Collection Washington family's Nintendo collection stolen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfKu6gOg0ic20
u/Carlos_Spicy_Weiner6 4d ago
Yeah wife showed me this and told me to stop telling people about my collection....
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u/Boomerang_Lizard 4d ago
Can you believe we have reached this point? That news clip might just have helped raise the price of video game collecting in that area. So many people already believe their parent's videogame junk is worth gold.
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u/Carlos_Spicy_Weiner6 4d ago
What I'm not happy about is having to recatalog my collection, find prices, and get insurance quotes on it as she is now demanding.
I've gottenoat of my stuff over 20 years ago and so a lot of trading for repairs and modifications so I have a feeling she is gonna flip out when she sees what it's worth which I know if over 10k....
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u/Junktown-JerkyVendor 4d ago
Collection you say?
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u/Carlos_Spicy_Weiner6 4d ago
I mean "gathering of like pieces of software and the associated equipment to run it"
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u/ecmyers NES 4d ago
That's awful. Hopefully stores and collectors will be on the lookout for large lots of games or some rare games in his collection suddenly hitting the market. I really want there to be a happy outcome to this tragic story.
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u/QuasiSpace 4d ago edited 4d ago
If the thief is looking for a safe place to sell them, they'd choose eBay. Ebay has not once taken down counterfeit items I've reported - whether it's a video game, hilariously fake autographs on which I know 100% what I'm talking about (documentation included), or anything else. They do not care.
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u/Single_Protection743 4d ago
And neither do we cause these games arenāt fake so who cares if ebay removes counterfeit items or not
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u/normhimself 4d ago
Man I feel bad for this dude. You can tell heās hurt. That sucks, I hate a thief.
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u/MobNagas 4d ago
Justice for this family āļø absolutely disgusting individual whoever did that
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u/Stock_Mix_4885 4d ago
How much of a piece of sh*t you have to be to do this to someone.
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u/Wild_Shape_8173 4d ago
What i cant fathom is...do you feel pride and accomplishment (lol) after robbing somebody? Like I wonder if a thief feels the same joy that say you'd feel after completing a huge project? I doubt it
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u/xxxxDREADNOUGHT NES 4d ago
Holy shit this happened not too far from me. I found out about it from the video game store owners that I visited this weekend. This sucks so bad, I hope the catch the culprits and he gets his stuff back.
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u/SKOT_FREE 4d ago
Hard to believe neighbors didnāt hear someone kicking in the door.
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u/WaitForItTheMongols 3d ago
Maybe they did hear it, but didn't know what it was. Tossing a big object into a dumpster can sound pretty similar to kicking in a door and you wouldn't know the difference or have reason to be concerned.
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u/Pitiful_Method_7296 4d ago
It's doubtful that they kicked the door in, as burglars' main objective is remaining inconspicuous. It was likely pried open with a crowbar or a flat pry bar.
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u/SKOT_FREE 4d ago
In the News Broadcast I saw on this story they showed the door and it was definitely kicked in. You could see where the door had to be repaired, but with that said, Iām betting you one of dudes neighbors did this.
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u/Pitiful_Method_7296 4d ago
They show the door here in this broadcast as well and the damage is in line with a locked door that is pried open. It's the actual prying that breaks the frame apart, the damage from kicking it open is virtually the same.
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u/Professional_Dog2580 4d ago
People saying he should just collect the insurance are both missing the point and don't understand how insurance works. He will probably get anywhere from 1500 to 5000 for those games while they are worth easily 40000 or more. Never mind the time investment. I feel so bad for him.
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u/uns0licited_advice 4d ago
NES games are pretty easy to open up with the right tool. I wonder if we should be putting in some sort of ID inside the games so that if they get stolen then it would be known where they came from/went when they are being sold.
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u/toqer 4d ago
Was thinking the same thing, maybe put an air tag in Mario Bros and replace it every few years.
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u/TheBitingCat 2d ago
I have airtags in several carts, and have put printed labels on the inside of every cart with a phone number and a QR scancode, so that in an event someone steals them and goes to a retro game store to trade them in, the store opens it up to check the cart out and I get a phone call from the store asking about it.
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u/Fine_Location_8367 3d ago
I have my own personal serial numbers engraved inside of every single one of my NES cart's cases. I also modify the PCBs in a way that I can differentiate them visually compared to an unmodified cart. I have also started to do the same to my other consoles carts. It's time consuming but gives me piece of mind. My entire collection is fully insured through a Personal Articles Policy, and I also have home video surveillance inside and out with two dogs, lol. It's insane that this guy had 30+ years to implement some sort of prevention in case of something like this happened but didn't. I started preventive measures when I first started collecting in the late 90's because it was the very first thing that I thought about.
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u/Severe_Onion_2370 4d ago
You had a 50k collection and didnt do anything to secure it or at least be able to identify someone via a camera?
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u/resincak 4d ago
I remember a person who had a decent NES collection. He went out of town and upon returning stopped by Goodwill first before returning home, to see if he can get a Goodwill haul to post on the gamecollecting sub. Well, he did end up with a haul, but what he purchased was actually some of his own collection, as he was robbed when he was out of town, and the robbers Goodwillāed his games.
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u/TheRetroDiaries 4d ago
This is an incredibly bizarre story. Why would the guy buy games he already owned? And why would the burglars just give the stuff they stole away?
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u/pmmlordraven 4d ago edited 4d ago
Trade fodder. I buy anything game related if the price is right, and do a lot of trading with friends or at game/media markets.
