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killerkobra

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Blog Entries posted by killerkobra

  1. killerkobra
    Sadly, this is the last Kijiji Tale I had written during my original venture. It was the craziest experience I had in my opinion. You can be the judge though, enjoy.
    All of my previous Kijiji Tales revolved around traveling out on Adventures. However, not all Kijiji Tales are about traveling out and about. This Tale was a rarer case, were I did a deal at home. I usually never ever did deals from my house but from time to time, I did.
     
    This Tale began in the work lunchroom before shift began. I had a repetition as the “Video Game Guy”. I am sure many of you have that title at your jobs also. So my buddy asked me if I could get him some PS2 kids games for his daughters. He was a bit older and not very tech savvy so I did not hesitate to help him. I made a “Wanted” ad right after he asked me and I got a hit on it right away.
     
    The person that replied said he had an excellent lot of kid-orientated games for PS2. He was very open to conversation and mentioned he was a collector himself that was very into GBA. The PS2 lot he offered was dirt-cheap so I agreed to setup a deal with him later in the week.
     
    Unfortunately, shortly after I had severely pulled a muscle in my lower back playing ball hockey. I was barely able to walk around the house. Having a physical job, I had stayed home from work for a few days to rest.  
     
    I reluctantly I asked him to do the deal at my house. I was in no condition to be driving around town because of the pain in every breath I took. He had no issue coming to my place however. I never liked it when people came over to my house do deals but I figured he was a fellow collector. What the heck, what could possibly go wrong?
     
    The evening of the deal eventually came. It was very cold and dark out already, I was home alone resting in bed. The doorbell rang and I hobbled down the stairs to answer it.  I opened the door to see a hulking man about 6’4” pushing 300lbs. I invited him in to get out of the icy weather. Having opened the door for countless people in my life, I assumed he would walk in close the door behind himself.  I crept to the handrail on my staircase for support; I grabbed it and held on trying to ease the pain. He walked in like a robot, put the two massive bags on games down on the floor and then knelt down in front of me. He was dead silent. Watching him, I thought he was un-lacing his shoes or Velcro or ??? Then all the sudden without warning he violently collapsed backwards, his head crashing into my front door with a massive SONIC BOOM slamming it shut. I was absolutely dumfounded! I just stood there in complete shock looking at him slumped in my entryway. His neck was crammed in the corner.
     
    I spouted out "Oh Shit! Are you okay man?" 
     
    He was silent for a few seconds that felt like an eternity and then his lips slowly began to move
    "Yes…. just pull me out of this corner so I can breathe." He mumbled. 
     
    So now I am standing thinking WTF is going on and my back is completely shot and now I gotta pull this massive dude out of the corner so he can breathe???
     
    With all the strength I could muster, I grabbed his completely limp arm and pulled him out of the corner straightening his head and neck to open his airway. My back being in intense pain, I kept asking if he needed an ambulance and kept reassuring me "no no I am fine"
     
    As you can imagine, I was ultra-confused at this point because he was completely lifeless except the fact he could speak perfectly normal. Therefore, I awkwardly stood there until he sat up and started to explain what just happened.    
     
    "Sorry I have narcolepsy and I just had a fit, happens when I meet someone new, get nervous or excited. Stuff like that"
     
    Obviously, this all made sense now but I didn't know how to react. I just tried to be as cool and polite as possible. After a few minutes, he was finally able to sit up. He sat there and began to tell me his whole story. I could not help but like the guy.  He eventually stood up and made a complete recovery. We continued chatting after he gathered his marbles and I offered to show him my collection in the basement.
     
    As it turns out, he was a really nice guy who absolutely loved GBA. When we entered my game room basement, he walked right past my NES and SNES collection (which I was proud of at the time) for the GBA stuff. We continued chatting about the love of the hobby.  After the tour was coming to an end, he mentioned he had brought some additional items if I was interested. It turned out to be a major score when he pulled out a “like new” CIB GBA Micro Famicom Edition and CIB Oracle of Ages and Seasons. I am not to sure if he really wanted to sell me the Micro Famicom but he eventually did along with the Zelda games. I was extremely happy with getting those 3 items.
     
    I actually kept in touch with him a while after the deal through email but sadly we eventually lost touch. It was the most bizarre incident I ever had to deal with on Kijiji to date.
     
    Thank you to all that have read Kijiji Tales to this point. It was a fun experience sharing these stories and talking about the crazy experiences I had. I plan to continue Kijiji Tales, retelling past experiences. Although the upcoming entries will be less crazy and focus more of the more “normal” deals I did. The trouble will be having to recall them from memory ha ha. So there will be no time line for upcoming entries.
     
    Thanks again,
     
    killerkobra
  2. killerkobra
    This is definitely a minor tale but it stuck out for me and I figured it was worth sharing since it is about myself trying to sell on Kijiji. As stated numerous times before in other tales, emailing was an important part of dealing on Kijiji. I remember one time in particular that made me shake my head.
     
    Back in the year 2010, it was extremely common to be able to hop on Kijiji and find a NES with 2 controllers, the Zapper and 10 games for like $30. I had similar luck with systems like the Genesis or SNES.  It seems like I could go buy these lots every other day at will. If only I had bought more back then!
     
    I recall on deal I did with a Mother selling off her sons NES collection. Her listing was not even accurate at all. There were different games in box than listed and the NES console had a SMB3 inside which was not listed. To top it off she was also very aggressive (in a nice way) trying to get me to take her vintage TV along with the console and games. It was obvious she just wanted this stuff gone and did not care about making money. I declined the TV and was very happy with that deal otherwise.
     
