Drunksaling is a harsh mistress - if you don't know where to find the proper sales or have a gameplan mapped out from the moment you walk out your door, you can end up as roadkill. That's why unitdaisy and I have mapped out this filler insightful article on how to pinpoint valuable sales and optimize your chances of finally tracking down the oh-so-elusive TurboExpress!

Step One: A Plan of Action

peccaui: We start planning our Saturdays a day or two in advance. unitdaisy collects the garage sales from some of the local newspapers. The Chicago Reader and the Chicago Tribune help us track down the scum of the earth that try to pawn off junk to individuals on a weekly basis.

unitdaisy: I have to scan through hundreds of classified ads hyping unused wedding dresses and bar stools. It's a sad, sad job.

peccaui: Then she sends me a list of all sales she collected - ranging from your standard garage sales two months away to people trying to sell urinals. It's my job to filter through the upcoming sales and pick out which ones look hot, and which ones are not.

unitdaisy: Most of the replies I get are no, no, no, and no. No to rummage sales, no to church sales, no to anything mentioning baby things, no to anything in Andersonville.

peccaui: You can see just how much time and effort I spend on this section moderating message boards.

peccaui: I typically email unitdaisy the sales around 5am Saturday morning, much to her dismay.

unitdaisy: Meaning I have to get up extra early on Saturday, and I am that much surlier for the day.

peccaui: She takes a look at the list and maps each carefully selected point out by using a pre-fab map she created and works out a path of direction. You might want to note that we do not own cars, as allowing either of us behind a wheel in Chicago would inevitably lead to several traffic violations and a higher-than-average obituary count in the Sunday newspaper.

unitdaisy: Cars sometimes get in the way on the city anyway, it is always hard to find parking and sometimes you end up walking further than you would from a bus stop. Now if we has segways! That would solve all our problems!

peccaui: Now the most important part - getting my ass out of bed. It's harder than it sounds!

unitdaisy: I dread this the most every week. After getting up early to finish the map, then I have to bully this out of bed.

peccaui: My first reaction is of pure disbelief and attempted ignorance...

peccaui: But finally I wake up - the allure of getting my fingers on a Sega Master System cannot keep me from getting more than two hours of sleep today!

Step Two: General Tips & Tricks:

Now that you have some structure to your garagesaling, you will need to bear in mind the following:

Pick sales smart, not hard.

It's easier to go to a few sales that look promising rather than try and hit up as many as you can. If you have a car, it's possible that this may not be a problem but if you are in an urban area and on foot it's practically impossible to hit every one. Look for specific keywords in the descriptions. Electronics are always decent - anything with baby paraphanelia is bad. Electronics usually point towards a geek in the house, and all geeks love cutting edge toys - be it speakers or consoles. Baby crap only shows that you're dealing with a family that is just starting to grow up, income is starting to come in and there's not much in the way of games there. Any description with comics or movies are quality - fanboyish tendencies often encompass all genres. Anything that points towards adolescence can be promising, but often can blow up in your face - often early teens will price their own games, and often overcharge plus only have common items - sports games, PSOne's, that kind of thing.

Get in, get out.

I'm not someone for small talk or dwaddling - I get in, check for games or other interesting artifacts and haul out there. I suggest that you do the same, otherwise you'll be stuck talking about the weather to a 75 year old woman trying to sell you antiques.

Not all console AC Adapters are created equal

There are too many instances where we've purchased consoles without an AC Adapter or A/V cord. For some consoles, these aren't too problematic (the first generation Genesis for example,) but often it can be more trouble than it's worth. Unless the console is rare, it's best to wait until you've found the Entire package.

Game boxes don't always contain games

Pretty obvious, don't you think? There have been a few instances (mostly when we purchase a load of stuff) that we neglect to check gaming boxes or disc sleeves to make sure what we're buying is what we want, and that it's in decent condition. Every time we have neglected to do so we've been screwed. Don't be a sucker like us - double check everything!

Step Three: Get Out There

Well, that's all the wisdom we have to depart. If you can think of anything else, feel free to leave comments to correct us - now get out there and find some games!