26 replies to this topic

[lance_miller]

a guy i know who is into the transformers/star wars toys scene has fun messing with the heads of his fellow collectors - mostly only the obsessive ones. he's caused all sorts of hoaxes surrounding products that were never released even posted tons of fake on-line craigslist ads that went unanswered and later claimed that he was buyer to his obsessive collector fans. wow he must of wasted alot of peoples time in his entertainment.

im wondering if this sort of thing goes on in video game collecting? Have you ever purposely put out bogus info to confuse or torrment other collectors or competitors?

[FujiSkunk]

You mean you've never heard of 2600 Doom, or the annual AtariAge April Fools jokes?

The scary thing is that a lot of those April Fools gags have turned into real games! That's Atari dedication for you.

Edited by skunkworx, Thu Jun 5, 2008 5:30 PM.

[Vic George 2K3]

I have little interest in tormenting collectors with anything, even hoaxes.

[christianscott27]

There was a famous hoax back in newsgroup days where one guy made a fake Pitfall III Harriet's Quest proto cart and planted in a thrift frequented by his collecting buddy. IIRC the guy found it posted about it and then opened it up to find a current year penny.

[wccw mark]

christianscott27, on Fri Jun 6, 2008 12:10 AM, said:

There was a famous hoax back in newsgroup days where one guy made a fake Pitfall III Harriet's Quest proto cart and planted in a thrift frequented by his collecting buddy. IIRC the guy found it posted about it and then opened it up to find a current year penny.

lol!!thats awesome.

[Random Terrain]

I still don't understand why hoaxes are supposed to be funny. That's a lot of effort for a 2 second giggle.

[phaxda]

Wow. I totally remember that! I thought it was a good one and when the recent Cabbage Patch Kids find happened I thought of that little hoax because the protos were found somewhere that I know a lot of collectors frequent. I was happy to find that one was for real, but it totally reminded me of the Pitfall III deal...

christianscott27, on Thu Jun 5, 2008 9:10 PM, said:

There was a famous hoax back in newsgroup days where one guy made a fake Pitfall III Harriet's Quest proto cart and planted in a thrift frequented by his collecting buddy. IIRC the guy found it posted about it and then opened it up to find a current year penny.

Edited by phaxda, Fri Jun 6, 2008 12:36 AM.

[godslabrat]

There's a craigslist scam that pops up on here every now and then. Some guy posts some really, really great finds for sale at about $200-- well below the market value. When you call him up, he says he "just sold it" or something.

[Mike 01Hawk]

Check out the immaturity of some of the brats in this thread over @ CaG:

http://www.cheapassg...ad.php?t=133829

The love to post amazing fake craig's list auctions, like $800 worth of sealed SNES/NES games for $50. Then laugh at all the people that email them.

Edited by Mike 01Hawk, Fri Jun 6, 2008 10:29 AM.

[Bruce Tomlin]

I've considered the idea of coding a fake proto of an undiscovered game, then making a cart of it and dropping it off in a thrift store (with appropriate price tags, etc.) Then when some guy starts to brag about the find, you can tell him to try such and such with the controller, which brings up the PRANKED or equivalent message.

Of course coding a fake proto of an undiscovered game isn't exactly easy. That was kind of the underpants gnomes' "Step 2: ???" in the whole plan.

[lance_miller]

i knew one collector bragging how he was having his competition pulling there hair out at his "false" finds. there was a group of die-hards who would hit the same garage sales, so he'd be sure to throw some big boxes of games, mostly empty but rigged to appear full, along with some empty console boxes in his car (arranged to be clearly viewable) before going out for the sales. They eventually got so discouraged by his seemingly good luck, and getting repeatedly "owned" that they gave up and switched to searching the next city over. Thus giving this guy free reign over the real finds. kinda clever really

[madhatter667]

I would consider a fake craigslist ad a waste of MY time... "LOLZ these people keep emailing me about the games I posted" Yeah, you know what... that would mean that I am spending TIME reading responses that mean SQUAT. There are other things for me to spend my time with.

Though I do think the phoney cart was a rather well crafted practical joke. The circumstances seemed right for it.

[shadow460]

If you want free run of your city, you have to get out there and take it. You gotta be all over Craigslist, know where the classic game stores are, hit tons of garage sales, hit the flea markets regularly, and frequent thrift and pawn shops. I know of at least a dozen places in my area that have classic games on a regular basis, and that's not counting thrift or pawn shops.
You've also got to be able to flip unwanted items, too, since selling off what' not wanted in a large lot will sometimes pay you back more than what you spent on it. You buy 150 games in a box for $60, pick out 20 rares that you already have, 10 more rare you don't have yet, trade in the remaining 120 carts for pennies each wherever you can get them in at. The first trade nets you $30 back, so now you're only out $30. The 20 rares you kept to resell can either get your more rares you don't have, or can earn you the other $30 back when sold online. You're out a little gas money, but assume you take home a 2600 Star Strike, Intelligent Qube for the PS1, and Shining the Holy Ark for your collection. Any of those three games alone is worth what you spent on gas.

