The way I see it, one day when a lot of my retro gear will cease to be operational or will deteriorate, I will have to abandon it (more like it will abandon me 🤣 ) and end up playing everything on a modern rig on DosBox 😢 for nostalgia reasons. I really don't want to do that, but I think it is inevitable....There will be some lucky blokes who will have some working hardware that may even work long enough to hand it down to their children (if they are interested). For now, I would say I am a 'mild hoarder' and collect retro gear to suppress the 'inevitable' from happening as much as possible. I agree with many like snorg:
snorg wrote:There's a guy that runs some retro gaming site, I forget which one. He may even read Vogons. Maybe it is Blake? I don't think it is Trixter. Anyway, he has set up really nice room in his basement for his retrogaming stuff, where his collection is showcased rather than just having a mountain of stuff.
We all have different means and talents, but I would like to do something more like that rather than just having a disorganized mess of things.
I totally agree with this, and this is what I have been striving toward since I started 'collecting'. A also totally agree with many that talk about having everything organized even in storage. It does really help getting rid of things that you know you will not need now and anytime in the future. Once I organized all of my stuff it really became a little more clear what I would need and what I should get rid of, but of course, you never really know what you may need down the road! 🤣 You never know when you'll get the retro bug to build a system that needs parts that you may have in storage.
What I do to keep the costs down for what I spend on retro gear is that I only buy things that I can get for a good price and in large lots. That's the fun in collecting all this stuff. I find it very exciting that things that cost an arm and a leg back in the day can be had for so little today (for the most part). Also, being able to buy fully functional retro stereos, gaming consoles, computers and other electronics from an era when things like that were built so well make me happy too. Seeing "made in the USA", "made in Belgium", "made in Canada", and "made in Japan" is much better than "made in China" for the most part. I would rather use a solid old telco phone from the 70's and 80's that I got for $4 from a garage sale in my home (after I clean it with bleach of course!) than a new crappy plastic one found at any walmart store.
The only big bucks I have ever shelled out (that I can remember recently) is $100 bill for a complete ATARI ST4 system with keyboard, mouse, monitor, software, cpu unit, disk drives, and software (complete package) and $200 for Roalnd sc-55 and Roland ISA MPU-401 interface (with external box). I also have shelled out a few bucks for some MT-32 and other Roland and Yamaha gear, but for the majority of my sound units, I have pretty much only paid about $30-$70 each. Like many here, I only spend about $40-$60 per month on retro gear. I do have a pretty good, steady income from a good office job so I could easily spend more, but for me it would defeat the purpose and go against why I got into collecting in the first place.
I think why many of us have got into retro computing and older games is for nostalgia reasons, but much of it has to be attributed to the fact that, for the most part, a lot of older stuff is very cheap and can still provide us with hours of enjoyment. I find it amazing that I can still find an old PII computer for free, or a box of cool DOS games for $10, or a complete NEC P1 system (ready to go) complete with monitor, mouse, keyboard, onboard wavetable sound card for only $30!! Or a commodore 1701 CRT monitor for only $3 and a Voodoo3 card for $1, and a AWE64 Gold card for only $10! You get the picture....how can you stop buying when all of this cool stuff can be had for so cheap?? This is what drives us to collect and use all this old hardware for the most part. As much as everyone says it's for notalgia and whatever, if it cost a lot more, I think there would be a lot less people on Vogons and more people just playing everything on DosBox and other emulators.
It is getting more difficult to procure, but the fact is that old retro hardware is still grabage to many people, but gold to many of us, and they are willing to practically give it away in many instances!! Like it or not, retro collecting for most of us is based on this - pretty much seeking out people that think it is garbage and capatalizing on their indifference. It is really easy to get hooked on this and continue to build up a pile of cool old retro hardware (and software), but it does have to be controlled as there are of course other things in life to contend with.
Some of my 'rules' to keep me from becoming a full on hoarder:
- I consider retro hardware/software as a hobby for me...it's not my life (even though it does take up a lot of my time)
- Keep everything organized - the more organized, the more I can tell what I may not need and what I should sell.
- Allocate a finite amount of space for my collection - If it doesn't fit in the space I have allocated for my retro collection, I won't buy it.
- Determine what systems I ultimately want to have in my setup and try to concentrate on those systems, even if it is 10 different systems...at least this way I can narrow down my collection somewhat.
- Never spend too much and take my time - even though some things are becoming more scarce, it is not worth spending too much on something you may be able to find in a couple of months for much cheaper.
And of course, it should go without saying that things like my family, girlfriend, car, groceries, friends, job and rent should take priority over my retro gaming obsession 🤣