Encasing (Slabbing) Video Games
- scotland
- Posts: 2561
- Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:33 pm
Encasing (Slabbing) Video Games
Apparently, this has been going on for awhile now, but does anyone grade and encase (slab) their video games?
I don't, but I've never been a Display Collector who wants CIB versions of all their games.
- Retro STrife
- Posts: 2531
- Joined: August 3rd, 2015, 7:40 pm
Re: Encasing (Slabbing) Video Games
I never have and probably never will. I mostly collect to play and preserve games, rather than for display. However, there is a niche culture of it among high-end collectors -- particularly collectors of sealed Nintendo games (NES, SNES, and N64 mostly).
There is at least one useful purpose for it though-- getting a good grade means that the game will sell for a lot more. If you have a really nice sealed game for a desirable title, you could spend the $30 or $40 to have it encased and graded, and then more than make up for that by reselling it. In fact, there are even a few ebay sellers that scour ebay for cheap sealed games (usually from unsuspecting mom-and-dad sellers that don't realize what they have), just to buy them, get them graded, and then resell them for hundreds more. But it has to be the right game to do it, so that you make up the value.
Interesting story to that point:
The most valuable game I ever sold was one I didn't even suspect.... it was a sealed copy of Earthworm Jim 2 for SNES. A loose copy of that game sells for $20; a little pricey but no biggie. As for my sealed copy? Two guys fought over it on ebay, and it sold for $365... Turns out one of them was a legitimate collector of sealed SNES games, who is trying to get a complete set. The other one was an ebay reseller, who wanted to get it graded and resell it for a ton more money (heck, maybe even resell it to the same guy he just beat in the auction!). Well... the ebay reseller won it, but when he received it he decided that it wouldn't grade high enough, so he returned it to me. Fortunately, the collector was still willing to buy it, so the right person ended up with it.
Anyway... that was my one look into the crazy world of SNES sealed game collecting and reselling... While I was going through that process, I started reading up on it, and it's crazy that people are spending tons (like $500-$2500 for certain games), just to have them encased and sitting on a shelf, never able to be played. I certainly wouldn't ever get involved in that craziness again; it was just a coincidence that I had that one valuable SNES sealed game lying around from years back.
There is at least one useful purpose for it though-- getting a good grade means that the game will sell for a lot more. If you have a really nice sealed game for a desirable title, you could spend the $30 or $40 to have it encased and graded, and then more than make up for that by reselling it. In fact, there are even a few ebay sellers that scour ebay for cheap sealed games (usually from unsuspecting mom-and-dad sellers that don't realize what they have), just to buy them, get them graded, and then resell them for hundreds more. But it has to be the right game to do it, so that you make up the value.
Interesting story to that point:
The most valuable game I ever sold was one I didn't even suspect.... it was a sealed copy of Earthworm Jim 2 for SNES. A loose copy of that game sells for $20; a little pricey but no biggie. As for my sealed copy? Two guys fought over it on ebay, and it sold for $365... Turns out one of them was a legitimate collector of sealed SNES games, who is trying to get a complete set. The other one was an ebay reseller, who wanted to get it graded and resell it for a ton more money (heck, maybe even resell it to the same guy he just beat in the auction!). Well... the ebay reseller won it, but when he received it he decided that it wouldn't grade high enough, so he returned it to me. Fortunately, the collector was still willing to buy it, so the right person ended up with it.
Anyway... that was my one look into the crazy world of SNES sealed game collecting and reselling... While I was going through that process, I started reading up on it, and it's crazy that people are spending tons (like $500-$2500 for certain games), just to have them encased and sitting on a shelf, never able to be played. I certainly wouldn't ever get involved in that craziness again; it was just a coincidence that I had that one valuable SNES sealed game lying around from years back.
- Retro STrife
- Posts: 2531
- Joined: August 3rd, 2015, 7:40 pm
Re: Encasing (Slabbing) Video Games
This guy is the one from that story:
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- Posts: 605
- Joined: May 13th, 2015, 7:40 pm
Re: Encasing (Slabbing) Video Games
I just ran into this today, quite by accident. I stopped by a store in Portland (which has an amazing selection, but is priced as though you're buying from a collector who doesn't really want to sell), and another patron was talking to the dude behind the counter. The patron was sharing that he had a sealed copy of Inindo for SNES, and he had no idea when or where he had acquired it, and that he didn't really want it, as he liked to play the games he owned. The dude behind the counter was telling the patron he should get it stabbed. If I hadn't read this thread yesterday, I would have been as lost as the other patron was!
- Stalvern
- Posts: 1952
- Joined: June 18th, 2016, 7:15 pm
Re: Encasing (Slabbing) Video Games
Breaker wrote:The dude behind the counter was telling the patron he should get it stabbed.
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- Posts: 232
- Joined: January 29th, 2017, 2:43 pm
Re: Encasing (Slabbing) Video Games
I'm 100% against slabbing games. Games are not cards or coins. I'd love to take a hammer (and carefully) break them out of their cases.
- ActRaiser
- Posts: 1544
- Joined: April 8th, 2015, 12:38 pm
Re: Encasing (Slabbing) Video Games
Ha, I really don't see the point. Why attain a game if you can't play it? Might as well hang up posters instead.
- Gentlegamer
- Posts: 787
- Joined: April 7th, 2015, 1:01 am
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- Posts: 605
- Joined: May 13th, 2015, 7:40 pm
Re: Encasing (Slabbing) Video Games
Stalvern wrote:Breaker wrote:The dude behind the counter was telling the patron he should get it stabbed.
Oops. Darn autocorrect.
- scotland
- Posts: 2561
- Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:33 pm
Re: Encasing (Slabbing) Video Games
Gentlegamer wrote:PSA from Ron Jeremy on sealed/slabbed games:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvkXpRLspYE
Strangely enough, this is a completely safe for work video with Ron Jeremy. It doesn't even have any porn groove playing.