling Megatraveller cluebooks, but everyone already knows they're his cheapo reprints, right? |
| 08/27/2003 | New column is up, on the latest peddler of fake collectible crap. I know I'm behind on filling Shoppe orders, and promise to get to them in the next couple of days. Thanks for everyone's patience. |
| 08/25/2003 | If you have entries on the YOIS mailing list, you will be receiving a message from the Shoppekeeper this week, just to confirm that your e-mail address is still valid (as it's been over a year since I last checked). There is no need to respond; all I will be doing is making sure your mail doesn't get bounced back undeliverable. E-mails that do get returned after several attempts will be cleared from the waiting list, to keep things tidy. If you need to update your e-mail address, you can do so at your user profile page. |
| 08/24/2003 | Finally, a major update! I'll be adding new Shoppe items throughout the day, starting with the Infocoms. Also got a few new vault pages added, scroll down to see the list. And I've just done a major update to the deadbeat page (apologies to those of you who sent me your lists and had to wait so long to see them go up). The latest column should be ready later today or early next week.
Don't forget to check my BidVille auctions! |
| 08/19/2003 | All right. Finally getting caught up a bit around here. I've just added about 30 more BidVille auctions, and I hope to get the new Shoppe items up this weekend, along with the latest counterfeiting column. (Speaking of which, he hasn't tried to list any more, probably scared since I... well, you'll hear about it in the column. B-) |
| 08/14/2003 | Okay, I'm back. Had some nice finds while on vacation. I'll try to get to the waiting Shoppe transactions this weekend. |
| 08/04/2003 | I'm going to be occupied with other things for the next few days. Have marked the Shoppe closed so any open trades don't expire. I will get to them when time allows. |
| 08/03/2003 | SCAMMER UPDATE!
Well, I never got any replies to my e-mails about the DVD/CD-R games, though the seller did respond to a question about shipping from a different eBay ID, so he has been checking his mail. Which means he's choosing to ignore me. I gave this guy his fair chance to share his side of the story, but he has apparently decided not to, so now I can only share mine. His eBay ID is timmon, and you can get his name, e-mail, and physical address from his web page through some of his completed auctions. "Timmon" uses private feedback to hide any complaints against him, and private auctions to prevent anyone (like me) from contacting and warning his buyers. Hoping some of them will see this, and realize before they pay that they've been ripped off. That is, if in fact they were unaware that they didn't bid on an original package to begin with. (Not sure why anyone who knew they were fakes would bid, as the game code is widely circulated as abandonware.) Compare his Usurper auction with the real thing. I'm interested to know what the mysterious "Orb of Qyntarr" is, guessing a cheap marble he found and stuck in the case, but I don't want to give him $17 to find out.
Turns out printing and selling his own versions of commercial games is only part of this joker's racket. Two of the games he listed, Ghost Train and House of the Midnight Sun are not "classic" 1980s text adventures at all, they are recent Z-code games available as freeware downloads. The author himself has told me that he did not give "timmon" permission to package and distribute them for profit, and in fact had never even heard of the seller. I'm still researching the Traveller RPG supplements on his website, but there's a chance he may not have the rights to print and sell those, either. Plus I'll soon have one of the actual game packages in custody for a full analysis in a future Shoppe column. Check back in a couple of weeks. |
| 07/30/2003 | Heads up, fellow collectors! Looks like we've got another live one... I'm currently watching a guy who's auctioning what look like classic text adventures in DVD cases with a self-printed cover.
Still gathering information, not ready to publicly expose this guy just yet -- I've learned my lesson from the last counterfeiter... the column on whom IS coming someday, I swear! -- but keep your eyes open, and if you see anything that looks fishy LMK and I'll nod or shake my head, as appropriate. (Just remember, a seller who keeps both his feedback AND his bidders' identities private is a seller who's hiding something.)
Watch this space. |
| 07/27/2003 | Just got my DSL connection working (finally!), and it R3WLZ! I'll be dropping the dialup soon, so my Earthlink address will no longer be valid. E-mail my YOIS account (which will not change) if you'd like the new one. |
| 07/21/2003 | Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up, any package mailing from me is probably going to be delayed a few days. Yesterday some crazy lady ran a red and nailed me making a left turn, now I am sans car while it's in the repair shop. (Nobody hurt, and no collectible games damaged. B-) |
| 07/18/2003 | Wow, looking at the news page, it's been awhile since my last post. I've just listed over 100 items, both Shoppe and non-Shoppe, on BidVille. I think this is going to be my new site for auctions, as I've just about had it with eBay and their idiotic fascist rules, and the constant outages, and their cheapskate half-price listing days. What the hell happened to the free ones, is that a bad word now? Anyone else who feels the same way, you're invited to join me, maybe we can start a small vintage software community on BidVille. Seller registration only costs $5.00 for six months, there are NO listing fees and NO final value fees, you get almost twice as long a title for your auction, and you can have auctions up for 30 days with automatic relists. (Oh, you'll still see me bidding on eBay because of the vast selection, but I refuse to pay for their seller "services" anymore until they get their act together.) Working on reshelving and updating the Shoppe items. Expect an updated list the weekend after this one. Major update coming to the deadbeat list, too. New Shoppe column in the works, no ETA yet. ("Research" on the T-shirt one is still ongoing. B-) |
| 06/15/2003 | Just a quick note to all Shoppe visitors with open trades/transactions:
I've finally more or less caught up on the offers, and have refreshed the transactions to today's date so they won't expire. This enables me to finally take the "closed" message down (as I'm sure everyone is sick of looking at it). That also means your trades will expire if you leave them untouched, though. LMK if you get the automatic warning from the Shoppe and I'll refresh them again if desired.
