In post-Jack Thompson America, video games are all over my daily newspaper. First, the Chicago Tribune runs an editorial that not only are video games in libraries now, but that they should be. What? Video games are accepted all of a sudden? But what got me was the last story about an innocent new video game store called People Play Games within driving distance. This store vextrexes me. Is that the correct word? It's a sinkhole of my money and time. I must resist.
Here is the story:
Rebooting the video-game habit
Eric Gwinn
Gadget Adviser
July 24, 2008
Something in your past lures you to People Play Games, a new store in the Wrigleyville neighborhood.
Are you there to recapture a childhood wasted playing Intellivision, ColecoVision or Super Nintendo games on your mom's couch?
Are you longing to touch rare game systems you've only read about, such as the ahead-of-its-time TurboGrafix 16 or the laser-light-show Vectrex?
Whatever your reason, owner Adam Rolnick is glad you're here.
"I've always wanted to have a store," says the 32-year-old native of Wilmette. "And I think this area was dying for something like this, even if they might not have known it."
Word of mouth is quickly bringing nostalgia buffs to the door of People Play Games. The 2-month-old shop is where Rolnick and his staff buy old video games and systems, clean them up, test them and sell them for a lot less than you might expect to pay.
Come on, $112 for a Vectrex game system? The early '80s system whose crisp line drawings and smooth animation made Atari games look blocky and old? You'd expect to pay at least 10 percent more on eBay, where a mint-condition system with 13 games recently sold for more than $600.
"When people come in, they almost lose their minds," Rolnick says. "It's like they've gone through a time machine and back into their childhood. It's stuff you just cannot find any more."
Rolnick originally got into the business 3 1/2 years ago, when he opened Retro Game Shop, his virtual store on eBay. Now he's branching out into the real world.
Even though there's a finite number of old-school systems and games-nobody's making "E.T." or "Journey Escape" for the Atari system these days-Rolnick thinks he'll never run out of stock, because he's constantly scouring for games and buying trade-ins. "There is nothing video game-related we won't buy," he says, though the price you get depends on your item.
You can buy games ranging from a 45-cent, beat-up copy of an old sports game to $200 for a mint-in-box "Chrono Trigger."
Systems run from the $14.95 GameBoy Pocket to $300 for TurboDuo. Everything has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
I found lots of good, forgotten old games ("Flashback" for the PlayStation 2), some memorably awful ones (the celebrated "Night Trap," the first game with full-motion video-grainy, cheesy and tiny, but still full-motion-for the Sega CD system), and lauded games such as "Contra."
People Play Games is like a great record store for gamers. When you run your fingers over the titles, you're touching warm, fuzzy memories.
People Play Games
3264 1/2 N. Clark St.; 773-883-8813
Hours: Noon-8 p.m. Mon.-Thur.; noon-9 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; noon-6 p.m. Sun.
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