My Boot Fair and Collecting Diary

Chris' eBay Sales

you never know what you might find listed there! Once I get rid of my duplicated games I will be selling some of the hardware that I have accumulated and that I will never use, there will also be some original games that I do not consider worthy of a place in what will become my 'core' collection. The adult Atari 2600 games fell into this category and have already gone.....these were games that I felt I would never play because of the content and they have been sold to other collectors. Why eBay? because I feel that this is the fairest way to give other collectors a chance to buy the games that I am selling - I do not want to trade unless it is for games for the G7000, Acetronic or Interton systems. Basically, trading will only serve to introduce more clutter into my house at a time that I am trying to cut down on the space that my collection occupies. I will be visiting the Boot Fairs when they start up again in the New Year but I will be a lot more selective in the items that I'll be buying. In the meantime please keep an eye on my auctions and please let me know if you have any items for sale that appear on my 'wants' lists.

I've had a few offers for items that appear on my collection pages, I guess that my selling the SuperVision and Mystique cartridges for the Atari 2600 may be responsible for this. Let me say that for now, all I'm trying to do is rationalise my collection and that this means selling off games and sets of games that are, in some way, duplicated elsewhere in my collection plus the odd few games that I'm never likely to play. This means that the non-unique Sears games, the Zellers games, the PlayAround games and the John Sands games are all going to be listed over the next few weeks. I'm hoping that the net result of this will be a reduction in the amount of clutter in my house but I'm yet to be convinced. Betty and I made it to the local Boot Fairs again this week but we wished that we hadn't bothered. Yep! you're right, there was no improvement over our last visit a couple of weeks ago.

Week Ending 8/9 September 2001

Just the one package this week. This time it's a set of 3 Rowtron TCS cartridges including the 'Monster Munchers' cartridge which I didn't have.

Week Ending 1/2 September 2001

My sales appear to be going quite well and I've successfully disposed of several duplicate items already - don't get me wrong, though, I'm still buying items that I need to complete my collections. One large parcel this week, from Germany. A 'Poppy' MPT-03 games system with one game, 'Alien Invader', that I'm missing. Interestingly, there was also a German brochure showing the complete 'Poppy' range of games consoles together with a selection of cartridges available for the MPT-03.

Week Ending 25/26 August 2001

A change of tack for me, I've decided that I really must clear out some of the items that I don't collect plus all the duplicate ones that are cluttering up my living room and junk room. I've decided that eBay is the fairest means to give everyone the opportunity to aquire my 'stuff' so keep an eye on my eBay userid 'chrishind' for some interesting gaming sales. All the way from Australia this week I got a parcel containing a 'Fountain' videogames console together with 5 loose games and a handfull of overlays. This unit is another Acetronic / Radofin / AudioSonic variant and a couple of the games that came with it, 'Basic Maths' and 'Head On', are ones that I have wanted for some time. We had an excellent time at the Saturday barbecue and didn't get to bed until 1:30 a.m.

Week Ending 18/19 August 2001

A lot quieter this week - only one small packet, a needed game for the Vectrex, 'Bedlam'. We visited our two local Boot Fairs this week but the net result of my searching for video gaming items was a big fat zero. We've been invited to a barbecue next Saturday so I reckon we'll have a lie-in next Sunday and give the Boot Fairs a miss.

Week Ending 11/12 August 2001

A classic week with at least one package arriving every day. There were no less than nine packages which resulted in 3 games for the Neo Geo Pocket Colour, a Rowtron Television Computer System with 2 needed games, a Schmid game ('Escape') for the Arcadia 2001, a Videomaster Colour Cartridge system with the pack-in game I was missing, 1 needed Atari 5200 game 'K-razy Shoot-Out', a Nordmende Teleplay system - a German Channel F clone - and a boxed Videomaster Database system with 2 needed games. Wow! What a week. I've only got four outstanding packages to receive so the next few weeks are going to be very quiet. On Sunday we made it to two Boot Fairs but the weather was not kind to us and it started to rain shortly after we arrived at the second one. I did manage to pick up a 'Game Genie' for the MegaDrive and 6 boxed MegaDrive games, including 2 more Japanese titles, before we gave up and returned home.

