How many times have you damaged part of your collection?

[fcgamer | 4,742]

Tonight I was cleaning my abode and preparing for Chinese New Year. In a freak accident, a DVD case fell onto a half drank beer can, propelling it onto a drawer containing 80 famiclone games; about 1/3 of the carts got sprayed, some more than others. While I'm more annoyed about cleaning up the mess (I'm not particularly a conditions guy, you can't be if you collect the true rares), it's still annoying.

Anyone else got stories to share of when they were partially responsible for damaging their collection?

I also recollect a time when some of my carts got damaged in a typhoon, but that's a story for a different time.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

Twice Ive damaged parts of my collection. The first was I snapped the thin rod portion of my N64 fishing rod controller, I ended up buying another one. The second was I had Flashback Collectors edition up against Sonic Mania Plus and somehow the covers of each got stuck together and both ripped when I pulled them apart

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

Thankfully no. Just a few random accidental drops, but nothing major. I'm actually quite surprised my 3-year old son hasn't completely destroyed everything within reach. But he's a damn good kid when it comes to that kind of stuff.

[TDIRunner | 2,765]

Nothing major.  Of course, I've dropped a few games over the years, and of course some of those were in jewel cases, so I don't have to tell you what happened there.  

[jonebone | 1,307]

I've had a couple of VGA games fall off a shelf but eventually got them recased.  In terms of unrepairable damage I can't think of anything specific thankfully. 

[TheManaTree | 1]

This isn't exactly what you're asking, but it's close:

I was one of the kids that actually kept all of my NES & SNES game boxes (and kept them in good condition too). I proudly displayed them on a shelf in my bedroom.

Some quite valuable boxes today (Dracula X, All the Mega Man X games, all the Final Fantasy games, Secret of Mana and a lot more).

When I went off to college I didn't have room to take them with me so I boxed all of them up, along with a complete set of Nintendo Power magazines up to that point (around 1997).

I asked my parents to store them while I was away. My dad without really thinking about it decided to store them in the garage (which was very damp).
When I asked about them later he told me, "oh sorry, those got covered in mold, so I threw them away).

He didn't mean an harm, but damn does it still hurt knowing how much that stuff is worth now. Luckily I at least had the carts kept separately, so they survived.

[TheManaTree | 1]

One time a box protector did save me from damaging something in my collection. My boxed Arkanoid for NES fell off the top of my shelf and hit the ground. The box protector cracked into multiple pieces, but the game and box were perfectly fine. So I guess the protector actually did it's job!

[WhyNotZoidberg | 586]

I tried cleaning a Goemon's Great Adventure label from sticker residue. Color came right off. Never touching a N64 label again.

[TheManaTree | 1]

1 minute ago, WhyNotZoidberg said:

I tried cleaning a Goemon's Great Adventure label from sticker residue. Color came right off. Never touching a N64 label again.

N64 labels are nearly impossible to clean without ruining them. Gotta love the glossy protective layer *most* NES and SNES games have.

[WhyNotZoidberg | 586]

Just now, TheManaTree said:

N64 labels are nearly impossible to clean without ruining them. Gotta love the glossy protective layer *most* NES and SNES games have.

Right?? I didn't know. It was quite a nasty surprise.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

I've to date not done it myself, but can definitely sympathize.  My dad was a heavy snorer, especially if he was sick, so when things got pretty terrible, he'd sleep in the living room, fairly frequently stretching out in the floor (versus staying on the couch or in a recliner).  As such, he kept this absolutely obnoxious portable alarm clock radio on our entertainment center to make sure he woke up in time to shower, get ready, and go to work in the morning.  The entertainment center already had all of its spaces filled by the time my parents got me an NES, so "my" space was in the floor, right in front of it, on top of a little "console holder", with my games in a little dedicated storage cabinet right next to it.  Well, you can probably imagine where this story goes.  One morning, I want to say during a break from school since I wasn't already up at about the same time, my dad's alarm has been going off so long that it's gone from intermittent beeping to one long, rapid, never ending stream of "BEEBEEBEEBEEBEEBEEBEE," and has been there for long enough to wake me up down the hall, through my wall and closed door.  So, now awake, I head into the living room to wake him up so that he's not late.

