Cleaning and testing your Games/Collection. When, and how?

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

Poll attached. 
 

From years 2000-2016, all the games I purchased online or found in the wild were generally thrown into storage without cleaning or testing. The storage at first was a closet, then it morphed into a 10x10 storage unit with way too many games. They were loosely tracked in a spreadsheet when purchased. 

For the past few years I have been aggressively trimming down and focusing it, but it still hovers a little over 2000 games. 
 

What has brought a significant amount of OCD joy to me for the last few years has been cleaning and testing them. Some carts are super nasty, years of sitting with pepsi soaked kid spit on the boards. None of my pristine modded consoles or high end analogue stuff shall see be penetrated by a filthy street cart. 
 

Cleaning:
-Hitting each cart with alcohol and qtip on the board

-wiping cart and label with damp cloth

-wipe down plastic clamshells with damp cloth (genesis)

-set aside carts that need deeper cleaning (stickers, residue etc.)

This allows me to also do cosmetic condition upgrades as my standards have increased significantly.

Once carts are clean, They go into my game room ready for testing. 

Testing is a blast, but I am shocked over how many “cleaned and tested” games still don’t work. When the cleaned games don’t play, they go into a rehab pile on my work bench. 
 

Once The rehab pile gets enough games, I start tearing them down for a pin polish with Brasso (non working games) or for whatever cleaning/repair they need.  Brasso gets all the nasty crap off, even “clean” PCBs still turn a qtip black with brasso. This makes the cart work 99.9% of the time, which is super satisfying. 
 

Anyways, the point of this thread is because I am curious about others game cleaning and testing habits. 
 

Do you clean as soon as you buy?

Do you not ever clean?

Clean only before play?

Anything I missed?

 

Feel free to discuss anything game cleaning related, or post pics of success stories about filthy games that get rehabbed.

 

Edited December 4, 2022 by MrWunderful

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

On more expensive games I get usually I try to alcohol qtip the board while I have it out and verify it’s real. I used to mothers my NES games but I stopped doing that because it’s really abrasive. I moved that to like my resort on cleaning contacts. Most games though I usually just clean them as needed if I’m playing them. No real system in place. I did make sure that I did change out all the batteries on NES games but I got lazy about it on SNES. I’ll have to get back on that 

[T-Pac | 7,560]

I'm not very condition-sensitive, but I like my games to be in good working-order.

When I first started collecting, I would just leave all my games as-is, only cleaning the contacts if they wouldn't boot.

Now, I dump the ROM of basically every new game I get, so cleaning the contacts with isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip is a must. 

I've also gotten into the habit of wiping-down grimy cartridges ever since I started getting into the Atari 2600 (since those game-shells can be on a whole other level of nasty haha).

-CasualCart

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

I clean the games that need it as soon as I can but that usually means I'm cleaning more than one game just bc by the time I get around to cleaning games, there's several that actually need to be cleaned. I'll test a game before cleaning though especially if it's a disc. So I guess I mostly clean in batches and test sporadically.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

Clean every game I get as I get it and test it immediately after. Don’t understand waiting. What happens if you wait to only find out you have a fake game or it doesn’t work? You may screw yourselves out of a return window doing that.

[Sumez | 2,966]

Where's the "I clean when I need to play them" option? That fits for me, and seems to me like it should be the most logical approach for most people

[DefaultGen | 5,412]

40 minutes ago, Sumez said:

Where's the "I clean when I need to play them" option? That fits for me, and seems to me like it should be the most logical approach for most people

I dunno if we’re removing Gamestop stickers or cleaning pins. I remove stickers and crap right away so they’re not stinking up my shelf. I clean pins and such right before I play. 

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

5 hours ago, a3quit4s said:

On more expensive games I get usually I try to alcohol qtip the board while I have it out and verify it’s real. I used to mothers my NES games but I stopped doing that because it’s really abrasive. I moved that to like my resort on cleaning contacts. Most games though I usually just clean them as needed if I’m playing them. No real system in place. I did make sure that I did change out all the batteries on NES games but I got lazy about it on SNES. I’ll have to get back on that 

What mothers product?

 

2 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

I clean the games that need it as soon as I can but that usually means I'm cleaning more than one game just bc by the time I get around to cleaning games, there's several that actually need to be cleaned. I'll test a game before cleaning though especially if it's a disc. So I guess I mostly clean in batches and test sporadically.

Do discs even need to be cleaned? I guess the oils from fingers could mess up the laser, always figured a quick shirt wipe would be ok lol. I clean in batches too. 

 

2 hours ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

Clean every game I get as I get it and test it immediately after. Don’t understand waiting. What happens if you wait to only find out you have a fake game or it doesn’t work? You may screw yourselves out of a return window doing that.

Great point. Thought about it before too. But out of the thousands of games ive bought, only (2) ive found that dont work after I polish the pins with brasso (or replace battery). 
 

1 hour ago, Sumez said:

Where's the "I clean when I need to play them" option? That fits for me, and seems to me like it should be the most logical approach for most people

Added

 

48 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

I dunno if we’re removing Gamestop stickers or cleaning pins. I remove stickers and crap right away so they’re not stinking up my shelf. I clean pins and such right before I play. 

Ive often wondered if the combo of :

-smokers residue

-stickers

-dust

-dirty pins from sugary cola spit

-misc. detritus

Contributes to a certain musty “smell” that game collections give off.  A weird potpourri of a bunch of different peoples house odor.  
 