    My point being, that over a short amount of time I would end up with many doubles ready to be recirculated back into the market. This was a practice I am positive EVERY collector did back then. Buy a lot, take what you need and resell the rest to fund the next purchase. I fondly miss those days.
     
    Moving back to the tale at hand. One particular time I had built up a nice sell/trade pile and listed it on Kijiji.
     
    The huge lot consisted of:
     
    Nintendo System with hook-ups and RCA cable
    2 controllers
    Zapper
    NES Advantage Joystick 
    NES Code Book
     
    Carts
     
    Blades of Steel
    Chip and Dale RR1
    Dragon Warrior
    Faxanadu
    Festers quest
    Friday the 13th
    Hogans Alley
    Ironsword CIB
    Operation wolf
    Othello
    Pac Man
    Quattro Adventure 4
    RC Pro Am
    Rad Racer
    Shadowgate
    Silver Surfer
    Super Mario Bros 3
    Super Mario Bros/ Duck Hunt
    Total Recall
    Willow
    Winter Games
    Wizards and Warriors
     
    I remember having a hard time moving the lot for a fair price, probably since there market was overflowing. I think I wanted somewhere around $200 CAN. I got so many lowball offers, which was and always will be common.
     
    Then one day I received an email from a man stating he wanted the lot and was happy with the price. I was delighted to say the least. As I often did (and still do when selling), I went through the games and double-checked to make sure the lot and the list on Kijiji listing matched. I was shocked to find that Othello was nowhere to be found. I search high and low but I must have made a mistake by listing it because who in there right mind would want to steel Othello from me???
     
    I emailed him back right away and broke the news.  “Othello is missing, and I will knock a few bucks off if that’s alright with you”. I did not think much of it since it was just an Othello cart… I had everything ready to go and was moving forward with arranging a time and place to meet.
     
    He replied shortly after “The deal is off! Othello was the main game I wanted in the whole lot.”
     
    I was like "What the...? Really? Othello?” My mind struggled to comprehend the situation.  I replied trying to patch together the deal but he was completely not having it. That was that, never even made it past the email stage on that one. Who knows maybe he got cold feet and just used Othello as an excuse? Anyway I ended up selling the lot shortly after to girl who intended to give it as a gift for her boyfriends birthday. What a wonderful happy ending.
  3. killerkobra

    Part 5: Nice Eyes (The What the...?)

    By killerkobra,


    Kijiji Tales
    So much for keeping to a schedule postings these every Friday... geez. When work gets in the way, work really gets in the way. So from now on I'll just be posting these whenever  I can. 
     
    Super Mario RPG for the Super Nintendo was an epic game that I often rented with my cousin during the summer holidays of 1997. During those memorable sleep overs, we played it nonstop the entire time only taking a break for a few hours to sleep. I had always wanted it in my collection but it constantly eluded me for years. This was a (mini) white whale early on in my collecting. I was finally at the point where I was determined to get it, especially when I noticed it on Kijiji. Unfortunately it was slightly higher than market value at the time. But at this point I didn't care, it was finally time to add this one to the shelf.

    Fortunately, the address from the ad was extremely close to me. It was in an old military living quarters neighborhood  built in the 1950's-1960's, which I had always wanted to explore more. These houses were all very basic and old. Not run down or dirty, just very aged. So we set up the deal for later in the evening since I had a different deal on the go earlier. He lived so close to my house that I zipped over in no time. As I pulled up to the town house, I called to let him know I had arrived. He instructed me to come to the door.  Surprise surprise... No games in hand! (this becoming a running theme to my stories) then, I was then invited inside. Reluctantly I entered. The first thing that came into my brain was WEED. It completely reeked like marijuana, that sweet sweet smell of fresh reefer (or stink whatever your preference is). "To each their own" I thought.  The inside was quite bare, not filthy but not clean either. The guy that answered was younger, early 20's and wore in a massive puffy black winter jacket and a backwards baseball hat.  I noticed an arcade cab with a Final Fight marquee smack dap in the middle of the kitchen upon entering. "Interesting " I remember thinking. So he leads me into the living room and stops, so I stopped. We stood there a few moments not saying anything. There where 4 people were lying on the floor and couches watching a large flat screen TV, at least I think they were people, could have been zombies. No one batted an eye or moved when I (a stranger) entered their space. Why I was brought into the living room???? At this point all I can think is "where's the flipping game already?". Ironically he then says "the games are upstairs" as he leads me to the staircase down the hall. Why did he need to take me into the living room with his burn out buddies? That was completely unnecessary!

    The next thing I know we are in the upstairs hallway standing in front of a door that had a deadbolt lock on it. He pulled out a key ring that a medieval dungeon master would have had, unlocked the dead bolt and we went in. Taking up half the room was a massive locking glass display case, like one out of a jewelry store. Then he gets his keys out again and starts to unlock the case. I could see numerous bright yellow Game City price tags with insane high prices nicely organized just like the game store had them (to this day even). Myself being a savage beast of a collector, I had my eyes fixated on nothing but the video games. Unfortunately there was nothing else worth buying after a quick glance over. As I looked, he handed me the Super Mario RPG CIB and I handed him the cash. Thinking the deal was complete and I was free to go I moved towards the door, but he stood there blocking the doorway. After another few awkward silent moments he then went into a sales pitch. Not a video games sales pitch but for the hundreds of boxes of contact lenses on the bottom shelf of the display cabinet.  Contact lenses that change your eye color or shape and such. He spun me around to show me all sorts of advertisement posters of all the styles he had to offer. He was getting a little aggressive in his attempt to sell me on them. I obviously kept refusing until he finally gave up. He gave me a look like it was my loss and locked the case, then we left the room.

