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Hi all! This is my first time posting, and just wanted to say that this is a fantastic place to learn and is probably one of the best uses of a forum I have seen on the internet.

So today a friend gave me an old Nintendo (NES, the kind from 1985) and a few games that went along with it to feed my gold recovery habit. When I opened up one of the games I was greeted to the first picture below. Obviously the fingers are something to harvest, but I wanted to know if the area annotated in the second picture (the area with the bright pink line, and the parts that it connects to) would have any gold underneath the green mask? I don't know if there would be any reason for the metal underneath to be plated with gold, but I would be happy to be wrong. I did scratch away a small portion of the green mask but couldn't really tell if there was any gold underneath (figured that since the gold layer is so thin, I would have probably scratched that off too).

Also, if there is gold underneath, what is the best method for extracting it?

Thanks for any help!
 

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These carts still sell for $3 to $5 depending upon which game they are (if they work).

We just sold an orig nintindo (the 8 bit thing), with 4 controllers, the IR remote station (to run 4 controllers at once), and 6 carts for $65. Had a garage sale, the nintindo was listed in the craigs list add, and we got a phone call on it, and sold it the night before. At the sale, there were about a dozen people looking for it.

So what I am saying, is there is still a pretty strong resale value on those old 8-bit nintindo's. Actually, for young kids, they are still one of the best things out there, much better than the newer gaming systems, as they are simple enough for the really young'uns to play.

If they are broke, then yes, they are pretty decently plated. However, if they are working, you will get much more money out of finding a buyer of the working item, than you will recovering the few cents of gold value in them.

Jim.
 
Nooo! You can't kill a classic like that!

Nintendo have just recently stopped support for the original NES so now anything related with it should start going up in price as people will have to repair them themselves.

It's worth more intact than the value of gold in it.
 
I can understand people smashing old computers, but HOW :shock: CAN YOU SMASH AN OLD NINTENDO?????????????? :evil:
I can't look at it. :(
No gold cost the nights i spent killing zobmies and playing tanks when i was little.
 
ooh my, from the look of his pic he has already taken at least one apart!

And that looks like a snes cartridge to me. I have experience at this...I got mad at super mario world and threw it against a wall. It looked just like that, and in fact, it still played like that too. But if I remember my useless history facts correctly, the 8 bits were the same size as the 16 bit, but stuck in a huge case to reach the receiver inside the console.

This brings back old memories of me and my dad playing duck hunt together. Good times, miss the old fella sometimes.
 
Yikes! I didn't know I would elicit such responses :)

Sorry for offending anyone, but these days nothing is safe from my search of gold bearing objects... One thing I like to tease my wife about is when she says some snarky remark while I'm sitting next to her laptop, and I'll come back with "Hey... I wonder how much gold is in this thing?" :)

Anyway, any clues as to if the metal underneath the green mask might be gold plated? If not I'll just harvest the fingers. Thanks again!
 
Many boards have gold plating under the solder mask. Check my Guided Tour link below for more information (in the Forum Guide Section under Solder Mask).

The surface mounted components on the board are a white color, therefore they are likely resistors (possibly mounted upside down) or fusible links. Check them with an ohm meter out of circuit . If they measure a anywhere from a dead short to less than 100K ohms they are resistors. If they measure above 100K ohms they are possibly monolithic capacitors.

Steve
 
I disolved my kids old nitedo game, added lil bit to the pot of gold, Never did like that thing, thought it a waste of time. they are grown now so it was fair game,maybe if i learned the game this computer wouldnt boggle my mind, for years I thought they were a waste of time and never would use one , till I figured out the information one can find with one, just now starting to use a microwave, and am afraid we will forget how to use a stove! heck if I knew you guys like those games would have given it away.still have the Integrated chips if someone can use them. if not they will get disolved,
 
Well guys (R&B and others) I think he missed the point :roll: Why distroy an object that you can sell for $5 (to put towards $5 worth of gold) to collect $.50 worth of gold :?: Something looks wrong with the math :? IMHO :wink: :)
 