It takes a couple of shakes, but his eyes immediately snap open and pushes himself up from the floor in basically one motion, getting one foot under him to push off the floor and stand up with.  Apparently he did this a little too quickly, as he immediately started to stumble (having gone from dead asleep and snoring to wake up the dead from two dimensions over in about a second and a half) and, instead of putting his hand on my shoulder for balance, decides to go for the entertainment center where the clock is still blaring (I wasn't yet tall enough to reach the top of it while it was on that shelf and figured I'd leave it alone until my dad was actually awake, just in case).  The clock proceeds to wobble out from in between the several knicknacks it was boxed in by and free dive off the entertainment center, heaviest corner first, right into the grill of my relatively brand new NES.

Of course, I'm immediately upset, afraid that my dad has destroyed my long awaited pride and joy, and all I get is half a scowl and a very sleep heavy, "Well, you shouldn't have left it there," despite that literally being the place that my parents told me that it should be, and nowhere else.  I quickly grabbed a flashlight, looked down through the now "gaping" hole (it was maybe around the side of a 50 cent piece).  As I saw nothing amiss other than the broken plastic laying inside, I turned it upside down and shook it around to get the broken bits out, flipped it back over, plugged the hookups back in, inserted a game and fired up the system and TV to see if anything was up.  The system still worked like a champ, and, after doing a rapid wash and shave in the bathroom sink, combing his hair, and throwing on his typical button down shirt and slacks, my dad wanders back through, sees what's going on and goes, "See?  It still works, nothing to be upset about."  I was less freaked out and angry at that point, but never forgot the fact that it was somehow "my" fault.

Sometime shortly afterward, the top of my system ended up covered in whatever traced-from-Nintendo-Power "fan art" I made, with something from the Mega Man 2 issue covering the "gaping" hole in the top to protect the system.  It stayed that way for probably 10-15 years until I either figured it needed to be vented better or I was just "too old" to have "childish" art taped to the top of the system and removed it all.  Not sure if the art is still around anymore, but I've never replaced the top of that system (nor come across a broken system or partial shell to steal vent rails from to make a repair) and always remember my dad whenever it comes out to play.  My kids didn't ever know my dad, but I'm sure that as they age they'll always remember the story of how "grandpap broke daddy's Nintendo then went to work without apologizing."    I started out mad, shifted into annoyed as I became an adult, then shifted into looking back fondly now that my parents are gone--funny how time does that.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

1 hour ago, TheManaTree said:

This isn't exactly what you're asking, but it's close:

I was one of the kids that actually kept all of my NES & SNES game boxes (and kept them in good condition too). I proudly displayed them on a shelf in my bedroom.

Some quite valuable boxes today (Dracula X, All the Mega Man X games, all the Final Fantasy games, Secret of Mana and a lot more).

When I went off to college I didn't have room to take them with me so I boxed all of them up, along with a complete set of Nintendo Power magazines up to that point (around 1997).

I asked my parents to store them while I was away. My dad without really thinking about it decided to store them in the garage (which was very damp).
When I asked about them later he told me, "oh sorry, those got covered in mold, so I threw them away).

He didn't mean an harm, but damn does it still hurt knowing how much that stuff is worth now. Luckily I at least had the carts kept separately, so they survived.

I ran into more or less the same thing, but with my brother rearranging everything.  I had all of my NES boxes stored within my original system box as well as the box for the little cabinet I kept my games in.  My brother decided he was going to optimize the storage in the upstairs after I'd moved out and moved both boxes into my parents' basement, then proceeded to burn out the dehumidifier that was down there.  Cue me not thinking about the boxes for several years, going to find them, and discovering all 60-70 boxes from my childhood being melded together into two big, relatively solid bricks of molded, nasty cardboard.  I'd have poured one out, but the basement was already damp enough that I didn't need to, lol.