    I followed him back to the kitchen and I could finally see the door. I thanked him and made my way towards the exit. "Wait!" He barked, I froze in my tracks... He started to fire up the MAME Arcade machine. He showed me how it all the menu's worked and then he picked Street Fighter 3. "Let's play". So I put the game down and grabbed the joystick and picked my favorite Street Fighter character, Ken in the yellow gi. Now, I have never claimed to be a good in the fighting game category, and especially SF3 since I never played it before but this night I was on fire. He was a formidable opponent and he won Round 1 but I took him down in the 2nd. I kept my cool and destroyed him in the 3rd Round. Right after my glorious victory he got a call on his cell and then proceeded to kick me out because he "business to attend to". I wonder what business that could have been? I left with a smile, a story and most importantly Super Mario RPG.
     
     
  4. killerkobra
    This is the last of the original Tales I wrote. However, I have one more after this. The last Tale I plan to share is the by far the most interesting so I decided to save it for the Grand Finale.  
     
    This is one of my more recent Kijiji deals. It is long-winded and painful to even attempt to explain.  I have slowed down in my Kijiji Adventures ever since the market in my city exploded in the summer of 2012. Along with hunting for deals on Kijiji, I would also sell collectables I acquired over the years. Selling could be just as interesting as buying.
     
    It began with a listing I had for an Iron Maiden boxset called Eddies Archive along with some Judas Priest statues. One rainy day at work, I get an email proposing a trade for a Jabba the Hutt sideshow statue (wonderful statue) for the Iron Maiden boxset. I am not a massive Star Wars fan but I do go through phases where I do collect but very specifically Phantom Menace items (Fight me!). I thought about it for a while then came to the conclusion that it would be a nice trade for me. I then proceeded to make a deal with this guy. So we went back and forth for a week or so before we lined up a deal for the following Sunday at around noon.
     
    He wanted to meet in a notorious high traffic location, which was in a suburb just outside the city. This aggravated me right off the bat, since the traffic was in fact very heavy that day.  Therefore, once I arrived I emailed him that I had arrived at the meeting spot since this guy never had a cell. I waited and waited but never got a reply. I figured I would make the waiting time useful and went to the local Canadian Tire (typical Canadian hardware store) I bought new windshield wiper blades for my truck and installed them in the parking lot.... still nothing. Horribly defeated, after 2 hours of waiting I went home. I was beyond pissed off. I was stood up. My first time when selling something. I will never forget the anger.
     
    However, this is not the end of the story. Oh no no no. It continues. You probably noticed that there was no mention of video games in this story!  Well this happened 3 years ago and over the course of the next 3 years, this same guy had been bugging me to do a deal. Repeatedly I told him to “beat it, I am not interested”. Even when I needed some cash for a bigger purchase, I did not give in. “This guy messed me around. I don't need his business,” I told myself. When I confronted him about not showing up, he did apologize but stated that he does not remember setting up the deal, then claiming he had family issues and he does not drive and blah blah blah.
     
    Every time my ads expired on Kijiji and I reposted them, which is when he would contact me repeatedly. Finally after a long period of ignoring him,  I began to reply with absurd propositions just to bugger him up. He screwed with me so I will screw with him. Childish I know, but satisfying. I would ask insane amounts of money for something or ask to meet up in 5 minutes. I tried to be an asshole to deter him, but he never stopped. This guy was determined to get something from me.
     
    I had sold most of the stuff he originally wanted, expect for one last item. An Ozzy Osbourne Prince of Darkness box set. He was very interested, so I asked if he had any video games. He mentioned he had a Final Fantasy VIII CIB (Greatest Hits) in minty condition. I finally broke and agreed to a deal my Ozzy set for his FFVIII. I had not done a deal in a while so I figured "what the hell".  
     
    So once again, I was going to have to drive to the suburbs, the very same suburb that he had screwed me over once before. Yes, I know, I am stupid. I was to deal with a guy that screwed me over once already and a guy that was psychotically contacting me for 3 years. However, this is Kijiji and it is all a part of the glory that is Kijiji. 
     
    Once again, I had to fight the traffic to get there. Once there, I parked at the meetup location and texted him. "Oh great" I thought, "at least he has a cell now". Guess what??  No reply.... shocked, I was not.  Then this older dude comes walking out of the Tim Hortons (Canadian Starbucks) in a leather coat, extra large coffee in one hand a plastic shopping bag in the other. He noticed me right away and walked to my truck. I got out of my truck to greet him. I had the Ozzy boxset in a large clear non-Ziploc bag.  
     
    This is where the most painful part of all of this began, if you can imagine. I will try my best to describe this excruciating experience.
     
    "Hello" I said as I extend my arm handing him the boxset and he did the same with the game. Then he proceeds to try to grab the bagged Ozzy boxset as he tries to hand me his FFVIII with the same hand. He is holding a coffee with the other hand remember... he was really starting to struggle and wiggle as he tried to do this with one hand.
     
    Awkwardly, I grabbed the bag out of his hand and put the bagged boxset in his hand. I said “thank you”. Then instead of returning the thank you back to me, he looks very displeased and said "can I have my bag back". I was kind of half stunned since the Ozzy boxset I just gave him was already in a bag. Then he starts trying to get the boxset out of the bag with one hand, since he is still holding a coffee with the other remember... Not using his knees for assistance or the hood of my truck, which was right in front of him. As painful as this is to read, it was just as painful for me to watch it. I then quickly took the game out of "his" bag and put Final Fantasy on my driver’s seat.
    I then snagged the bag he was still struggling with, pulled the boxset out dropping it back in “his” bag, and handed it back. A big smile arose from his face and he gingerly walked off swinging his bag in delight. I watched him walkway happy as a schoolgirl but I never did get a thank you.
     