Week Ending 4/5 August 2001

A slow build up with two packages this week. The first was a boxed Radofin 1292 with 4 CIB Radofin badged games. The bonus part of this setup was a Radofin catalogue dated 1979 detailing the first 24 cartridges and announcing plans for another five. The second packet contained another ITT TeleMatch videocart (#1) for the Channel F system. We visited two Boot Fairs at the weekend but only one of them had anything of interest. Over two stalls I picked up 5 MegaDrive games, all CIB, and two of them were Japanese.

Week Ending 28/29 July 2001

Back in business with one package arriving this week. This one is for the Neo Geo Pocket and is the first cartridge, 'King of Fighters - Round 1'. We didn't get to the Boot Fairs on Sunday, Betty and I were still tired out after a day in London on Saturday.....I had managed to get a place on a weekly quiz show "The National Lottery Winning Lines". We had to be at the studios by midday for rehearsals and recording in the afternoon. I didn't win anything but it was a great day out and an amazing insight into the production of a popular television program.

Week Ending 21/22 July 2001

No packages this week at all! I told you it was going to get quieter. The Boot Fair was a bit better though :-) It was a MegaDrive weekend and I managed to pick up a complete MegaDrive system with 11 games, 8 of them CIB, for £20 - I didn't have the 8 CIB ones so that was a bonus. I also picked up another 4 CIB MegaDrive games at £1 each and a Saturn game (CIB), also for a pound. Finally there was a loose NES 'Barbie' which I got for 10p. Not a bad day.

Week Ending 14/15 July 2001

Just the 2 packages this week....and it's going to get quieter. Perhaps this will give me the opportunity to sort out the hundreds of games that are piled in boxes all over the house. This weeks offerings were a Videomaster Database console and three games for the Supervision handheld system. This weekend the local Boot Fairs let us down again. After 2 hours of hunting all I ended up with was a Japanese "Gynoug" (CIB) for the Sega MegaDrive. I think we may have to go a bit farther afield next week!

Week Ending 7/8 July 2001

A few more packages this week, 5 in total. This included 4 games for the Neo Geo Pocket with 'Densha de GO! 2' being the highlight here. There was also 1 more game for the Vectrex ('Fortress of Narzod') and the Absolute games 'Tomcat' for the Atari 7800. In contrast to the weeks activity, Sunday was a complete waste of time. Although we only visited one of our local Boot Fairs this week I didn't find anything at all worth buying. It wasn't that I was being 'picky', there just wasn't anything there :-(

Week Ending 30 June / 1 July 2001

Only 2 packages arrived this week but the contents were quite amazing. I was expecting a Radofin with 5 games in the package that arrived on Thursday but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was an Audiosonic PP1292 with 5 CIB Audiosonic labelled games. The package on Friday had the much wanted 'Backgammon' VideoPac for the G7000. The Sunday Boot Fairs were equally quiet and only yielded a small number of 'finds'. I got 2 more Sega Saturn games (including 'Steep Slope Sliders'). Next there was a boxed 'Safe Buster' Game & Watch followed by 5 CIB Sega Master System games at 50p each. Finally I spotted a Grandstand 'Game Player' LCD cartridge unit with 3 cartridges. An unusual machine this, a cross between Game Boy and Game & Watch. There was another "hopeful" at the end of one of the rows trying to sell a loose SNES with 4 games for FORTY pounds - just what planet do these people come from ?

Week Ending 23/24 June 2001

A quiet week for packets, just the one received from Brasil on Saturday - 'Nuclear Creature' for the Sega Master System. The Boot Fairs on Sunday more than made up for the lack of packages, however, with my best day this year. We visited our two favourite local Boot Fairs and the final result of around three and a half hours searching was as follows: NES - loose - with eight loose games, Sega Master System - loose - with 8 boxed games, 5 games for the Sega Saturn (including 'Panzer Dragoon 1'), 13 Sega MegaDrive games including 6 Japanese titles (5 of them CIB), a Commodore Game System with 3 games, two 'Pong' machines and a Texas Instruments TI 99/4a computer - complete in its original box (minus the sleeve). I passed by quite a few items too, mainly Sega MegaDrive and Super Nintendo systems whose owners seemed to think that their machines and games were exempt from depreciation ---- looks like they'll be taking them back home again :-)