[Katchii | 8]

1 hour ago, darkchylde28 said:

I've to date not done it myself, but can definitely sympathize.  My dad was a heavy snorer, especially if he was sick, so when things got pretty terrible, he'd sleep in the living room, fairly frequently stretching out in the floor (versus staying on the couch or in a recliner).  As such, he kept this absolutely obnoxious portable alarm clock radio on our entertainment center to make sure he woke up in time to shower, get ready, and go to work in the morning.  The entertainment center already had all of its spaces filled by the time my parents got me an NES, so "my" space was in the floor, right in front of it, on top of a little "console holder", with my games in a little dedicated storage cabinet right next to it.  Well, you can probably imagine where this story goes.  One morning, I want to say during a break from school since I wasn't already up at about the same time, my dad's alarm has been going off so long that it's gone from intermittent beeping to one long, rapid, never ending stream of "BEEBEEBEEBEEBEEBEEBEE," and has been there for long enough to wake me up down the hall, through my wall and closed door.  So, now awake, I head into the living room to wake him up so that he's not late.

It takes a couple of shakes, but his eyes immediately snap open and pushes himself up from the floor in basically one motion, getting one foot under him to push off the floor and stand up with.  Apparently he did this a little too quickly, as he immediately started to stumble (having gone from dead asleep and snoring to wake up the dead from two dimensions over in about a second and a half) and, instead of putting his hand on my shoulder for balance, decides to go for the entertainment center where the clock is still blaring (I wasn't yet tall enough to reach the top of it while it was on that shelf and figured I'd leave it alone until my dad was actually awake, just in case).  The clock proceeds to wobble out from in between the several knicknacks it was boxed in by and free dive off the entertainment center, heaviest corner first, right into the grill of my relatively brand new NES.

Of course, I'm immediately upset, afraid that my dad has destroyed my long awaited pride and joy, and all I get is half a scowl and a very sleep heavy, "Well, you shouldn't have left it there," despite that literally being the place that my parents told me that it should be, and nowhere else.  I quickly grabbed a flashlight, looked down through the now "gaping" hole (it was maybe around the side of a 50 cent piece).  As I saw nothing amiss other than the broken plastic laying inside, I turned it upside down and shook it around to get the broken bits out, flipped it back over, plugged the hookups back in, inserted a game and fired up the system and TV to see if anything was up.  The system still worked like a champ, and, after doing a rapid wash and shave in the bathroom sink, combing his hair, and throwing on his typical button down shirt and slacks, my dad wanders back through, sees what's going on and goes, "See?  It still works, nothing to be upset about."  I was less freaked out and angry at that point, but never forgot the fact that it was somehow "my" fault.

Sometime shortly afterward, the top of my system ended up covered in whatever traced-from-Nintendo-Power "fan art" I made, with something from the Mega Man 2 issue covering the "gaping" hole in the top to protect the system.  It stayed that way for probably 10-15 years until I either figured it needed to be vented better or I was just "too old" to have "childish" art taped to the top of the system and removed it all.  Not sure if the art is still around anymore, but I've never replaced the top of that system (nor come across a broken system or partial shell to steal vent rails from to make a repair) and always remember my dad whenever it comes out to play.  My kids didn't ever know my dad, but I'm sure that as they age they'll always remember the story of how "grandpap broke daddy's Nintendo then went to work without apologizing."    I started out mad, shifted into annoyed as I became an adult, then shifted into looking back fondly now that my parents are gone--funny how time does that.

 

Thats funny!

Two points here,

1 - Old consoles were built like fucking tanks. Try doing that with a PS4 or Xbox today and see what happens.