    I sat back in my truck and reflected on the past 3 years of dealing with this guy. More recently the new baggie incident I had just witnessed. All the frustration melted away and turned into senseless laughter. It all made sense to me now; he was a few chips short of a circuit board. I put some video game tunes on and enjoyed the drive home, traffic and all.
  5. killerkobra
    To this very day, this deal was my most epic and fondly remembered. I don't think it will ever be topped, I honestly hope it does but I doubt it with the way things are now.
     
    It all began as I was sitting in the lunchroom at work, just about to start my night shift. It was beautify fall evening and as usual, I was browsing Kijiji.  I saw the ad pop up at about 7:20pm and my shift begun at 7:30pm. I was in disbelief at the sight of this glorious ad, I also was doubtful I could actually snag it. Let’s just say it was for a whole lot of minty NES CIBs and Factory Sealed games. Jumping out of my chair would be an understatement for what I did, it was more like I rocketed to the ceiling!!!   I quickly ran to the parking lot, hopped in a work truck and lay down in back so no one could see me. I couldn’t be bothered with work at that moment.  Instead of emailing and risking someone else to slip in, I called the number on the ad and I offered to buy them all immediately. We chatted a bit and then we worked out a deal for the whole lot. I had enough balls to actually suggest a discount if I bought them all and he shockingly agreed. We agreed to do the deal early the next morning after my shift ended at 7:30am.
     
    “Will this deal actually go down?” "Did he sell them to someone else??!?" My mind was racing all night with crazy thoughts. Needless to say, it was the longest shift of my life.  
     
    Luckily, the location was very close to my house but even better, it was just down the street from my childhood Elementary school. This was going to be a mega nostalgic deal I thought to myself. The apartment was on the same street I walked up and down countless times heading to Dairy Queen and 7-Eleven as a kid. The 7-11 had a few arcades and pinballs machines, as was a popular hangout for all the kids and teens. Those were the epic Street Fighter 2 days.
     
    The moment of truth finally came on that cool sunny morning. I drove there directly from work, half-excited and half-nervous. Once I arrived, I walked up to the door and rung the buzzer. The door un-locked with a pop and walked in and up to their apartment door. A guy my age and slightly bigger than myself opened the door and let me in. Normal enough looking apartment, I thought as I entered. His girlfriend/wife/spouse/lover/baby Mama/whatever was playing World of Warcraft while holding a baby. Okay cool cool, so far so good. He grabbed the old cardboard box and brought it to the kitchen table. I walked over to inspect the goods. I was hoping to do a quick once over and get out of there. This is where things went a bit, awry. Out of nowhere, he grabs Ironsword out of the box and chucks against the kitchen wall and then Fabio's face plops down on the kitchen table! It scared the living daylights right out of me.    
     
    "That game sucks!!!" he exclaimed
     
    In complete shock, I stood just there not wanting make a fuss. I had to play it cool since I could not jeopardize this deal no matter what! He then proceeded to take every single game out of the box and give his full review on the game. Painfully one by one….
     
    "This one sucks too" "I played this one last night, its okay"
     
    On and on it went as I kept my mouth shut, nodding along hoping he would not throw any more game at the kitchen wall.
     
    Then out nowhere, without myself noticing the girl gets right up in my face showing off a sealed Metroid they also had for sale. "I bet you want this, ha ha ha!" (I did in fact want it. I wanted it very bad) 
     
    I now had this girl in my face while the guy was giving me shit.
     
    "You are just gonna sell these aren't you!?" "These are worth more then what I am selling them for you know!" “Why do you want them!” “I shouldn’t be selling these to you!”
     
    I just put on a smile and deflected what I could as the scrutiny continued. It was a very intense environment. I just wanted the loot so I could get the heck outta there. I had pulled the cash out of my pocket and held it in my hand attempting to end this madness. He must have taken the hint because it worked. I paid with a smile. I gathered up all the games on the table including poor Fabio and darted out the door.
     
    This was very early on in my collecting, before this I was more of a casual collector. Meaning, I was “collecting” games my whole life but getting them for free or dirt cheap but not like this. I never I will never forgot my first feelings of doubt and semi guilt. I had just dropped some "huge" money for the times, on old Nintendo games. What was I thinking? Those feeling very quickly dissipated as I glanced over to that old brown cardboard box full of glorious NES boxes. Might as well have been a treasure chest of rare sparkling gems. I had a wonderful victory drive down memory lane blasting NES music as I went. 
  6. killerkobra

    Part 8: I Trust You (The crooked)

    By killerkobra,


    Kijiji Tales
    Along with my console collecting, I have a love of arcade and pinball machines. Ms. Pac-man is one that is near and dear, to not only my heart but my wife's heart also. We had played a lot of Ms. Pacman on a cocktail cabinet (tabletop style that you sit down at) together at the local Pizza Joint in the mid 2000's. That made it even more special since it was rare at the time for arcades to be in public places (in our city anyway).
     
    I decided to post "Wanted" ad on Kijiji since I was not having much luck elsewhere. I had the ad up for about a year looking for a Ms. Pac-man cocktail, just like we used to play.
     
    Then one day unexpectedly, I got a response that went something like this,
     
    "Hey. I got Ms. Pacman and Centipede machines, you can have them both for $400 but they both blew a fuse so they don’t turn on".  
     
