The Hunt and the Haggle

The Hunt:

I had just moved to my home located in a small town in Virginia and while exploring the downtown area I noticed a small flea market. It was a real dump, but there was a box of toys that appeared to be fairly old, so I rummaged through it. ...I was shocked to find a Q*BERT mini-arcade machine! Although it was missing the battery cover and I wasn't sure if it worked at all, I knew by looking at this $hithole I wouldn't be charged much.

The Haggle:

Sure enough the guy running the place said..."Give me 3 dollars for it?" to which I replied..."How about 2?" Of course I got it for 2 bucks! I immediately bought some batteries for it and it worked great. I already had a working Q*BERT mini-arcade machine, and in better shape than this one, so I traded it to a guy (Joe Cody of Atari2600.com at VGXPO 2005 - ed.) for a Spitfire Attack cart and peripheral for the Atari 2600 (still in the box, as I remember - ed.) which was quite rewarding. From time to time I think back to the old guy at the flea market and wander if maybe I should have given him that extra buck. He's probably dead now.

- Scott Leftwich, gamebot