Week Ending 16/17 June 2001

We had a lovely holiday on the Isle of Wight, exploring the tourist attractions, enjoying the unspoilt scenary and relaxing in the peace and quiet. I did manage to find a couple of items at Boot Fairs which were 3 (CIB) MegaDrive games and a complete, loose NES with seven carts. The main objectives of the week, however, were to get away from it all and have a good time. Both Betty and I feel that we managed to achieve this. On the way back home, we called in to see one of my Internet M8s. I have communicated with Ralph Smith frequently over the past few years and this was a great opportunity to meet him and his family. Ralph has the collecting 'bug' just as badly as me and it was a great relief to see that his house was as full of classic and neo-classic games as mine :-) I'd like to thank Ralph and Nikki for their hospitality and look forward to meeting them again in the future. Whilst we were away, the packages kept on rolling in!! Only four this week but they comprised of 'Scramble' (CIB) for the Vectrex, 3 games for the Neo Geo Pocket Colour and a boxed Saba console with 3 games. Betty and I were so exhausted after the week that we decided to give the Sunday Boot Fairs a miss for once.

Week Ending 9/10 June 2001

A VERY busy week for incoming games. There were no less than 13 packages this week so I'll detail them day by day. On Monday I got a Vectrex 'homebrew' game called 'Omega Chase' from Canada. This is a limited edition, signed copy, but it's also a very good game. Tuesday saw the arrival of 4 (CIB) Vectrex games which included 'Spinball' the pinball simulation. There was also a Neo Geo Pocket black and white system with 'Samurai Spirits' - a boxed special edition all the way from Singapore. Three packages arrived on Wednesday. The first one contained 7 Arcadia 2001 games and the 5200 cartridge "Star Wars: The Arcade Game". Next was a loose Vectrex 'Clean Sweep' cartridge and finally I got the very rare 7800 'Basketbrawl' (CIB) - that now completes my CIB collection of Atari made 7800 games. Thursday was not to be outdone and also yielded 3 packages. There were 3 Neo Geo Pocket Colour Japanese games, 'Fat Bobby' for the Atari Lynx and 'Star Wars: Death Star Battle' for the Atari 5200. On Friday there were FOUR packages! 'Casino Games' for the Atari Lynx completes my collection of Atari made games for this handheld system. There were another 4 Japanese games for the Neo Geo Pocket Colour and the Radofin 'Treasure Island' game (CIOB). Last, but by no means least, There was a box of 36 loose games for the Atari 5200 system. Most of the cartridges are in near mint condition and the box included 'Zaxxon' another game missing from my collection. We were due to leave for a weeks holiday on Saturday, but before we left there was yet another packet. This time it was 'Delta Warp' for the Neo Geo Pocket Colour, another Japanese game but with an English help file. Betty and I were now off for a well deserved break on the Isle of Wight, staying in a remote farmhouse in the centre of the island. This didn't stop me from seeking out a Boot Fair to visit on the Sunday. Despite the fine weather and a reasonably sized gathering, there were no items of interest for me. The farmhouse owner hinted that there were Boot Fairs throughout the week on the island so perhaps I might find something later in the week. Betty and I retired to the seclusion of the farmhouse to plan our week of island exploration.

Week Ending 2/3 June 2001

Another Bank Holiday weekend so it was off to the Boot Fair again on Monday. Whether it was the weather, which was overcast and cool, or the fact that most shops are open on Bank Holidays but the Boot Fair was very sparsley populated. In spite of this I managed to find a Panasonic 3DO system with 7 games and a sampler CD. I also picked up a Nintendo 'SCART' connection lead which I'm sure will come in useful. The rest of the week saw a slight improvement in packages with four arriving from the U.S. (2), Brasil and the U.K. I got one Atari 5200 game ("Zenji") and a boxed "Space Wars" for the Vectrex. Next there was "Battletoads" for the Sega Master System and finally a large box with 4 Radofin/Acetronic games plus "Soccer" boxed for the Vectrex and an empty "Cosmic Chasm" box with overlay for me to keep my loose Vectrex cartridge in. I had to work on Saturday morning rolling out IE5.5 and NT service pack 6a to our users. Sunday was another overcast day but the Boot Fair was quite large. As I've said before, quantity does not always mean quality. I saw quite a few stalls with overpriced MegaDrives and SNES systems but eventually there was a lady selling a SNES with 4 games and a U.S./Japanese converter for a fiver....that was my only purchase of the day.

