Hunting for a Clue (or Maybe a Can't Stop)

I'm also on the Auction Hunt this weekend, which some of our folks already mentioned. Rainy Day Games will sponsor an auction on February 25 at 3 pm. So if you're in the area, please plan to come on out ready to spend some cash for good games.

Evidently a couple of our guys have already put 100+ games into the piles. Which is great in terms of more games available to the public, possibly not as good for the price per game figures. So I've been trying to work out a reasonable goal for what I want to do in relation to the auction. Here are my starting facts:

1. I have way too many games, like maybe 500 I don't "need" for playing anytime soon.
2. Many of the games of that 500 wouldn't be worth $5.00 apiece.
3. Many of the games are at our storage locker, some unknown as to which box they're in.
4. I collected a lot of duplicates for an eventual donation to a library or a school, so I probably wouldn't want to donate those, or if so, maybe just one nice copy.
5. The deal is you get store credit at Rainy Day Games, a nice retail store that has sold a lot of Havoc for us.
6. Rainy Day is nearly an hour drive for me, so I don't shop there too often.
7. I don't have a clue what other games will be in the auction - duplicates may lower prices.
8. In past years many Euros have sold for $10-$15.
9. In the past, card games have only brought a few dollars.
10. The more games for sale, the less interest per game unless the game is outstanding.

And some assumptions behind my factoids: If a game won't bring $5.00, it may not be worth the hassle of finding it, checking for completeness, and toting it in. I'd like to participate in the sale, and having some credit at Rainy Day would be cool, if only to support the store. A lot on unusual games I have may not be well enough known to bring on bidders. And games that would sell well on Ebay or Boardgamegeek should probably sell there instead.

I'd like to get a few games to the auction that are either great standards or that people could look for having played them already. Or just things that our family likes so we tend to get extra copies of in trades or when we see them for sale. Here's my starting list:

1. Can't Stop - great basic Sid Sackson. Often copied, hardly improved on. This is the US Parker Brothers version.

2. Liar's Dice - I might sell Perudo or its ilk instead since Liar's Dice (Milton Bradley?) is by far my favorite version of the game.

3. Black Box - might be tough to find one with the original cheap paper "shell" intact. It never had a real box since the games itself is a hard plastic container. Great solo game, even though meant for two players.

4. Ghosts - another classic 2 player, simple, made more popular by being on BreeSpielWelt I think.

5. Heroscape - a big set with plenty of plastic miniatures and furniture, might not be worth the effort to find a beautiful copy if it's only going to bring in $10 or something.

Maybe I'll spot some different choices once I start cleaning the basement and office, where games tend to pile up before they get hoisted off to storage, usually to clear some floor space at home. My idea for now is to try to generate $60-$100 at Rainy Day as a store credit.

Hope to see you at the auction - I'm sure I'll bring some of your treasures home as well!