I have tons of good stuff in my barn i could sell, never have been a sellsman, mainly just a junk collector, stuff others throw away, to me a machine is useful, when not needed I part em out and make another machine, till its no longer usefull,then recycle it, the electronics I do the same, dont sell em, but will give em away,to me the tiny amount of gold that is put into electronics or on jewelry is better as metal recycled, games are not usefull to me, didnt know of any children who would like it,there is very little gold in the world, and it someday again may mean this countrys freedom or standing in the world, so if a tiny amount of it can be recycled, and help that it may serve us better than games, or a couple of dollars, (which dont mean much to me either as long as my family is fed) coarse yer right ifn I had a few dollars I could buy some more stuff to dissolve, heck most of the stuff we disolve could be sold to someone else for some other use, girls love jewlery, others collect ect, are you guys mad at me cause i disolved a silly game? lets get over it and help each other find stuff to disolve before some girl wants to put it on and go to town, or sombody wants to put it in their computer, the metals are precious,
 
I wonder what you guys would say if I told you I tore apart my old pong game. :D It was full of silver!
 
OMG said:
I wonder what you guys would say if I told you I tore apart my old pong game. :D It was full of silver!
Click to expand...

There are certainly times where old systems (no matter how much sentimental value), have an end of life decision. However, even if you think something has come to end of life, if there is still a pretty strong market, where it has more value than the scrap value, then is it wise to scrap?

I know that people are using the "better to scrap, than to land fill", and that is a great goal. However, "it is much better to reuse than to recycle" is still a much stronger justification.

I know the feeling. I shed a tear or 2, tearing up my first VIC20 (and later a C64) for scrap. But the re-use of those items is pretty much over.

People scrapping something that was headed for the dump, is still MUCH better than letting the item hit the dump, especially when there is a small amount of a VERY FINITE WORLD SUPPLY of certain substances contained within (like Au, Ag, Pd, Pt, etc).

As for scrapping this nintindo cart, siannopollo made a good choice in scrapping vs allowing it to dump in the landfill. Others here have brought up facts (or beliefs) that a larger monetary return could be obtained from that item. I do not think siannopollo scrapping this was a bad thing, and I would have myself, if I did not know that I could sell it for 10x what I could obtain yanking the gold out. But, there is no absolute in this thinking either. I have scrapped a lot of PC's and boards, which worked just fine, and IF (big IF) I could have found someone who really needed it, I am sure that I could have obtained more for the working unit, than the few dollars worth of gold that "might" be contained within it.

Just a few people thinking outside the box, giving suggestions on how to obtain value for someone else's junk is what I am seeing in this thread.

Jim.
 
Looking at the wear on the Nintedo cartridge finger...I wonder if there would be an accumulation of gold inside the machine where the game plugs in?
 
I agree Husker, was kinda pullin on the chain,I part the non working boards for parts to build new electronics circuits with,and I recycle just about everything, I wasnt debating your point but and I found it very wise.well Ill pull a tree huggers chain if I say I recycle trees building my barn and heating my house, then useing them to fertilize my garden and grow trees, well nitentedos that get put in trash may one day be recycled,our dumps are probabbly richer in precious metals than most mines, now theres a source for our gold. :roll:
 
This reminds me of the guy that wanted to melt down coins for the gold, turned out the coin was worth twice as much as the gold value. Of course, coins never wear out, and eventually toys stop working.
 
Rag and Bone said:
Looking at the wear on the Nintedo cartridge finger...I wonder if there would be an accumulation of gold inside the machine where the game plugs in?
Click to expand...

Negative. You all would be very proud that after I got my mitts all over the games, I very tenderly opened up the NES console to have a look inside. Absolutely no gold to be seen anywhere, even on the contacts where the game plugs in.

So, I guess I'll be selling it on Craigslist to the highest bidder (or giving it away on Freecycle to the first bidder).
 

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