    I had to think about it for a little bit since I knew they both were not working. However, if I paid a fair price and got them working it would be a solid deal. In addition, I wanted to learn how to repair arcades anyway so it was enticing. Eventually, I decided to take the chance.  I agreed to the deal and asked where to meet. He said, “I will come to your place right away and drop them off...”
     
    After some additional thought, I assumed that there would probably more issues then the was guy letting on.  
     
    The first alarm bell went off when he said he would deliver the machines ASAP! These cocktails are beasts, heavier then heavy. Every other arcade or pinball machine I have bought had to be picked up and loaded by myself. It was very odd and rare to get an offer for a delivery.  
     
    I knew he would be coming at a certain time and he did not disappoint. A jacked up Dodge Ram came roaring down the street slightly earlier then we had agreed. I was slightly caught of guard. That is when the second alarm bell went off. He backed right onto my driveway and immediately started to lug the machines off his truck before I had even my shoes on to help.
     
    Third alarm bell went off after that he gave me a handful of random fuses and said, "Here’s the replacement fuses". I took them with very little confidence. After checking them later, none were the correct fuses for either machine. 
     
    Then the fourth alarm went off when I pulled out the envelope full of cash to pay for the machines. The heavy set, bearded, jean jacketed beast of a man looked at me with a wink and a nod. I held the wad of cash up to him and asked him to count it (as I often did with larger sums of money), he ripped the envelope out of my hand lighting quick and said "I trust you" as he was already jumping back in his truck. The whole entire deal from start to finish took about 3 minutes. 
     
    Once the dust had settled and after some further examining, I discovered that the monitors in both machines needed some repair. I managed to complete this, along with the help of some newly made arcade friends. I still enjoy these machines to this very day, so all in all I am very happy with this deal overall. 
  7. killerkobra
    First tale of 2022!
    Even though this one happened many years ago, it still pisses me off when I think about it…
    It was an extremely cold and snowy day at work. I was sitting in the back of a pickup truck browsing Kijiji. It was more of the usual stuff until I found something rather unique. A NES bootleg multi-cart. I think we have all come across one of these at some point in our lives.  It was something I was not crazy about but it came in a sleeve I had never seen before and I thought it would be a nice addition to my collection.
     
    The negotiation phase of this deal was BRUTAL, to say the least. The seller was handling her dad's Kijiji since he was out of town on vacation. This girl was not budging on anything! We set up the deal for right after my shift. The location the seller gave me was much closer to my work than to home so it made perfect sense to go right after my shift. It was literally on the opposite side of the city from my house, probably like 45 min drive on a good day.
     
    It was dark when I left work at 5pm. I was in good contact with this girl throughout the entire setup of the deal that afternoon.  The neighborhood was unknown to me. I fought my way through the worst rush hour traffic you could imagine, to this hidden gem of a neighborhood. Massive 80s style houses on enormous lots of land right in the middle of a regular neighborhood.  I was very impressed.
     
    Reluctantly, I drove up this "mile long" driveway to this beautiful house. I was not 100% sure if this was the house or not because of the unusual neighborhood and Google Maps wasn't registering it. There were no lights on anywhere and the yard was dark and surrounded by tall trees.  I started to call the number on the listing as I approached. I was a little later then the agreed time due to the traffic. But only approximately 5 min or so. There was no answer, so I called again... sadly, there was still no answer.  I got out and went to the door and rung the doorbell. I could hear and see a little yappy dog as I peered through the window but no one came to the door. Therefore, I called again. This time I could hear the phone ringing in the house as I stood there. "Just great" I thought. No one is home. I stood there in disbelief for a while but then turned tale and walked back to my truck kicking rocks. As anger set in, I got in my truck and sent an email asking the girl WTF happened.
     
    I was super pissed off but with no other option, I peeled out.  I drove back to the main road I needed to get on. Both directions were a grid locked. It took me 2 hours to get home that night and with nothing to show for it.
     
    Just as I pulled into my driveway, I got an email reply from her stating nonchalantly that I was late and she had to leave. She never said it was an emergency or anything. She did not try to contact me. Nothing. She just bailed on me.  To say the least it was beyond aggravating since we had such good communication the whole time.
     
    Looking back it is still a tough pill to swallow since I never seen one of those wonderful sleeves on a bootleg multi-cart again. I know, I know, it’s just a multi-cart but stuff like that is why I love collecting.
  8. killerkobra

    Part 7:The Redneck (The wow, where am I?)

    By killerkobra,


    Kijiji Tales
    Once again it has been a long time since posting a Tale, so I hope all that read this one enjoy it. 
    After a long collecting break, which I am sure many of you have also taken, I found this deal on Kijiji. I noticed the ad as I was on a bus headed to work. It was for a solid lot of  CIB Sega Master System games. There were some uncommon games in the lot and a few were from other regions. It was a really good  lot for the price but the downfall was that the location of the deal was an hour drive away from my job site. I was itching to pick something up so I made the deal for after I got off work. I often enjoyed the long drives if the deal was a good one and this one was worth it.
     
    So my shift ended and I left work for the long journey ahead. After about an hour of busy rush hour traffic, I arrived in the small town right on time and proceeded to try to find the guys house... Or so I thought it was a house. Turns out he was located in a trailer park. “No problem…” I thought.
     
    Disclaimer * Now I am from Alberta and a lot of other Canadians look at Albertans as "rednecks" ha-ha. I never understood why, but after this deal, I completely understand.
     