Thanks for everyone's patience with this while I dealt with other things in my life. |
| 06/10/2003 | Hey gang! I have a source for a mask and saucer, if anyone needs either or both. The owner tells me: "The saucer has four small cracks in the edge that don't penetrate beyond the bevel. The mask has no cracks at all. The spot in the saucer where the staple went has some yellowing. Otherwise, both are still white... The pullhole in the cardboard where you open up the saucer [is] creased but not ripped." |
| UPDATE: Heard from one user who keeps getting blocked when trying to send e-mail to this guy. Is anyone else having the same problem? | |
| 06/08/2003 | Today is the first anniversary of the PHP/MySQL Shoppe! I was hoping to do something special to mark the date, but just haven't had time... Maybe next year. |
| 06/03/2003 | Back from a desperately needed break. Things are about caught up. Those of you who haven't heard from me on trade offers, you should soon.
Also a heads-up... When I went into my post office to mail some games today, I was told that the USPS is instituting a new policy where they may ask you to open up packages being sent by Media Mail, to verify that the items inside do indeed qualify as such. Apparently a lot of people have been fibbing about the contents to get the discounted media rate. As I understand it, books, music, movies and software can all be sent media rate. Hardware and magazines cannot. If you regularly ship Media Rate, be prepared for the possibility of having your packages inspected. If you regularly ship non-media items by Media Rate, this may be a good time to break the habit. |
| 05/24/2003 |
Okay. I've already received a number of "why haven't you responded" type messages and just wanted to make sure everyone understands.
If you check the Shoppe pages, you'll see a message that it's currently closed. This is because right now is a seriously overwhelming time for my Real Life Don't worry, I've set it so your transactions will not expire, so you won't lose your items to anyone else. But that means even if you pay me, your items will not be shipped for another week or two (most likely two), until I get back and re-oriented. If this is not acceptable to you, or if you obtain the games you want from other sources, feel free to go ahead and cancel your transactions; I won't be offended. And I hope you will not take offense at not receiving a personal reply. It's not me ignoring you. It's me literally not having any time. Once that changes, you will start seeing responses from your Shoppekeeper again.
Thanks for listening. Your patience and understanding are appreciated. |
| 05/21/2003 | Okay gang, things are REALLY overwhelming right now with work and getting things settled, so I'm closing the Shoppe to prevent anyone's transactions from being expired due to my inability to reply. I will get caught up when time permits, no idea when that might be, probably not for another week or so. Apologies for the inconvenience. (Please don't send why-haven't-you-responded messages, as we all know by now that it never does any good. B-) |
| 05/18/2003 | The move went almost perfectly (my console-gaming desk has one new dent in it), and I'm wired again. Still working on transporting the vault... I made it very clear to the family members who assisted with the furniture that no one handles my collection but me. B-) Will try to catch up on Shoppe business in the next few days. |
| 05/15/2003 | New Shoppe column, featuring PhillyClassic coverage (finally!) and an amusing look at hunting in thrift stores.
Things are going to be pretty disorganized for a couple of weeks, as I'm moving the big furniture this weekend and then have to set up Shoppe again in the new place. Might take me a few days to fill orders or answer questions, but trust me, I'm not ignoring you. |
| 05/04/2003 | I finally had a chance to sort through my old computer magazines today, when I carried them over to the new place, and I took the opportunity to better organize them. It was a blast. However I did find out I'm missing some issues. If anyone has spares I'll trade you games or duplicate mags to get them. Here's what I still need:
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| 04/28/2003 | Closed on the new place today! Now I just have to haul the entire collection over there.
Once I get settled in I'll be looking for a complete, working Apple IIgs system with a color monitor. Preferably something within driving distance so I can pick it up myself.
Oh yeah, I was surprised this PC Myth on eBay didn't go higher. |
| 04/16/2003 | Finally got my personal collection packed up for the move. It fills 33 boxes (12" x 17" x 9"). |
| 04/11/2003 | A landmark event: Today YOIS had its first user booted off the waiting list for repeatedly failing to respond to notifications. (It does happen, people!) |
| Added a new Infocom site to the links page. | |
| 04/08/2003 | I've just been informed by the folks at atariarchives.org that the complete text of the book Creating Adventure Games for Your Computer by Tim Hartnell is now available for online reading. The BASIC programs, compatible with most computers from 1983, are also available for download. |
| 04/01/2003 | PhillyClassic was great! Thanks again to Joe, Paula, and Jeff of The Origin Museum for their hospitality and for making the whole thing happen. And thanks to Dan Chisarick, Stuart Feldhamer, and Howard Sherman for making an appearance. It was great to meet you all. Coverage of the show in a new Shoppe column, hopefully coming soon.
