# Old Nintendo games



## Anonymous

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!


----------



## Rag and Bone

Nice fingers! Are those little monolithics on the board?

Collectors value will be greater than scrap on old games, easy.


----------



## Husker

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.


----------



## Jehu

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.


----------



## SapunovDmitry

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.


----------



## viacin

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.


----------



## Anonymous

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!


----------



## Anonymous

Rag and Bone said:


> Are those little monolithics on the board?



From what I've seen, yes.


----------



## lazersteve

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


----------



## butcher

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,


----------



## wildbill_hickup

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:


----------



## viacin

hickup, you have it.


----------



## butcher

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,


----------



## wildbill_hickup

Butcher,

Point taken, subject closed as far as I'm concerned :!: :lol:


----------



## OMG

I wonder what you guys would say if I told you I tore apart my old pong game.  It was full of silver!


----------



## Husker

OMG said:


> I wonder what you guys would say if I told you I tore apart my old pong game.  It was full of silver!



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.


----------



## Rag and Bone

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?


----------



## butcher

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:


----------



## viacin

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.


----------



## Anonymous

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?



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).


----------



## Gotrek

I have two old consoles I can't bare to throw away but also can't figure out how they work. An old Unisonic 2000 Pong console and commodore 64


----------



## viacin

These are collectors items if they work. The commodor 64 is worth about $30-$40. The Unisonic 2000 Pong is about $125. I'de sell 'em on ebay before I scraped them.

Commodor 64:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Commodore-64-early-REV-Revision-A-1982-tested-working_W0QQitemZ130265907879QQihZ003QQcategoryZ74945QQssPageNameZWD7VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em123

The UNISONIC TOURNAMENT 2000 PONG:
http://cgi.ebay.com/UNISONIC-TOURNAMENT-2000-PONG-IN-BOX-RARE-WORKS-F145037_W0QQitemZ320290005195QQihZ011QQcategoryZ139971QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247


----------



## Gotrek

That's what I'm missing that rf converter. I tried a new one had and it didn't work... The unit itself powers on.


----------



## g_axelsson

A little knowledge about the scrap we collect could give great rewards.

I picked up a mini computer a year ago, two cabinets with CPU, disk and other stuff. Totally about 200 kg and I figured that I would get in the vicinity of $150 for the metals and electronic scrap after taking out any gold.

But a little research (searching among completed ebay auctions) told me that some cards was worth money, up to $100 for a core memory board. So I put part of it up on Ebay and watched the results... The first 20 cards brought in $1650. A lot of the cards I thought was worthless, even the fingers were tin plated, brought in over $100 per card!
In the end the 2 pdp8e systems sold for close to $4500, about $10 per pound of scrap computer.
http://www.neab.net/pdp-8e/
:lol: 

Together with the computers there were some process control equipment that had no commercial value... but it had cards with gold fingers and heavy duty connectors, all gold plated. That part went into my gold refining. 

So, before just scrapping an unknown device check Ebay and learn what it is you are scrapping. After a while you get a feeling for what is worth the hassle and what is not. As a rule, any computer from 1980 and older is worth checking out. If you do't find it on Ebay and it's old it could be really expensive.

/Göran


----------



## bmgold

I once had an old motorcycle that I took to a swap meet to try to sell. Nobody had any interest in it. At the end of the show a couple people asked about parts and I ended up selling the gas tank and carburators from it and had to haul the rest home. It ended up being given to a neighbor for scrap. I would have been better off taking only a box of parts instead of the whole bike but you never know until you try. E-bay probably would have been a better place to get rid of the separate parts and I might have gotten more for it that way since there may have been more people bidding on it. It could be the same way for old computers and such. A single card or part of a device might bring more than the entire unit would since the shipping would be much less.

Just a thought. The time you spend posting an item on e-bay and then answering numerous questions may outweigh any profit you might get but a quick search to see what other similar items sold for could help determine if you should give it a try or just scrap it for the metals.

Like many things it is a gamble and you will probably always wonder what if reguardless of what you do.


----------



## Chumbawamba

Take it from me (the 800 pound gorilla of the computer collecting world): old computers are usually worth far more in collectable value than any precious metals they may harbor on their parts.

That PDP/8e systems that Göran sold off as parts would have been worth $3-5K PER SYSTEM as a complete machine. You robbed yourself, and I'm sure not a few of my fellow collectors stumbled upon those eBay auctions and cringed.

But, you didn't know, so what can you do. Live and learn. With the economy tanking the prices on stuff like this are dropping. But still, without all the work of tearing those systems apart, you still could've easily sold them off for more than the $4,500 you realized by selling them for parts.

Please, for future reference, anyone thinking about scrapping an old computer, especially something earlier than the 1980s, should first run it by me. I'll be happy to give you a quick appraisal. Contact me here, or through either of my websites: vintage.org or vintagetech.com.


----------



## g_axelsson

As a complete machine in running order maybe... and not in northern part of Sweden. The machine had cut cables and never been run in 20 years. It needed a lot of work.

It was actually advertised on the classic computer list so I don't think too many collectors missed it.
Anyhow, I rather moved it fast as it took up too much space in my apartment.

I do have a ND-100, Norsk Data mini computer and I'm looking for parts or complete machines from Norsk Data. I'm also looking for Datapoint 2200 computers and Data Automation naked mini computers.
Send me a PM if you have some.

The point is, don't get blinded by a small amount of precious metal. If you find some old computer equipment try to find out if it is valuable. If you need help, send Chumbawamba or me a PM and we will try helping identifying the computer.


----------



## Chumbawamba

Oh, hey, your name seems familiar. I'm not subscribed to the CC list anymore but follow it occasionbally in the archives.

Speaking of ND, there is this younger kid (he's probably in his early twenties by now) on the CC list who has one. I am forgetting his name currently, but I believe he also lives in Sweden, or it might've been Norway. Anyway, one of the Nordic countries. Do you know who I'm talking about? He also has a PDP-7 he was trying to bring back into working order.

I'm surprised no one went for the PDP 8/e on the CC list, but then if you moved it fast then it probably didn't give anyone a chance to decide. Even with cut cables there was still a chance to restore it, and surely someone in Europe would have readily paid you for it since shipping would not have been horrible.

Anyway, oh well.


----------



## g_axelsson

You are talking about Tore in Oslo, Norway. That is way south of me, close to a 1000 km drive. I have talked to him about the ND machines.

The first of my PDP8/e machines were already in pieces and was missing the power supply so it was a no brainer to sell it as parts. Then I didn't want to split the rest of the system, I wanted it to be as complete as possible so I put it out for bids during two weeks and it was finally shipped to a collector in Austria.
My sales page The ROM programmer was really the rarity I was told.
And the collector that got the system Look at februari 2008 delivery.

Gerhard that bought the system is on the cctech list. I know that several other buyers is also on the list.

I know that I probably had earned more if I had split the second system and sold it in parts but I have a soft spot for these old systems and wanted it to be restored.


----------