Week Ending 26/27 May 2001

What a contrast....from last weeks 8 packages to this weeks 3, mind you there were some good games in there. First off there were 3 Atari Lynx games from the U.S.A. This included "Super Asteroids/Missile Command" and has left me with only 1 Atari made game card to find. Next up was "Super Cobra" for the Atari 5200, also from the States. And finally, from the U.S. again, there was "Hyperchase" for the Vectrex and four CIB games for the Emerson Arcadia 2001 system. So, after a quiet week would the weekend be any better? Sunday was a very warm and sunny day as we set off to the first one of a regular Boot Fair just outside Maidstone. They'd put their admission prices up to 50p per person so I was hoping to find some bargains to make it worth while. It was a very large Boot Fair but it took us about half way before I found anything worth buying and I was starting to get desperate :-) The first things I got were 2 CIB MegaDrive games for £2.50 each, not bad but a couple of stalls farther on there was a pile of NES games at one pound each - I managed to find 10 that I needed. Betty spotted a small bag with the Nintendo name on the side of it. Since she likes bags to keep various bits and pieces in she picked it up only to find that it contained a Yellow Game Boy (missing the battery cover) with 5 games and a magnifying light. "How much" she asked, "I was hoping to get £4 for it but we left the battery pack at home" replied the stallholder. "Would you take three pounds then" Betty responded. "O.K." was the reply. I think I've just started collecting for the Game Boy ;-) The final find was the "icing on the cake", another stall with a bin bag containing several NES games that I wanted. "How much are your games" I asked the young lady running the stall. "I wanted to sell the contents of the bag as a whole lot, just to get rid of it. I'm asking three pounds for the lot". DONE...inside the bag were no less than 15 NES games, a NES light gun, 3 NES controllers and a NES power pack...RESULT!

Week Ending 19/20 May 2001

The best week yet for incoming packets...a grand total of 8 and nothing arrived on Monday! So what did I get? Four Master System games, three Atari Lynx game cards, three Vectrex cartridges, two Atari 7800 games, two Atari 5200 games, one Saba cartridge and one Arcadia 2001 game. This little lot came from all over the world, Brazil, the U.S.A., Germany and England. Thank goodness that the packages were so prolific because the Sunday Boot Fairs were not. A dry, bright and sunny day with two Boot Fairs to visit. The first one was quite small and only had one stall with games on it. I don't think the stallholder had quite got the hang of the selling game...I picked up 5 MegaDrive games that were priced at £1 each and handed him a £5 note, he said "You can have the other 2 for the fiver as well, mate". Thanks very much, I wish all sellers were like that :-) The second Boot Fair was quite large but very dissapointing, only one purchase, a Sega Mega CD game for £1.50. Still, next weekend is a Bank Holiday so there's an extra day to go Booting!

Week Ending 12/13 May 2001

One thing I like about Bank Holiday weekends is that I can start and end my Diary with Boot Fair reports. Monday the 7th was another fine, dry and sunny day but with a cold northerly wind blowing across the Downs. We ventured out to what is probably the biggest Boot Fair in Kent. It took us 4 hours to investigate the many rows of stalls and, whilst it wasn't as fruitful as the Sunday visit, I managed to pick up quite a few 'goodies'. There weren't any systems worth buying but I did get 2 Sega Saturn games for a fiver each, 10 Mega Drive games at prices ranging from 50p to £2.50 and a couple of NES games at £1.50 each. Not outstanding I know but not a bad day. The parcels continued to flood in throughout the rest of the week. I got a total of 7 Atari 5200 games in 4 separate packages, all from the U.S.A. Next up was a Grundig SuperPlay machine from Germany, this one is the same as the Interton VC4000 units that were released in the U.K. There was also a Rowtron TCS system with 14 games (11 of them unique) from the U.K. This system is, I believe, another variant of the Acetronic MPU / Voltmace series...the titles are similar but the cartridge size and design is totally different. Finally there was a much awaited Vectrex game from the U.S.A. "Web Wars" is a tricky game to play, yet quite addictive. I reckon I need to put in some more practice. The end of the week saw more Boot Fairs. I couldn't make the Saturday one due to work commitments but we did get to our favourite local Boot Fair again on Sunday. This time I found a real bargain in the first row....a Sega 'Handle Controller' for the Master System. I first saw one of these a couple of years ago but at £15 I decided to think about it and when I went back to haggle, it had gone. This time I was determined not to miss out and at only a pound too, I guess it was worth the wait :-) There were some Master System games a few stalls further on, so at 50p each I picked them up for onward trading. I also picked up another MegaDrive 2, this time with 5 loose games for a fiver. The next find was even more interesting, a Binatone Colour Cartridge machine with no less than 4 cartridges. These are very early systems and it is unusual to find more than two different games for them. Finally I got a Videomaster 'Pong' machine, unboxed but still in its polystyrene packaging. It appears to have 6 built-in games but the gun to use with the two shooting games is missing. The strange thing is that the instructions and even the till receipt are still in the packaging so where the gun went will forever remain a mystery. Quite a good day, and a fitting end to a very fruitful weeks collecting.