Shoppe responses may be a bit slow over the next few weeks, and scans may have to wait. I'm slowly getting things boxed up for the move (new home, and closer to a new workplace, more on that in a future column as well), and there's a lot of it! |
| 03/28/2003 | The Shoppe is temporarily closed while I'm at PhillyClassic. |
| 03/22/2003 | New Shoppe column! Articles include an interview with Eli Tomlinson, a professional printer's analysis of the Eyal Katz Sierra fakes, and the "Cornerstone Database Database". |
| 03/20/2003 | Got my copy of Pentari the other day, and it's really neat. It's a thin folder with a couple of really nice props: A letter from your character's commanding officer, and a real antique-style metal key. Author Howard Sherman informs me that my CD is the very one pictured on Malinche's website. |
| 03/16/2003 | WOW... All I can say is... WOW. What a day it was:
A few letdowns: I genuinely expected that shrinked Quarterstaff to go higher, and the Suspended too. But my guess is a former Infocom employee slash eBay seller is very happy right about now.
I'm still on a high from the snipe adrenaline. B-) |
| 03/14/2003 | Fixed an issue with the mailing list. If you couldn't sign up before, you should be able to now. |
| 03/13/2003 | Just released: Pentari: First Light, a new commercial text adventure game, the first with actual packaging since 1998's Once and Future. Pentari is available in two versions: A software-only downloadable ZIP, and a folder with a couple of neat props. (Bet you can't guess which one I ordered!)
Read the JustAdventure+ press release for more details. I'll post info on the packaging here, once mine arrives. Could be a good future collectible to hold onto, considering how scarce Once and Future is today. (How many of you are still kicking yourselves for not picking up that one when you had the chance?)
If you're coming to PhillyClassic at the end of the month, the author will be selling them there, so you can pick up your copy in person and save on shipping. |
| 03/11/2003 | Fixed an issue with the detail page for trade/sale items, where it would throw an error if you weren't logged in. Shouldn't see this happening anymore. |
| 03/08/2003 | I've overhauled the search code this week. It now handles searches on multiple words (both "AND" and "OR" type queries), and also matches platform name in the description (useful for finding games with multiple formats in the same package). |
| 02/23/2003 | I just added two boxes full of accumulated trade items. Lots of Sierra Quest games, some AD&D gold/silver boxes, and some early Apple II titles. |
| 02/18/2003 | Finally getting things caught up around here. If I haven't closed your trade yet, I will get to it this week. Two whole boxes of new trade items to put up, hopefully in the next couple of days. It's good to be back working on the Shoppe again.
I've also had an opportunity to examine a couple of the Eyal Katz Sierra fakes in person, thanks to Vintage Sierra. My observations, and those of a professional graphic designer, coming in a future column. (And I'll get the other column posted, with a full explanation for the tardiness, as soon as I can... though it'll be awhile.) |
| 02/09/2003 | Well, for the moment the planned Shoppe column is going to be put on hold, as I need to wait for some... stuff. (Asking my readers to trust me on this one.) In the meantime, if you have any questions about 80s game T-shirts, please don't hesitate to ask. |
| 02/02/2003 | It looks like I'm definitely going to make Philly Classic. A number of software collectors are planning a gathering at this year's show, including the founders of the Origin Museum. It's the last weekend in March. Hope to see some of you there! |
| 01/18/2003 | Just heard about TradeGamesNow from another collector. This is a fairly new site that allows people to swap their used games, a possible alternative now that GameTZ is going paysite. |
| 01/11/2003 | I finally made it. As of today, I'm in the Thousand Club on eBay. I wonder if they still give out pins for that. If I get one, I'll definitely auction it. B-) |
| 01/10/2003 | Had an amazing phone chat with Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum last night. Among the many topics was the possibility of getting a group of software collectors together at this year's Philly Classic weekend. I figured we'd hang out, swap collector stories, bring some of our rare items to pass around, etc. Please e-mail us if you'd be interested in something like this. |
| 01/03/2003 | eBay has been experiencing intermittent outages (lasting about an hour or so, but not long enough to extend impacted auctions) for the last couple of days. If you are planning to snipe, you may want to reconsider placing a maximum proxy bid an hour or so in advance.
eBay's continued dedication to incompetence is inspiring. Hopefully this is the year the entire site will crash and burn. |
| 01/01/2003 | Happy New Year, everyone.
My resolutions for 2003:
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. I've just moved and am still settling in, the Shoppe is in total disarray making it difficult to find anything, work is extremely busy and stressful, and I need to go away for a few days next week. In short, right now I simply don't have the time to put together packages or even answer e-mails personally, so I've stopped all Shoppe business until I do.
