This is the traditional weekly thrift and bargain finds list.
These lists may start empty but as always: add your items.
Put in what you consider a bargain, tell us how much you paid and the place you got it from. Bargains can be thrift store finds or any second-hand purchases or discounted games bought new. Don't forget to add your encounters with the Thrift Store Irritant Squad™ and any other embellishments in order to make it even more interesting.
Our GeekGuild: The Ancient and Loyal Order of Thrifters. Enter the halls of thriftdom at your own risk. Do mind the stacks of prized games. Don't mention the musty smell and try not to sneeze. Be sure to bow before our King, EvilTimmy I, and pay your due respects to last year's King, Blackwind I. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/guild/193
Found a very nice Go board, measures 48x48 cm. No stones included, the rules however are still there, and it's all in the original box. Paid 3 euro's for it.
Another find, only 50 cents at another thriftstore. Content of the box: new and complete. Box itself has shelfwear, but not much. One of the games I was hoping to find.
Found an old original dutch scrabble box (red) for 1 euro. My mom used to have this version, but it was mauled and consequently thrown away a few years ago. I gave this to her to replace her old one, and she was quite happy with it. I'm pretty sure she'll be playing this soon.
Game itself all complete and in very good condition.
And the last one, a version of the new Mousetrap in Dutch "Muizenval". Cost 2,50 euro. Only the 2 balls were missing, otherwise it's complete and in almost unplayed condition. I picked it up since I used to love the commercials for this on TV when I was a kid, but decided afterwards that it's better to donate this to the kindergarden my mom works. Hopefully, some kids in school will be as thrilled with this as I was with The Amazing Labyrinth, and will want to play boardgames when they get older because of it.
My mom already knew things to replace the 2 balls with, so it will be playable again.
Continuing my trend of finding LOTR a mate of mine picked this up for £1.25 in a thrift store in Wrexham. I persuaded him to give it to me It's complete including the stickers and in excellent condition
Found in the GoodWill store for $2. An unpunched, unplayed, complete copy of aMAZEing Labyrinth. We have been enjoying it with our grandson each of his visits.
Thrifting yesterday, the little girl (3 years old) and I spotted a couple of tiny little bicycles. She tried to hop onto one, but it was a tad too big for her. It also lacked training wheels. I hemmed and hawed about it before finally leaving it behind.
So today, what do I see? A tiny (maybe a bit smaller) little bike with training wheels. It's definitely in a girls style, with the tassels on the handle bars and everything. And it's in purple, the indisputable, no questions asked, favourite colour of all little girls living in my house. And at the price of $8, could I refuse a bike that was verily placed here for me to find specifically for my daughter? Of course not. Incredible find, if I do say so myself.
Oh, and I picked up Lord of the Rings - The Search in shrink for $1. All at the Salvation Army Thrift Store.
My wife--while on a short road trip with her mother and her daughter over the weekend--found this (looks like the edition shown) in an obscure thrift shop in Kennewick, Washington. They were actually shopping for clothes when she came across a toy section.
Obviously knowing how much time I spend in the local thrift stores, she eyeballed the games and called me. "Do you want Break the Safe?" she asked. "No thanks. Can't get rid of the one I have."
"You want any trivia games? There's a load of trivia games."
"No trivia games, thanks." I said with much patience while awaiting the inevitable questions about Operation, Sorry or a Jig-saw Puzzle Mystery. But That didn't happen. Instead, I heard, "How about one called Senet?"
"Huh...what?" I asked. "Say that again..."
"Senet, s...e...n...e...t. Am I saying it right? Hey, there's a really neat drawer in this board!"
I smiled. "Yes, my sweet. You're saying it perfectly."
Senet. $3.00. Great find for us. Some light wear on the box, but the game is in perfect condition. A keeper.
You can always find cheap versions of this game along with chess and checkers. The thing that caught my eye this time was it was still in a box. I pulled it out and its a vinyl carry case version. Open that up and find that the magnetic chips are still sealed in the plastic manufacturer's bag. Dice are still in a tiny zip-lock. I've been meaning to pick up a copy of Backgammon and a brand new travel edition for $2 from Deseret Industries was just too hard to let pass by!