    So I get to this trailer park and the addresses are confusing as hell. Half the trailers do not have proper numbers posted, thick trees and bushes everywhere.  I was having trouble finding his place as I went up and down the narrow roads. I was getting frustrated, so I decided to call the guy. To my surprise he immediately answered before a full ring and shouted "STOP! You just drove by". So, I hit the brakes, threw my truck in reverse and backed up. How this guy knew it was me baffles me to this day. Maybe there wasn’t much traffic on his road... I don’t know. 
     
    I pulled into his yard and parked on his gravel pad. So there he was. A skinny dude wearing a white tank top, shaved head, and Coke bottle glasses. Even better was that he was sitting in a rocking chair on his raggedy "porch", drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. "Are you here for the video games?" He said. "Yes....." I confusingly replied. Like wtf I just called you and you directed me where to find your place man...?!?!? Once again, just like in my other stories, no games were to be seen anywhere.
     
    As I approached the porch, he put his smoke out in his beer can then he invited me inside. Now this was a real treat, it was hard to believe this place was actually livable. There were literally holes right through the floor that I had to avoid falling into. Garbage was everywhere. Where the kitchen table should have been, there was a drum kit instead. Guitars and basses set up among the trash. I stood there trying not to touch anything and there he was standing there right next to me. Then after a few completely awkward seconds of him staring at me in silence, he announced he would go get the games. So he disappears into the filth for a while (which seemed like an eternity) and then returned with a drawer from a dresser with the Master System games in it. Yes… a dresser drawer with the Sega Master System games. He handed me the drawer and I returned him a solid look of WTF. "Ahhh do you have a bag or a box or something...?" I said,  He looked confused at first then spoke up, "Oh right" he said as he grabbed a liquor store bag that was on the countertop. I paid him the cash and then it was back through the death trap maze trying to avoid getting a bacterial infection. 
  9. killerkobra
    It has been a while since I posted one of these. Let’s just say my life got very crazy for a while there but I think things have calmed down a bit now. I feel inspired to continue with my series of Kijiji Tales. This one is a classic and I loved re reading it almost 10 years later. Enjoy…
     
    Please note that this story takes place in about 2012 and I wrote it in about 2014…
     
    Sometimes on Kijiji, you actually meet someone that turns out to be pretty cool.  Like in this classic tale. Nowadays, he is quite the Kijiji annoyance. Simply because he updates all 50 of his ads daily so that they are always on top of the results list. To do that you need to delete the ads, and then one by one re-post them, which is totally time consuming.
     
    Any who, I often work night shift and usually the night before my first shift I stay up all night trying to adjust my sleep schedule. It is a technique I have perfected over the many years in my industry. I will often go through loads of caffeine in the form of Rockstar energy drink and input my recent pickups list into collection tools online. So I figured why not try to set up a late night deal to help with my ritual. I figured I could take as long as I wanted since I needed to stay up all night anyway. So I got in contact with this notorious guy. I say notorious because he always had numerous ads up. As I soon found out after contacting him, He was a night-owl himself and we agreed that I would drive across town to his place at 11pm.
     
    I went there in good faith with no real solid deal in place. I packed up a huge box of trade bait and headed there hoping for the best. As I pulled up to the house, he was having a smoke and a beer on the front porch. We properly introduced ourselves then chatted a bit before heading to the basement. First thing that hit me as I entered the door was the smell.  Reminded me of a pet store. Then as I crept down the steps to basement, there was a poop smear in the rug at the bottom of the basement steps.  I am hyper-allergic to cats so it bothered my nose and eyes right away. The distraction and discomfort quickly dissipated as I noticed the wall-to-wall games that lined the basement! "Suck it up buttercup!" I told myself.
     
    So we got to business right away and he gives me free reign to go through everything. As I dig through game after game, I could slowly feel a grimy film collecting on my fingertips. I kept my focus though, and just kept going and going trying to do the math in my head. No real gems but some solid titles for sure. Minty box and manual for Mega Man 2, CIB minty Atari Jaguar console, nice box for the NES Action Set. All stuff I wanted at the time.
     
    So as the night went on, he kept hiccuping more and more as he tried to talk to me. He kept slamming beers and running out for smokes. Then as he was explaining something about his collection, when he abruptly stopped, looked me in the eyes and said 
     
    "Do you smell that?"  Before I could answer he belted back. I was definitely puzzled at his sudden question.  
     
    "Smells like the cat took a shit" he pointed behind me "Go close that door!"
     
    "Ahhh okay" I thought and went over to the door he had pointed to. 
     
    "Yeah, the cat poops in there and it stinks"
     
    The words "oh really???" popped in my head, "the cat poop stinks???"
     
    Once the door was closed, he continued to ramble on…
     
    Time just seamed to fly by; I must have been there 2-3 hours before I went through everything. In the end, we both had a massive pile of each other items stacked up. I found it very bizarre and entertaining how he priced his items, I simply judged mine like most people would have, eBay sold times. He on the other hand judged by how much he liked the game. Which really worked out for me in most cases but a few of them were completely out of my price range. For example, Warhammer Shadows of the Horned Rat for PS1, he wanted over $100 for but at the time, it was maybe a $10 game.  After a bit of intense bartering, we did a massive trade that I was very happy with. He took all my more common Mario’s, Zelda’s, Mortal Kombat’s, etc. He also took a few NES Systems. I got all the uncommon stuff I could grab. I figured the deal was done and I was ready to leave, but I was wrong! The final part of the deal was that I had to sit down to write out on a piece of paper everything I got from him. I was kind of puzzled at first then he admitted “I have been drinking a lot and I might forget when the trade was… I need to keep track”. So I did as he wished, then headed home at 4am. Overall, it was a good night, one to remember for sure.
     