Crazy how far a wipe down with water and a damp cloth will go and how nasty the cloth gets after a few games. 

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

For everyone saying they use brasso or other abrasive polishes on their games, don’t do that. It’s not necessary and not good for the contacts. They make contact cleaner specifically for this kind of thing

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

21 minutes ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

For everyone saying they use brasso or other abrasive polishes on their games, don’t do that. It’s not necessary and not good for the contacts. They make contact cleaner specifically for this kind of thing

Using brasso once in the life of the game is 100% fine. It also gets the pin surface as close as possible to brand new. 

[ScaryD | 237]

23 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

Using brasso once in the life of the game is 100% fine. It also gets the pin surface as close as possible to brand new. 

Agree. I only use brasso if nothing else works and usually it is always successful unless there are board issues, etc.

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

@MrWunderful well shit now I can’t remember. Mothers only sells an all metal polish and the packaging looks different. It wasn’t brasso, but I distinctly remember the packing coming in the jar like face cream but had a cartoon picture of like an old women on it. 

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

51 minutes ago, ScaryD said:

Agree. I only use brasso if nothing else works and usually it is always successful unless there are board issues, etc.

After 30+ years they deserve a good polish anyways. 
 

If someone were to use brasso once a week, it would eventually mess up the board- but sometimes after sitting with spit on it for decades you need something with a light abrasion to cut through the tarnish and oxidation. 

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

52 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

@MrWunderful well shit now I can’t remember. Mothers only sells an all metal polish and the packaging looks different. It wasn’t brasso, but I distinctly remember the packing coming in the jar like face cream but had a cartoon picture of like an old women on it. 

If it comes in a small plastic jar, I know what you are talking about. Im sure any paste style metal polish will work. 
 

I always follow up with an alcohol cleaning to make sure all the paste is off, though. 

[fcgamer | 4,729]

Sand paper the pins first, wipe it afterwards with vodka or kaoliang, then throw it in the freezer for an hour or so. Now that's the only way of bringing a cart back to life!

[Tanooki | 4,936]

Given the age of the hardware or the fact I'm using something modern I'd like to in either case keep clean and working nice, nothing second hand passes into anything without a tear down, deep cleaning, and any minor patch/restoration bits if needed to make it as utterly nice as possible.  Then, I'll test it, and from there re-clean and test further if it continues to fail.

You can't trust anyone or any environment to be as nice as you would be to your own purchases as people are and can be nasty.  Seen too many really bad things on, within, or happened to old game stuff blind trust is long out the window.

[fcgamer | 4,729]

If it's boxed, I'll always do a thorough search for roaches and roach egg casings before putting it in the game room.

 

[Sumez | 2,966]

16 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

I dunno if we’re removing Gamestop stickers or cleaning pins. I remove stickers and crap right away so they’re not stinking up my shelf. I clean pins and such right before I play. 

I figured it was the latter? Never paid any attention to the former...

[Tulpa | 3,510]

I clean them and test them when I get them. Then I shove them on the shelf and play the game from then on off of my Everdrive, as God intended.

 

(Not really, I play my cartridge games.)

 

 

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

Damn it looks like the majority clean as soon as they come in. 
 

I think this is the best way, and is what I do to games I purchase now. Full wipe down and clean before they go on the shelf. 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,089]

Yeah, I clean them and test them right away, both cosmetically and the contacts, because if the game doesn't work, it's not going into my collection to begin with.

Also, anyone who doesn't at least clean his games cosmetically is not really a collector in my books: caring for your possessions is the difference between a collector and a hoarder to me; anyone can just gather shit and drag it into his house and throw it in a room, but a collector is someone who actually cares enough to maintain and/or restore the objects he is keeping...

[Tyree_Cooper | 757]

On 12/5/2022 at 9:48 AM, fcgamer said:

Sand paper the pins first, wipe it afterwards with vodka or kaoliang, then throw it in the freezer for an hour or so. Now that's the only way of bringing a cart back to life!

 

yeah and you can get drunk finishing the bottle while playing the game you just revived. good deal

[Sumez | 2,966]

3 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Also, anyone who doesn't at least clean his games cosmetically is not really a collector in my books: caring for your possessions is the difference between a collector and a hoarder to me;

I feel like we need a third definition here... IMO cleaning something cosmetically has absolutely nothing to do with "caring" for the possessions, in fact it feels to me like a lot of modern video game collectors don't really care about the games at all, but are driving compulsions or tending FOMO instead.

With what a "video game collector" has turned into over the past 10+ years, and all the connotations it comes with, I'd honestly be very happy not to be considered a collector anymore, despite the fact that I've been collecting video games for ages before those people started joining the bandwagon  

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

9 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Yeah, I clean them and test them right away, both cosmetically and the contacts, because if the game doesn't work, it's not going into my collection to begin with.

Also, anyone who doesn't at least clean his games cosmetically is not really a collector in my books: caring for your possessions is the difference between a collector and a hoarder to me; anyone can just gather shit and drag it into his house and throw it in a room, but a collector is someone who actually cares enough to maintain and/or restore the objects he is keeping...

Cleaning and maintaining 100% is difference between a curated collection, and a horde. 

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

10 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

Cleaning and maintaining 100% is difference between a curated collection, and a horde. 

That and organization. I can’t remember who said it but that always sticks with me lol