Week Ending 5/6 May 2001

Just the four packages this week but there were some good ones. From Germany I got a pack of 3 Fairchild carts, one from NordMende, one from Saba and one from ITT....my first :-) From the U.K. I got the "Warbirds" game card for the Atari Lynx and from the U.S.A. I got two packages containing 3 Atari 5200 games, one of them CIB ("Ms. Pac-Man"). It was a Bank Holiday weekend so I expected the weather to be wet. How wrong can you be....Saturday dawned bright and sunny, if a bit cold, so we set off for a new Boot Fair. It's a shame it didn't live up to the weather. There were too many traders and not enough real 'Boots' so I came away with nothing. Sunday folowed the pattern of Saturday as far as the weather was concerned and our target was our favourite local Boot Fair. What a change from Saturday. In the first row I picked up 4 CIB Master System games at £1 each, 2 boxed 'Pong' machines at £1 each and a Pioneer MSX PS7 computer complete with data recorder and graphics tablet, plus software and manuals for a fiver. Phew! I had to go back to the car to unload. Now, as I've said before, you might think that this kind of luck would run out but I went on to find a loose Atari Jaguar with 2 loose games for a quid, another 'Pong' machine for a £1, a Sega MegaDrive 2 complete with infra red joypads, 4 games, cheat cartridge and all the manuals (plus some cheat books) for £15, and finally, on the last stall, a Sega Saturn game ("Clockwork Knight") for a fiver. A really great days Booting and the best I've had for many months.

Week Ending 28/29 April 2001

Six packages this week :-) Three packets from the U.S.A. brought me 4 Atari 5200 games plus two needed Intellivision games ("Happy Trails" and "Kool Aid Man"). Luiz in Brazil sent the third Sapo Xule title for the Master System. The fifth package was a large one from Germany and contained a working Vectrex system :-) with six loose games. The final packet came from the U.S.A. and contained the "D.P. Collectors Guide" - hours of reading enjoyment here. No Boot Fairs this weekend, I was away from home on a Disaster Recovery trial but as the weather was very inclement I don't think I missed much.

Week Ending 21/22 April 2001

Another busy week with another four packages arriving from the Americas. First off there were four Atari 5200 games from the U.S. Next there was a package of Master System games from Luiz in Brasil which included the highly prized "20-in-1" and "Mortal Combat 3" cartridges. The third package came from the U.S. again and contained 2 Atari Lynx games. Finally, Luiz came up trumps again with another 2 Master System games from Brazil - this time it was "Street Fighter II" and "FIFA Soccer". The local paper advertised that our favourite local Boot Fair was starting up on 22 April....Betty and I were hoping for good weather. Sunday dawned dry, cloudy and chilly but the sun was trying to break through. By the time we got to the Boot Fair it was really sunny but with a cold wind. There weren't that many stall holders but quality made up for quantity and I picked up a couple of Mega-CD games for £2 each in the first row. Next I picked up a couple of CIB Master System games for a pound and then I found a "Squish" Game & Watch, also for a pound. The same stall had a large bag of Commodore 64 tapes. When I asked how much the stall holder replied "Three quid for the lot - and you can have the bag as well".......Done! My final find of the day was a couple of MegaDrive games, CIB, for a fiver. When I got home I found that the Mega-CD boxes had a total of 5 different CD's in them. Two of them were magazine Demo disks and the other three were full games. The bag of C<64 tapes had 40 different games in it. Not a bad days haul and a good end to a very fruitful week.