    Hopefully I can get the next tale out in a more timely fashion. 

  10. killerkobra
    So apparently I do not know how to use the publish time feature because I entered the wrong date. Looks like I still have issues entering data into devices just like I did in this story....

    I am sure this next story has happened to pretty much everyone at some point in their lives. It is not a long story that needs a big long set up or write up. It is the dreaded classic... The wrong address.  And why was it wrong? You may assume I was giving the wrong address but no, I entered it wrong on Google Maps. This was back when Google Maps was relatively new, and I was a complete n00b using it.
     When I found the Kijiji ad for a lot of NES goodies, I was overjoyed to be making a deal for a boxed Power Pad and the notorious Power Glove. It was one of those deals where the guy was selling off his entire childhood collection, everything was like $30. The deal was set for the next morning. I woke up to a frosty -30 C cold spell but I muscled a head and made the 30 min drive to the house or so I thought...
     I arrived just as the sun was coming up which was roughly 8 am. I ran up to the door to avoid freezing and rang the doorbell. I waited but there was no answer. There was nothing at first but after a little while I could hear footsteps. So, I continued to wait, and the cold began to set in. I finally heard the lock pop and door swung open. In the doorway stood an overweight, 70-year-old lady wearing an all-too-short night gown. She literally eyed me up from head to toe with a huge grinning seductive smile. My skin begins to crawl, and I distractedly asked about the Nintendo items. I was thinking it was the dude’s mom or grandma, only to have her look completely confused. Totally embarrassed, I apologized for the mistake. She said "no problem at all" with one last smile and I bolted back to my truck. I called the guy and could barely concentrate on asking his address again. Turns out it was just down the street, so I headed over and completed the deal with no further issues except trying to forget the site I had just witnessed
  11. killerkobra
    So this was one of those mysterious deals that I never got a name or a phone number. Way back when Kijiji was new, you could only contact each other by phone number or email. If the seller never left a phone number, email was the only way to communicate. Some times in the name space, instead of actual name it would be just a letter like "H" or a period "." and that is it. So you had no clue who you were talking to.
    One Saturday morning, I replied through email to an ad for a CIB Golden Sun and a CIB Golden Sun 2 The Lost Age for GBA. It was a solid deal at the time, so I had to follow it up. The email reply I got back had no name attached to it. Not only that, it was also very vague and short. It basically said the deal was on and to meet in 20 mins at a Walmart parking lot on the West end of the city. That was all I needed to hear, so I got in my truck and took off.  
    It was a beautiful warm summer day and I had just arrived at the very busy Walmart parking lot. I sent another email stating I had arrived and that I would be waiting in a black Chevy truck, close to an Asian restaurant at the back of the lot. I often did this to avoid the crowds, traffic and so that I would be more visible. I never got a reply from this person, “typical” I thought to myself, so I sat there hoping they would find me. To get the nice summer breeze, I had my windows down and I peacefully listened to my NES tunes on my crappy truck stereo. A few minutes had passed and then about a mile away, across the chaotic parking lot I noticed a long curly orange haired person lurking about. Having nothing to do but wait, I sat and watched (I possess a ton of experience people watching from my travels to Europe) This creepy, straight backed person consistently lurch in my direction like a zombie robot. It was beyond bizarre to locate this person a mile away for no reason at all, then watch them slowly but steadily walk in my direction. It must have taken 8 solid minutes for this person to get close to me. I did not get out of my truck since I wasn't completely sure if this was the Kijiji dealer or not but they did in fact come right up to my window. I said "Hello" with money in hand. The games were giving to me and the money grabbed out of my hand with out a single word said or eye contact even made through their thick glasses. It literally took 3 seconds to do the deal, then this person spun around and started to walk back the exact same way they came.  
    If you noticed I never stated whether this person was a he or a she... The reason for that is simple.... I have absolutely no idea if it was a boy or a girl. The long curly hair made me think that it was a girl but the body and facial features looked more masculine. There was zero expression on their face the few seconds I saw it. He/she was wearing the most neutral outfit that made it even more impossible to tell whom I was dealing with.  "What’s That? It's Pat!" I watched them walking away for a bit completely confused before I decided to just leave. I cranked the tunes and peeled out of there. It was a really nice pick up and it really didn’t matter if it was a boy or girl but it just added to the whole oddity of this deal. No name, no talking and I was left scratching my head the whole way home.

  12. killerkobra
    Back in my prime Kijiji collecting years from 2010-2012, before kids and even before my girlfriend (now wife) lived with me. I really didn’t know how good I had it. Deals were everywhere literally all the time. So having a girlfriend that was very busy with College, I was free to roam around the city, chasing video games with next to no commitments. Oh the glory years! So I often would go after deals regardless of how small or non-epic they were. It was just fun to do. This one in particular was for a few Sega Master System games which included Double Dragon. Playing DD with a good friend as kids, it was the one I wanted the most from this lot. I contacted the guy over email, we did the regular song and I headed out.
     
    When I arrived, I noticed right away that it was an old rundown apartment. I circled the block looking for a place to briefly park, but it should have been no surprise that there was no parking anywhere. This was the congested inner city which was chaotic during this time of day to say the least. So with no other options, I parked in a tow away zone and raced to the apartment’s front door assuming the deal would take only seconds. What happened next (which would become all too common) pisses me off beyond belief and really brings my piss to a boil. I ring the door buzzard and this middle aged, bald, skinny dude with John Lennon glasses comes flying down the stairs and opens the door at Mach-1. I stand there staring at him in disbelief.... NO GAMES IN HAND.... Like what? Why not bring them with you and do the deal in the doorway? It’s not like there was a 100 games to carry down… just 4! Then he instructs me to follow him up the stairs, which were in fact, 5 flights of stairs to be exact. This was the exact thing I did not want to do, burn up more precious time. Every second further risking my truck getting ticketed or even worse, towed away.
     