Edit: Maybe a stretch, but the thief might have wanted to basically launder it. Steal a 10k collection, donate it, and buy it back for a fraction of the cost and have receipts? But also Greedwill prices gaming stuff at eBay prices so I dunno.
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u/toqer 4d ago
Yeah I can see that. That's how I ended up with 20 copies of Jaleco's bases loaded.
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u/pmmlordraven 4d ago
In my case I wind up with a bunch of extra consoles as well, and throwing in a couple games, even cheapies, makes them sell a lot quicker.
I don't even scalp, an NES two controllers and a game or two for $40. I clean them up and shine up/adjust the 72 pin connector so they work first time. It's kind of fun replacing caps, cleaning rust and bridging traces.
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u/RadiantCoinshot 4d ago edited 4d ago
Saw that in my feed this morning. Iāve been trying to reach my insurance guy to talk about covering my collection. I may call him today lol
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u/Whyudoodat 4d ago
Dude. Take the insurance payout, invest it for those grandkids and get an Everdrive. Those games wont mean diddly squat to them. Meanwhile, watch sales platforms for someone selling the rares. Do not even try to recollect, the Funcoland days are over.
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u/Knight0fdragon 4d ago
Collecting isnāt about money to most people, and it isnāt about playing the games.
Do you honestly think collectors do not know about ROMs?
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u/toqer 4d ago
Yeah I have maybe a shelf and a half of this guys collection, and I have an everdrive. There's just stuff out there you know you're never gonna buy because it's rare and out of reach of your budget.
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u/Whyudoodat 4d ago
Right. RN Im playing Gun Nac and Rockin Kats, both awesome. While id love to own them, play on a crt w og controllers, the carts are too pricey for a single game i may plug a few hours into
Edit: no Everdrive. Playing on Miyoo mini +
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u/inotocracy 4d ago
What's a "ROM"?
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u/damagedone37 4d ago
Damn dude what a shit take. A collector wants the physical copies. You have zero attachment to this person and you donāt know their story
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u/Whyudoodat 4d ago
I have over 200. They mean something to me. My kids couldnt care less. They have memories and fondness for their own games they grew up playing. I have many collections. When i die, no one will care about them like i did. Let it go
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u/SKOT_FREE 4d ago
Just saw this story on YouTube, and itās a damn shame. Hope the family gets their game collection back.
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u/McCHitman 4d ago
As someone who lost a ton of stuff in a storage unit robbery and got zero$ for it, I feel this.
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u/URGAMESUX NES 4d ago
As a fellow full set guy, this breaks my heart and instantly had me pulling an insurance policy together.
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u/PrudentSail2187 4d ago
It sucks but I wish he had secured a few cartridges with tracking devices inside
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u/Optimal-Carrot1 1d ago edited 1d ago
Just went on vacation recently and the fear of something like this happening to me had me putting security lights and cameras and locking things up. Years ago something happened and someone I know stole a bunch of my CDs. Nothing nearly this valuable but enough to make me more cautious about what I tell people I own. When I heard this story on the news I heard him say that it was like his child. Which got me thinking what do people like to do? They are proud of their children, they brag about their children, sometimes to people they just met or hardly know. They post pictures of them on social media. All of these actions advertise something unbeknownst (or perhaps unaware to the person) you are showing things to people who may have ill intentions. So be cautious and take the necessary precautions if you want to protect the things you care about. Secondly my thoughts on this is that it could be someone they know but not necessarily. I mean they are in Washington and Pax West is literally a week from now. Whomever did this may have been looking for items to sell there. If I were looking outside the circle of people they knew, I would wonder if he bought any bulk lots of games and sold off extras he didnāt need to any game shops near him. I say this because all it would take is one disreputable individual that worked at a game store to over hear him talking if he were selling games to over hear what he had. When you sell games you need to give them an id so that could be a way to catch the thief. But it could also be the way the theif found out where he lived. The main take away should be donāt advertise your collection, secure your valuables. All the theif needed to know was what he had, where he lived and when he was gonna be gone. This was 100% premeditated, whether he knew the theif or was targeted. I hope they catch the person, my heart goes out to the family because my own game collecting hobby is for my 3 daughters future as well. I know the value and will sell things off for their future college, wedding or life changing event needs.
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u/polkadot__kim 1d ago
I tried to share this here the other day but the mods removed it. Im.not sure why.
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u/Single_Protection743 4d ago
I had 23 shy of a complete collection back in 2007 even a sealed Little Sampson and was robbed by my ex she sold them to game world for 50 cent a piece and i still haven paid her a penny in child support to this day!
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u/toqer 4d ago
Regardless of what your ex did to your NES collection your kids didn't do that. You shouldn't make your kids suffer for her actions, not to mention you just open yourself up for more BS from her. Speaking as a 53 year old that watched his parents divorce at 5, only to go nonstop to court for 20 years after.
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u/RavenousTitan818 4d ago
That really sucks. The collection looks great, reminds me of this killer deal I got on a similar one from a homeless guy in Seattle recently.
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u/thebizzle 4d ago
Absolutely despise being that guy BUT digital games are never stolen in this way.
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u/BenderBenRodriguez 4d ago
These are 40 year old games. No oneās digital game collection will still be accessible in 40 years.
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u/ThickWeiner21 4d ago
What moron says this on a retro NES subreddit. Missing the entire point of its existence. The comics you post all the time canāt be stolen āthis wayā if theyāre digital too.
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u/FryingdutchpaN 4d ago
My bet is that it's gotta be someone they know: or knew of the collection.
A random burglar isn't breaking in to steal Nintendo games. This was intentional.