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Chi-Style Drunksaling: Vol. 5.11 - Last Call

October 27, 2006 By Glenn Turner

Unitdaisy and I were so inspired by the (now defunct) drunkgamers.com's garagesaling adventures that we decided to follow their example and searched about Chicago, scrounging for games and, when we were done, forced others to relive our experience.

For those unfamiliar with the term drunksaling, it's simple: it's kamikaze garagesaling for video games! The following events occurred on October 7th, 2006.

G. Turner: This week was more or less a fluke, as we honestly believed that there wouldn't be enough sales to constitute an outing. And while there weren't 20+ sales available, there were more than enough to bother leaving the house.

unitdaisy: Although it is debatable if there were enough to justify getting out of bed. If i could have left the house without getting out of bed then that would have been ideal.

G. Turner: While the collection is less-tawdry than you may believe it to be, I'm still a bit surprised that it's an item these folks were willing to sell off instead of ditch straight into the bin...

unitdaisy: There's a failed artist out there who might just be looking for inspiration.

G. Turner: ...especially when their sale was so meticulously set up. Normally sellers disperse with the shelves and just chuck every item on a sole table. Tasteful!

unitdaisy: Indeed! A rare gem in the wilderness.

G. Turner: The next sale was billed mostly as a collectors/toy sale, and we were like drawn to it like moths to a flame.

G. Turner: Luckily moths don't have to worry about low-clearance.

G. Turner: They weren't kidding about the toys. The sale consisted of two very long tables crammed full of boxed action figures.

unitdaisy: And they were still unpacking.

G. Turner: Let me tell you a tale about a man called Jayne.

G. Turner: McClane!! Bah. So that sale was a wash, but nothing compared to the next...

G. Turner: Does this sale look familiar? It should – we were just here a few weeks ago. These were the folks that belittled our search, spitting out 'we specifically said "no kids stuff"' when we asked if they had anything game-related. Of all the sales to revisit, we had to stumble into this one?

unitdaisy: I still don't know how these people can make enough money to warrant moving all of that furniture outside and inside every week.

G. Turner: We begrudgingly looked around for anything new, and found this book. If only we had it before reaching this sale, we could have prevented this catastrophe.

G. Turner: We moved along to the next sale, which looked more like several automobiles exploded over the fellow's front lawn. And then there was this odd pairing of an reprinting of a Harper's article and a Porche plaque.

unitdaisy: It's a collaboration.

G. Turner: Erector sets galore!

G. Turner: This bank is missing a slot for the kid's mobile budget.

unitdaisy: If only I had had one of those banks as a child to learn the value of a dollar.

G. Turner: When we found this lackluster LCD game unitdaisy remarked that, given our current spate of luck, it was likely to be the one game-related item we'd find today. I was inclined to agree. Anyone up for Pocket Slots?

G. Turner: We were quickly proven wrong by this Labyrinth puzzle. While it certainly has seen better days, it is more engaging than your standard casino-based interactive plastic piece-of-crap.

unitdaisy: Too bad it doesn't fit on the wall.

G. Turner: I get Reading Railroad! After all, it's a fine coal-based vintage.

unitdaisy: All yours. I'll take Luxury Tax. Wait, why is there no Luxury Tax?

G. Turner: Does this house look like it's playing host to a sale? No? That's what we told the proprietor, who was wondering why no one was coming back and patronizing their garage.

unitdaisy: I really wonder about some of these sellers. Certainly they have organized garage sales more than once in their lives, they must understand the importance of at least posting a sign in the front.

G. Turner: It didn't help that they were completely devoid of any intriguing goods.

G. Turner: Since we were out of garages to visit, we turned to the ever-present thrift stores. Nice packaging for this puzzler but I'm glad my $7 went elsewhere.

G. Turner: It seems that, with every passing week, this thrift store gets more and more disc-based games in and I finding myself sorting through more and more PlayStation and PC games every time I visit.

unitdaisy: It gives me more time to look at the furniture.

G. Turner: At least this weekend bore some fruit: a not-unwelcome non-Greatest Hits copy of Final Fantasy Tactics, and I can now explore the delights of the cockroach world with Bad Mojo. Not pictured was a cheap copy of Deus Ex 1 that I found at the last second. Unlike last year, this copy actually contained the proper discs.

G. Turner: A tub of Star Trek! I'll refrain from the easy hygene jokes and just state that I'm glad the DVD collections came about.

unitdaisy: But these reek of devotion.

G. Turner: Reek! I get it – I get jokes!

G. Turner: The final thrift store of the day had the same copy of Deus Ex: Invisible War that we've seen all summer, but they had a boxed copy of The Art of Playboy! If there's a better way to bookend an outing, I don't want to hear it.


G. Turner: And that appears to be the end of the 2006 'drunksaling' season. Several days following snapping these photos Chicago had its first snowfall, which usually marks the period when folks are unwilling to sit outside for hours and let strangers paw through their goods. Every year we mention a passing interest to keep these weekly sojourns going by replacing the garage sales with pawn shops and flea markets (which often lay on the outskirts of the city), but both are frequently depressing and overpriced so we never actually end up venturing out to them. Instead of making false promises, we'll just say we'll see you when the snow melts, and we'll be passing the time by finally playing all the games we acquired over the saling season.

If by any chance you missed one of our outings, feel free to trawl through the back-issues in the drunksaling archives!

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7 comments for ‘Chi-Style Drunksaling: Vol. 5.11 - Last Call’

#1 Chibitofu Oct 27, 2006 02:47pm

I am completely and utterly jealous of your Final Fantasy Tactics find. I just picked up a non instruction booklet version of it two weeks ago.

#2 Soup Oct 27, 2006 03:07pm

HOW CAN A LOCATION THAT HAS A JAYNE ACTION FIGURE BE CONSIDER AWASH?!

I SMELL FAVORITISM

#3 4_point_maverick Oct 27, 2006 10:42pm

Oh play Deus Ex first!

#4 WholeFnShow Oct 29, 2006 02:25pm

Bad Mojo. Man, I can remember fiending for that game long long ago. I never did actually get to play it.

#5 Glenn Turner Oct 29, 2006 02:54pm

WholeFnShow wrote:
Bad Mojo. Man, I can remember fiending for that game long long ago. I never did actually get to play it.

I believe it'll be available on Steam sometime soon. I'm really looking forward to trying it out, since I've heard so much about it. In fact, I'll probably play it before I hit up Deus Ex (sorry 4_point_maverick). Although at the current rate of great new game releases, I won't get to play any of these garage sale finds until next year. :?

#6 TrueTallus Oct 30, 2006 01:49pm

Huzzahs to another great season of drunksailing! May much gaming be enjoyed in the long hibernating period of snow and sickness!

#7 Stilgar Dec 31, 2006 02:29am

Congrats on FF:Tactics. I've never seen where it'd be cheap enough to warrant buying.