Yeah, those games were really a travesty. I think a lot of us have been suckered into picking up those games - and they are usually in almost-new condition go figure.
I actually dismantled the one I picked up (The Two Towers) and put all the cardboard and appropriate plastic into a recycling bin.
Went to my old high school's annual Spring Fair this past weekend. In previous years, the fair's been a rich vein to mine - lots of quality donations, some of which were decidedly high-end (this is where I snagged my copies of the much-loved Elf and Barbarian Quest packs for HeroQuest).
This year, as with last year, things seemed a little less superfantastico - my sneaking suspicion is that the school has someone with a little knowledge run through the games and stuff first and anything truly valuable gets pulled aside and resold. But it's still for a great cause, and I'll keep going back (if for no other reason than the "all the books you can stuff in a plastic bag for $3.00" sale towards the end of the fair.
Anyways, on to my loot. First up, Set. Or rather, two copies of Set.
First copy: Mint and cards in shrink. Second copy: Nearly mint but missing the cardboard box.
Before you all berate me for buying incomplete games: You're not allowed to open the games to check. And because the first 15 minutes of the fair (which is when I'm there, racing through the aisles) is such a madhouse, you just grab and buy, no time to stop and check. I thought I actually did pretty good for completeness this year.
Missing two potion tokens and a tile. I think I have another parts copy lying around, so hopefully I can make something complete out of it.
Horribly beat-up box but it looks pretty close to complete. The players are from the 1984 season, which means the Oilers in their heyday along with the rest of the freewheeling 1980's. So I have some hope that while the box might be trash, there might be a market for the card set.
Not entirely uncommon with games like this. I hope whomever found my old stratomatic baseball set at a goodwill in Milwaukee in 1994 [my closet-dump before moving to DC] knew how to play the game already since they would have found the 1986-1989 seasons in the box but no other means for playing the game...
As with Strat-o-Matic, the Statis Pro cards can sell just fine on their own. The board is nothing [just a football field] but I think you need the Fast Action Cards to play, which means you're probably screwed on that front.
No, the fast action cards were included in the box. Along with a bunch of blank sheets and a little plastic football thingy. So maybe there's some resale value here yet.
No, the fast action cards were included in the box. Along with a bunch of blank sheets and a little plastic football thingy. So maybe there's some resale value here yet.
And finally, my THIRD Chinese edition of Hotels. Why so many Chinese copies? No idea. But this one actually had the money, which means I will now have at least one complete copy of this to resell. Hooray!
3.99 at VV.
pk -Who's sure he missed a game or two on the list so look for those to crop up later.
The numbers 80, 175 and 229 are the winning tickets in last week's Thrifty Lottery. Congratulations to mistermarino, eightbit and SurfinDecoy who are the winners of one shiny coin each. The winnings have been added as tips to the corresponding listed items on last week's list.
This week there's another Thrifty Lottery with three coins up for grabs. You'll find the details and previous results here: www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/299468
I also got 3 hardbound edition 'books' of the following: Michael Crichton- "Timeline"; Elmore Leonard- "Get Shorty"; and Douglas Adams- "Mostly Harmless". Those were in the "Dime Novels" section.
I also got the IMAGE Entertainment DVDs "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (with the Flying Saucers Over Hollywood doc and "The Haunted World of Ed Wood Jr." They had some others, but the only one I'd really get (not that I actually want it) is Glen Or Glenda.
Posted Mon May 5, 2008 11:29 am
's-Hertogenbosch
Noord-Brabant
The numbers 80, 175 and 229 are the winning tickets in last week's Thrifty Lottery.
Congratulations to mistermarino, eightbit and SurfinDecoy who are the winners of one shiny
This week there's another Thrifty Lottery with three coins up for grabs. You'll find the details and previous results here: www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/299468
To all of you again...
Good hunting. Good luck!
Kingman
Kansas
Maple Valley
Washington
I love my new game even more now.
Thanks.
Aberdeen
Washington
Chula Vista
California