DeathKeep for PC ($3)

I just can't pass on boxed AD&D games from the 90s, even ones like DeathKeep that haven't aged especially well. This copy still had the free phone card intact. Anybody remember that short-lived trend from the mid-90s? Since everyone has a cell phone now it's very antiquated, just like 1-800-COLLECT. I am so incredibly tempted to try it but also scared where the phone number will take me.

Dr. Chaos for NES ($5)

This was at Half Price Books along with about a dozen other NES games. I leafed through the manual and this doesn't look half-bad. Seems like it has some point-and-click adventure elements. It might be awful but it's worth a try.

First garage sale of the year

Thanks to either global warming or normal weather cycles we had a very early spring out here. The first garage sale I spotted was in late March and I found a couple cool items there. They had a boxed copy of Outlaws, including the hint book, for PC for $2. I never played it but it's a LucasArts game so it can't be bad. I also got a couple GBA-GameCube cables for 25¢ each. The GBA case was also 25¢ and I needed something to store all these cables in anyway.

Monopoly for Sega Genesis ($5) and PlayStation Memory Card Reader ($2)

Last year I found out there's a niche collector's market for cardboard boxed Genesis games. Seems incredibly specific even by my strange standards. I have no intention of ever getting into it myself yet here I am buying a cardboard box version of Monopoly. The really interesting piece here is the PlayStation Memory Card Reader which was produced by Sony. Nowadays it seems like something they would shun but maybe I'm wrong.

Works with Windows Millennium Edition

Hmmm.... "Works with Windows Millennium Edition" eh? I just might take them up on that offer.

EA Sports TV Games ($1)

This was another garage sale find. I always thought it was odd they chose the '95 editions for these franchises. Both had versions up to '98 produced for the Genesis, they would presumably be better. Diehard fans of the NHL series swear that '94 is the best installment though. So either way the '95 version doesn't make a lot of sense.

Double Dribble ($1), How to Win at Nintendo Games ($2), and Atari's Greatest Hits ($1)

Here are a few more items from Half Price Books. The Nintendo book is the most interesting item, I rarely see ones this old there. Double Dribble is of course a very common game but I haven't seen one with the box in near perfect condition. That Atari collection is now the 300th one I own (plus or minus 150) but it was only a buck.

Red Dead Revolver ($2)

Like the last couple of years there are tons of cheap Xbox and PlayStation 2 games at garage sales right now. It probably won't last much longer so if you're interested in collecting either of those systems now is the time. I'm only after a few titles for each of them and by luck this was one of them.

Almost my greatest find ever

Like everyone else in the Chicago area, I head up to middle of nowhere Wisconsin many summer weekends. Those small towns would be so nice if they weren't filled with all us Chicago jerks. On one of my trips I paid a visit to a random antique store and almost had a heart attack when I saw a Microvision box on the shelf. For those unfamiliar with the system, it was the first cartridge-based handheld system and is extremely rare. I lunged across the store only to find the box was empty. I interrogated the staff and they said they never had the system, just the box. They only wanted $2 for the box though so the visit wasn't a total loss.

Double Dragon (the movie) soundtrack (10¢)

After leaving the aforementioned antique store I spotted a garage sale sign and hoped my luck would improve. When I got there I saw about 20 boxes of cassettes for 10¢ each, mostly 80s butt rock. I don't even own a cassette player but I had to look anyway. Glad I did because I found this priceless gaming item. OK, maybe not priceless but still neat.

Some additions to my Doom shelf

I have a shelf in my gameroom dedicated to the Doom & Quake series. Over the course of 2012 I added the Game Boy Advance version of Doom and a couple books from Half Price Books. Seeing that Game Boy Advance version just makes me sad that there was never a DS or PSP version. Seriously, does Id not like money or something?

Rescue: The Embassy Mission ($3)

Alright, time to wrap up a pretty disappointing year with a decent find. I've been wanting to try this game since I first saw an ad for it 20+ years ago. There was a brief time when it seemed like every Kemco game on the NES was amazing. Unfortunately I never saw a copy back then and forgot about it until I saw it at Half Price Books for only $3. At least the year ended on a positive note.