Week Ending 14/15 April 2001

Well we tried! Easter Sunday was dry bright and sunny so we went off in search of a Boot Fair. About 40 miles and three sites later we gave up. Even though these Boot Fairs had been advertised there were signs at each one blaming the inclement weather the day before for their cancellation. Just as well that I had four packages arrive during the week. There were four Atari Lynx games, one from Germany ("Electrocop") and three from the U.S.A. There was also a CIB Atari 5200 game, my first, "Astro Chase" and finally a boxed Atari 2600 "Flag Capture" - this one is special because it has completed the early part of my 'boxed' Atari 2600 collection, I now have the first 64 games CIB :-)

Week Ending 7/8 April 2001

Quite a busy week this week. First off there were 4 boxed Master System games from Brasil - this one took 4 weeks to get here and I was starting to panic a little :-) Next there were 2 Jopac games from France followed by a box of 5 Atari Lynx games from the U.S.A. A boxed "Mario Bros." for the Atari 7800 came from Germany as did a CIB "Memory" Videocart for the Saba Videoplay system. Finally I received the second Smurfs game for the Master System "les Schtroumpfs Autour du Monde" (very hard to find this one) all the way from Finland. We actually made it out to a real Boot Fair on Sunday. The weather was fine, dry and sunny but that didn't attract the sellers. The end result was that I didn't find anything worth buying as most of the stalls were run by dealers asking far too much for far too little :-)

Week Ending 31 March / 1 April 2001

Even better this week with no less than four packages arriving. Two packages came from Brasil and contained 5 Sega Master System games including the second Taz game "Escape from Mars". The other two packets brought 3 Atari Lynx games. "NFL Football" and "Baseball Heroes" came from the Czech Republic whilst "Pac-Land" came from England. I was hoping to sort out and pack my Lynx games this weekend but there are still 9 games in transit so this task will have to wait for another week.

Week Ending 24/25 March 2001

A slight improvement this week with two packages received. The first one, from Germany, was the SuperVision handheld game cartridge "Linear Racing". The second packet came from England and contained the Lynx game "Rygar". I decided to use the 'tidying away' of the games I had on display for the television crew as an opportunity to get all the games for some systems together. This Sunday I sorted out my Atari 7800 games, they all fitted into one large box and now I have another box full of games for trade. I hope to get these trades listed on this site soon.

Week Ending 17/18 March 2001

Only one package arrived this week - an Atari Lynx game "Paperboy". I spent the rest of the week turning the dining room back into a dining room :-) and knocking my new computer into shape - I'm almost there, just the odd driver or two to install when I find the disks.

Week Ending 10/11 March 2001

Just two packets again this week. The first one came from England and contained an old Teleng console and 3 cartridges. The second, from Brazil, had 2 Master System games in it. The week was very busy, tidying up the dining room and turning it into a Video Game Haven! The TV crew arrived just after 9am on Friday morning and spent 3 hours filming the display - half an hour of this was an interview and another hour was spent with me playing a couple of games....my all-time favourite "Out Run" featured strongly here. The final programme, which is called '3 Minutes' will be broadcast to our local TV region which covers the entire south coast of England. I'll publish the date of transmission on this page, for those who are interested, as soon as I know it. Back to normal on Saturday and I finally cracked the problem with my new PC. It turns out that one of the SDRAM memory chips was faulty and Windows 98 is VERY fussy about the availability of all memory - unlike Windows 95. The new system is now up and running and I'm slowly getting all my applications loaded again.

Week Ending 3/4 March 2001

I can now reveal why I missed last weeks Diary update, and also why I haven't updated any of the other pages either - I started to upgrade my PC on Sunday 25th February. I have NEVER had so much trouble upgrading a PC before! I bought a new full tower case and transferred all the needed components across from my existing PC. When I booted up the machine the Windows 98 operating system started and then......nothing. I trashed the hard disk and reinstalled Windows 98 but was greeted with an IOS failure. Everything I have tried ends up with this error message so on Saturday 3rd March I rebuilt the old PC and that's what I'm currently using. What a nightmare! Fortunately (?) there were only 2 small packages that arrived in the week. One from England contained a boxed copy of "Motor Psycho" for the 7800 and the second, from the U.S., had a copy of "Shanghai" for the Atari Lynx. There was one bit of pleasant news towards the end of the week, our regional T.V. company - Meridian - contacted me to see if I would be happy to appear in a short program highlighting my games collecting and playing hobby. They're due to come round and film this coming Friday.