2 - The point of having children is so you can blame them for shit when it suits!

[MuNKeY | 241]

I've broken a ps1 disc of tactics ogre trying to clean a rental sticker off it, dumbass me held the disc in hand trying to goo gone the residue and snapped it clean in two it was a cheap find years ago, but I still growl about it to this day when I remember it. lol

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

I used to keep all of my NES manuals in binders and had about 3 or 4 binders full stacked up on the floor of my basement while I waited for shelf space to become available from rearranging. We had a torrential downpour one night and the next morning my basement was flooded in a few inches of water. I started walking over to where my binders were but every step I took made a ripple of water flow all around the binders so I stopped. I had to step slowly to avoid upsetting the water and eventually managed to pick up the bottom binder to investigate.

Half the binder was soaked but they were sorted alphabetically so all of those were common manuals. The very first dry page contained a Snow Brothers manual. It escaped damage by millimetres.

[11strings | 90]

I once let a friend keep my Dig Dug arcade at his house and his Beagle chewed up the cabinet.

 

 

[portabello | 99]

I accidentally stepped on and cracked my Little Samson cart last week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

just kidding. I take extra care of my stuff... still no whammies!

Edited January 17, 2020 by portabello

[Gloves | 11,816]

1 hour ago, 11strings said:

I once let a friend keep my Dig Dug arcade at his house and his Beagle chewed up the cabinet.

 

 

Dig Dug noooooo... 

[Nesmaster | 402]

I was fucking around with a mini dart set when I was younger, early 2000's, and put a dart through the side of my Earthbound box.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

Knocked a nice SMB Mattel hangtab off the top shelf and the box protector broke and ripped through the box in the top front right corner. It sucked even though it still displays nice. Ironically I think the box protector amplified the damage done. 

I also cleaned marker off a few old SNES games that I had. I regret it since they were old rentals from childhood video store which is now closed. Not sure what I was thinking for a few 5 dollar games. 

[GPX | 1,372]

I dropped some decently priced games on several occasions. Causes me to turn beast and cuss modes for a short while whenever it happens.

The recent episode of game damage was when I tried taking a disc out of an XBox original case. The disc was latching tightly on the spindles and when I tried yanking it out, thumb and middle finger on either side of the disc, it broke in half! That’s right, snapped in two pieces!

Thankfully, it’s a lowly priced game. I’d hate to see myself in the mirror if I caused damage to a rare costly box/disc.

[OptOut | 8,892]

1 minute ago, GPX said:

I dropped some decently priced games on several occasions. Causes me to turn beast and cuss modes for a short while whenever it happens.

The recent episode of game damage was when I tried taking a disc out of an XBox original case. The disc was latching tightly on the spindles and when I tried yanking it out, thumb and middle finger on either side of the disc, it broke in half! That’s right, snapped in two pieces!

Thankfully, it’s a lowly priced game. I’d hate to see myself in the mirror if I caused damage to a rare costly box/disc.

Lol, at least that's not too likely when you're handling OG XBOX games! 

[GPX | 1,372]

19 minutes ago, OptOut said:

Lol, at least that's not too likely when you're handling OG XBOX games! 

Yep, best part of OG Xbox is the cheapness and not many over the top pricey games! But then, less risk, less reward and vice versa.

[OptOut | 8,892]

42 minutes ago, GPX said:

Yep, best part of OG Xbox is the cheapness and not many over the top pricey games! But then, less risk, less reward and vice versa.

Yeah, I'm really into OG XBOX, the games are really so good to go back and play, and yeah can't argue with the prices! Going into CEX with a fiver and coming out with 3 games and change! 

OG XBOX is my main 3D gaming focus for 2020, actually. Got quite a big backlog to get through, ha ha ha!

[Link | 2,725]

I’m not sure how many times, but the worst was when I had a bunch of stuff in piles while home improvements were going on, my Super Game Boy box got crushed right across the middle.