One of Those Somber Moments at Half-Price Books

[W8taminute]

...I also found a copy there once of Samurai Swords. For sale for $50. I told them they should be asking double the price, but then again, it is Half Price Books.

Do you mean this Samurai Swords?



If so, I'm sitting on a gold mine as my copy is in mint condition.  I only played it solo once. 

[GJK]

Found at HPB today; almost as predicted:



I couldn't return it to the shelf- had to rescue it for my library.

[Nefaro]

...I also found a copy there once of Samurai Swords. For sale for $50. I told them they should be asking double the price, but then again, it is Half Price Books.

Do you mean this Samurai Swords?

If so, I'm sitting on a gold mine as my copy is in mint condition.  I only played it solo once.

The latest version (Ikusa) has been generally well received, so I don't think the older ones are selling at high prices anymore. 

Except for people buying the individual plastic swords for drawing turns.  Those aren't in the newest edition, some tokens being used instead.  However, the reviews of the latest seem to praise the components and art as a bit improved over previous editions (Shogun, Samurai Swords).

[Cyrano]

Ummm, @GJK...damn...

Quite something.

[LongBlade]

Found at HPB today; almost as predicted:



I couldn't return it to the shelf- had to rescue it for my library.

Full of win.

[LongBlade]

...I also found a copy there once of Samurai Swords. For sale for $50. I told them they should be asking double the price, but then again, it is Half Price Books.

Do you mean this Samurai Swords?



If so, I'm sitting on a gold mine as my copy is in mint condition.  I only played it solo once.

Potentially a gold mine. Depends on whether you can find the right buyer.

A few years ago copies used to run a couple hundred. The economy these days seems to have diminished the price. Ebay has a mint, sealed copy for $120: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Samurai-Swords-1995-Combat-Simulation-Game-UNUSED-SEALED-/400926921255?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item5d591b5227

But hang on to it. It'll be worth more when things pick up.

[DennisS]

Thanks for sharing that Cyrano. I agree, it is always a somber moment when I find something like that.

Last year I picked up a 20-something volume copy of a Time-Life encyclopedia on World War II. The first volume had a small card in it indicating the recipient's address (a town some 50 miles away from the store) and that it was a gift subscription. By the way the books opened I could tell they'd never been cracked. True mint condition. I felt a bit like a thief for buying it. The cost was far too cheap. Here was, in all likelihood, a WWII vet's gift that had never been opened. It felt like it was his.

I also found a copy there once of Samurai Swords. For sale for $50. I told them they should be asking double the price, but then again, it is Half Price Books.

I own this complete collection, and have read them all many times. One of my most treasured book sets.

[LongBlade]

Some phat loot from HPB.

Paid $60 for it. The box has seen better days. The minis all have a base coat of some kind of flat paint. I'm guessing the guy started to paint them and then realized he was in over his head.

Still, for $60 I don't think I did too bad.

[Arctic Blast]

NICE!

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

One of my classmates started half price computer books. He had a good run for a few years, then it crumbled as people saw the IT bubble burst.

[Paul]

  On the positive side, at least these things are making it back into the community.

  There was a fellow in the Netherlands a few years back (the name escapes me at the moment) who spent years studying the battle of Verdun. I saw one of his information sheets on the internet, and it had information I'd never seen before--I asked the guy who posted it about its origin. He told me the story of this gentleman who had spent decades studying the battle, and when he died his family tipped all of his materials and books into the rubbish bin. Now that's sad.

 

[MengJiao]

One of my classmates started half price computer books. He had a good run for a few years, then it crumbled as people saw the IT bubble burst.

  I used to buy a lot of stuff on ebay.  One type of item I always wondered about was the carefully preserved game, unpunched with all the rule revisions photocopied and all the C3i inserts included.  It's like such games are maintained, but never played.  Seemed very odd to me.

[BanzaiCat]

"Samurai Swords" - LOL. Should be "Shogun."

Yeah yeah I know. I still have a copy of the game, but it's the original from when they called it Shogun.

Also HPB is great for those kinds of finds. My 'best' find with autograph wasn't all that big a deal though - it was a copy of the book Dixieland Delight, where the writer went through a season of SEC football, travelling to each stadium to see one game, each week, for the full season, and wrote about his experiences. I liked the book enough to send him an email, telling him how I found his book, and he actually replied to me. I recommend the book if you're into SEC football. I'm not...it just looked interesting.

[LongBlade]

One of my classmates started half price computer books. He had a good run for a few years, then it crumbled as people saw the IT bubble burst.

  I used to buy a lot of stuff on ebay.  One type of item I always wondered about was the carefully preserved game, unpunched with all the rule revisions photocopied and all the C3i inserts included.  It's like such games are maintained, but never played.  Seemed very odd to me.

You would not believe the number of games I have that are still in the shrink.

[Nefaro]

You would not believe the number of games I have that are still in the shrink.

I don't get the completely unopened part, 'cause I just have to open them up and take a look when they arrive.

But un-punched and pristine?  Yeah, got numbers of those.