Week Ending 24/25 February 2001

I put off the computer upgrade this week...I'm still debating whether to buy a new tower case to house it in or whether to do some major modifications to my existing tower. There were only two packets this week, one of them from a trading friend in the U.S.A. which contained the 3rd of four Coleco Telstar cartridges and also 5 needed Atari 5200 cartridges. The second contained a pair of Atari Lynx games from the U.K.

Week Ending 17/18 February 2001

Two packages, three Lynx games....another very quiet week but it's probably just as well 'cos I'm upgrading my PC at the moment and I expect I'll be 'off the air' for a day or two very soon. I've just put a couple more SCSI hard drives in to bring my storage capacity up to 20gb. The next part is to replace the 200MMX motherboard with an Athlon 800 - a major task :-)

Week Ending 10/11 February 2001

Just the two packets this week, increasing the number of Atari Lynx games in my collection. I managed to start tidying up the store room a bit this week - I need to get my hands on some of my duplicate games so that I can arrange a few trades. I didn't realise just how much stuff I'd got lying around in there and I still haven't found the games I was looking for!

Week Ending 3/4 February 2001

A good week with no less than 5 packages arriving. The first was "Virtua Fighter Animation", a Brazilian game for the Master System which was followed by a box of 4 Lynx game cards both came from the U.S.A. "Turbo Sub" for the Lynx turned up from Germany whilst the second cartridge for the Coleco Telstar Arcade system arrived from Canada. Finally there was another Lynx game, "Power Factor", from the U.S.A. There's still a few parcels left to arrive which is just as well considering the bad weather we've had and its effect on the year round Boot Fairs - roll on the better weather.

Week Ending 27/28 January 2001

Just the two parcels this week but what a parcel the first one was! A boxed Fairchild Channel F system from the U.S.A. together with several VideoCarts, one of which was the last one I needed to complete my collection :-) The whole system is in immaculate condition and complete with manuals and warranty cards. The second packet contained two Atari 2600 ITT cartridges, one of which ("Mountain Man") I have been after for quite a while. Now I know that this should have brought the number of outstanding packages down to 1 BUT I've managed to find a few more items of interest, including 2 more cartridges for the Coleco Telstar, so it looks like the postman will be kept busy for a while longer.

Week Ending 20/21 January 2001

There's currently 8 incoming packages outstanding and when the postman walked past the house on Monday without stopping I thought that it was going to stay that way for a while. Wrong! Tuesday brought no less than 4 packages, all from the U.S.A. First off there was the last needed Game.com game "Wheel of Fortune 2". The next package contained 3 more Brazilian Master System games. The third one had the final 5 Odyssey 2 games that I was missing. And finally there was a Coleco Telstar console...an impressive triangular unit with a built-in steering wheel on one side, storage compartment for the light gun on the second side and paddle controllers on the third side - WOW! On Wednesday there was one packet from the U.S. containing a much needed game for the Channel F system, "Casino Poker" #25 - now I'm only waiting for one more VideoCart to arrive to complete the Fairchild set. That was it for the week, still there's only 3 more packages to come.

Week Ending 13/14 January 2001

The number of outstanding packages started to reduce right from the start of the week. Two packages arrived on Monday, one from Holland containing "Blobbers" for the G7000 and the second from the Germany with "Checkers" for the Fairchild Channel F system. On Tuesday there was one packet from the U.S.A. bringing me two more Brazilian Master System games. Unfortunately that was it for the week....the pre-Christmas mail is taking its time filtering through.

Week Ending 6/7 January 2001

Winter has gone away for the time being, all the snow has melted and persistant rain has turned the field where we walk Shandy into a water meadow again! This didn't stop the packages arriving though :-) First off there were two much needed Interton VC4000 games from Germany - now I only need 4 more to complete the collection. Next I got "Robocop 3" for the Master System from Brazil, and finally there was a large box with 30 Atari 7800 games from the U.S.A. I have most of them already but I now only need 2 Atari released titles for this machine. Not a bad start to the New Year but with only a dozen packages outstanding I think things are going to get really quiet very soon.

1 January 2001

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

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Diary for 2000

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