    The air was thick and musty due to no air flow or air conditioning. It felt like Stairway Level in NES Ghostbusters trudging up those stairs. The place was just plain old dirty and I didn’t like it. We get to his apartment door, he unlocks it and goes in. Just before I step in, he spins around and looks me dead in the eyes and says "leave your shoes on" (it is common for shoes to be removed when you walk in someone’s house in Canada). So, I leave my shoes on and he leads me into the kitchen. This was the barest apartment I have ever seen in my life. The kitchen counters we completely empty. The only thing I could see was a tiny beat–up couch with a laptop on it off in the corner of the “living room”, I assume the same laptop we made the deal on.  He leads me through the kitchen to the other side where a table without any chairs stood. On this kitchen table and all around it in a 10 foot half circle were empty DVD cases... Like a thousands of them. DVD cases stacked from the floor up to the table and then from the table top to the ceiling. It was like a massive plastic monument paying homage to the DVD gods. The 4 games where on a smaller stack off DVD’s at the very edge of this table. I paid the $10 for the games with no words said, reluctantly turned my back to him and got the hell out of there. Thankfully my truck was there when I got back without any tickets.
     
    Thinking back, it was quite an impressive stack of DVD cases.
  13. killerkobra

    The Beginning

    By killerkobra,

    Greetings and salutations,
     
    I have decided to get more active on this forum like the old days of NA. So I am going to be posting excerpts from a long lost NintendoAge Magazine article that sadly never made it to print. Keep in mind most of these stories were written in the 2010-2012 era, I only wrote them down after telling them to co-workers who found them extremely bizarre and entertaining. I probably could have applied more editing but I am definitely not a writer. So no matter how many times I edit this, it will still have mistakes. I plan to release the stories every Friday until I have no more.  Enjoy.
     
    Kijiji Tales 
    By killerkobra
     
    My NintendoAge name is killerkobra, I'm from Edmonton Alberta Canada. That's pretty far north, in fact I live in the highest populated northern city in North America. Maybe even the world!! Wow.  As you can imagine it gets pretty darn cold up here and some years we have winter 8 months straight. One thing I can say about Edmonton is that it's no slouch when it comes to video games. I can recall all sorts of consoles and systems since I can remember. Intellivison? Sega Master System? TurboGrafx-16? 32X? Check, check and check, played them all as a kid at my friends’ houses. I still own my original Sega Cd. 
     
     In the year 2010 it really dawned on me that I really loved my retro video games and I decided to start video game collecting exclusively. I had a solid collection built up from childhood and being a casual collector at this point. YouTube was in full swing with excellent channels like Angry Video Game Nerd and Happy Video Game Nerd.  In reality I have been collecting video games since I was 4. The very age I got my first video game console, the Nintendo Entertainment System Action Set. I was hooked like many of us, and luckily enough, I still own every item I have ever acquired video game related. But I never really got into the serious side of collecting until early to mid- 2010 and around that time I also discovered a little site called Kijiji. Ahh Kijiji, similar to Craigslist in USA, I quickly discovered that it should have been called Adventure instead of Kijiji...
     
    Now there's a ton of stories to tell about Kijiji. Trying to find an address's (even with GPS can be impossible) fighting traffic, driving long distances, horrid weather but the best thing about it is meeting the oddest people… Or maybe it was the video games… Ya, Ill actually say it was the video games.
     
    There are the types of deals:
     
    The, Score!
    The, I need a beer
    The, Ewe gross!
    The, wow where am I?
    The, am I going to die?
    The, stood up
    The, bizarre
    The, crooked 
    The What the...?
     
    Often these types overlap each other. 
     
    A lot of the deals I did back then felt like I was walking on egg shells. I never wanted to seem over excited or forward with the person I was dealing with. So a lot my methods back then are sketchy as hell to say the least. Not like I am trying scam people sketchy but  more like "ya sure I can come up into your creepy filthy apartment" or "You are creeping me out over email, but ya sure lets meet face to face"
     
    Pop Goes my Video Game Kijiji Cherry 
    (The Eww! Gross)
     
    Now, when I started to get serious about collecting I really wanted a Sega Master System in my collection. When I was about 8 or 9 my best buddy got one from his older cousin. Long nights playing Double Dragon and Ghostbusters to say the least. Sadly, once we got a little older he sold it and I had wanted one ever since. So when I first discovered Kijiji I went on and what do you know??? There was a CIB system with about 12 games that were also all CIB with the Sports Controller ( with the track ball ) and Control Stick controller, also both CIB.  I was working nightshift at the time so I went to his house at about 7:30 AM, it was a text book deal. Went to the door, exchanged the goods for the money and I was gone. (I made friends with this guy about a year later, he was a hard core collector himself...but that's a different story)  Once I got home, I then wanted to clean everything I had just bought. Being second hand and used I figured a quick wipe down was in order. I opened everything up and that was when I noticed that the system, games and controllers all had some sort of brown sauce on them. Let’s just say I hope it was brown sauce like BBQ or Hp...  Not only the sauce but there was also numerous hairs all over the Styrofoam, not short and curly,  thank the Gaming Gods!!! Everything was in good condition once the chocolate swirls were removed wearing my HAZMAT suit and rubber gloves. What was this brown sauce? We shall never know and I am ok with that also long as it’s gone. That was the first adventure of many. 
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