[opeygon]

just being a collector is torment enough

[lance_miller]

shadow460, on Fri Jun 6, 2008 11:01 PM, said:

If you want free run of your city, you have to get out there and take it. You gotta be all over Craigslist, know where the classic game stores are, hit tons of garage sales, hit the flea markets regularly, and frequent thrift and pawn shops. I know of at least a dozen places in my area that have classic games on a regular basis, and that's not counting thrift or pawn shops.

You also need your "minions", or people that get stuff for you and that you network with. Let's face it, all the stuff that you mention above makes it almost a full time job, and if that's the case you might as well run a gaming store / online biz or pawn shop (and just watch the stuff pour in.........)

It's really about having your fingers in as many pots as possible, but some clever tricks and a little bit of tomfoolery will confuse the majority of your competitors.

and some of these tricks are as funny as they are useful

[shadow460]

I suppose now is a good time to dig up that fake Dreamcast game art my ex wife and I made up several years ago.

"Yeah, I got this 3D slot racing game, but the disc got broke a long time ago. It's really fun to play, too, and it's got camera angles that catch the cars no matter what part of the track they are on..."

[EricDeLee]

wccw mark, on Fri Jun 6, 2008 1:28 AM, said:

christianscott27, on Fri Jun 6, 2008 12:10 AM, said:

There was a famous hoax back in newsgroup days where one guy made a fake Pitfall III Harriet's Quest proto cart and planted in a thrift frequented by his collecting buddy. IIRC the guy found it posted about it and then opened it up to find a current year penny.

lol!!thats awesome.

You sure have a looooooong signature .....

[HammR25]

Where is the one on here where the guy claims to have a proto atari computer? That was pretty cool.

[Red_Queen]

You have to remember you can't have everything you see. Your not God

Pesonally everybody brags all the time, and I have seen lots and lots of things out there myself as with anybody else that would make your jaw drop to the ground.

Was going to go into a big monolouge but decided to leave this instead

Edited by Red_Queen, Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:04 PM.

[Random Terrain]

Red_Queen, on Thu Jun 12, 2008 2:02 PM, said:

You have to remember you can't have everything you see. You're not God

Personally everybody brags all the time, and I have seen lots and lots of things out there myself as with anybody else that would make your jaw drop to the ground.

Was going to go into a big monologue but decided to leave this instead.

Are you just talking about collectors when you say everybody? And I am God. I just gave you butt cancer. I'll heal you, but only if you post your monologue.

[FujiSkunk]

Random Terrain, on Thu Jun 12, 2008 2:19 PM, said:

And I am God. I just gave you butt cancer. I'll heal you, but only if you post your monologue.

...and take a Vitamin B supplement.

Edited by skunkworx, Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:03 PM.

[wccw mark]

EricDeLee, on Sat Jun 7, 2008 3:02 PM, said:

wccw mark, on Fri Jun 6, 2008 1:28 AM, said:

christianscott27, on Fri Jun 6, 2008 12:10 AM, said:

There was a famous hoax back in newsgroup days where one guy made a fake Pitfall III Harriet's Quest proto cart and planted in a thrift frequented by his collecting buddy. IIRC the guy found it posted about it and then opened it up to find a current year penny.

lol!!thats awesome.

You sure have a looooooong signature .....

and???

[Random Terrain]

wccw mark, on Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:39 PM, said:

and???

And . . . you better shorten it or Albert will punch you in the nuts:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...st&p=886322

Albert, on Tue Jul 5, 2005 1:12 PM, said:

We've never set a hard and fast rule as far as the length of a signature, but in my opinion if it's over a few lines, it's too long.

[wccw mark]

Random Terrain, on Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:40 PM, said:

wccw mark, on Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:39 PM, said:

and???

And . . . you better shorten it or Albert will punch you in the nuts:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...st&p=886322

Albert, on Tue Jul 5, 2005 1:12 PM, said:

We've never set a hard and fast rule as far as the length of a signature, but in my opinion if it's over a few lines, it's too long.

runs to get armored cod piece...

[shadow460]

wccw mark, on Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:00 PM, said:

Random Terrain, on Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:40 PM, said:

wccw mark, on Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:39 PM, said:

and???

And . . . you better shorten it or Albert will punch you in the nuts:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...st&p=886322

Albert, on Tue Jul 5, 2005 1:12 PM, said:

We've never set a hard and fast rule as far as the length of a signature, but in my opinion if it's over a few lines, it's too long.

runs to get armored cod piece...

For an example of a short signature, look below!