Ebay Ultima game!

Post by **Jeff-20** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 8:03 am

The ultra rare Ultima: Escape From Mt. Drash. Let's see if a VIc fan gets it or an Ultima fan...

Bidding is already up to US$900!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=62053

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 11:29 pm

closing price: $3,605.00

for a Vic 20 tape game. 34 bids.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 11:57 am

Seriously? I remember when Mr. Edward Franks (whose picture is featured in the auction -- is he the seller?) was offering $250 for a copy, and that was supposedly a lot of money.

The seller mentions one more known complete set and a couple of loose tapes. I wonder if even for a collector who is economically independent $3600 is a reasonable price for this piece of software. I guess it depends on whether you are "collector investing" or "collector spending" your money.

Schema · Post by **Schema** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 3:02 pm

That's nuts. That is more than my car cost!

Is the winner THE Peter Olafson aka MagerValp??!?!?!

Post by **Jeff-20** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 8:21 pm

Yep! More than my last car!

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 2:45 am

Is the winner THE Peter Olafson aka MagerValp?

MagerValp is Per Olofsson (notice the difference), and something tells me he would use his own handle on eBay (or maybe not, if the idea behind eBay usage is that noone from the outside should be able to tell who is who).

KilrPilr · Post by **KilrPilr** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 1:24 pm

I wasnt too surprised that it went for that much monies. There is supposedly 3 boxed copies known to exist (I have one) and the other is here http://www.vintage-sierra.com/other/mtdrash.html I have been seriously thinking of selling mine as I could really use the loot but Im tending to lean towards the thinking that it will be worth a whole lot more in the future. Plus im a vic collector, not salesman. What would you do if you owned a copy of this game?

Leo

Post by **Jeff-20** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 7:49 pm

Leo,
I hate you for owning one of the three copies! I don't even know the game, but I can't believe you have considered selling something so rare!

I am still kicking myself for the stuff I sold off on ebay... now I am buying some of those things back at twice the price I made on it!

(by the way, welcome to the board)

KilrPilr · Post by **KilrPilr** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 9:09 pm

Well uh thanks I guess for your honest reply. Im not intending to sell off my vic collection at all but what is one piece of software? It obviously means alot more to someone willing to pay $3600 for it than it does to me. Maybe I should start a poll to see what others think.Its much easier to be on the outside looking in.

BTW, What did you sell on ebay that you are now buying back?

Leo

Post by **Jeff-20** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 11:30 pm

I sold a Q-bert tabletop game and a Pacman tabletop... I also sold a brand new boxed colecovision...

I am currently hunting down boxed 2600s and colecovisions.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 5:26 am

I would probably make my own (illegal) copy, possibly even photocopy the cover if I got the nerve and sell the original as soon as possible.

It is not certain that what sells for $3600 today would sell for more than $3000 tomorrow. Of course, you can set a reserve price and withdraw the item from eBay if it turns out not to be as attractive as expected. I wonder what happens if a fourth and a fifth genuine complete set emerges from the closets. I wonder what would happen if the current copyright holders just for fun would start a new production and sell it on a webshop for $30. Certainly a reprint is not the same thing as the original, but I believe it could destroy the collectable desire by a great deal. Pure hardware is something else, as it is hard to start an Altair or Apple 1 production plant today.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 7:58 am

but tapes are so fragile! I am a little angry that the person who bought it may not even own a Vic-20... they're probably just ultima collectors bidding.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 10:34 am

From what I understand, two of the three complete sets of the Ultima game are or were owned by Ultima collectors who didn't even have or was interested in getting a working VIC setup so they could see if the game would load. Leo might be the exception to this.

KilrPilr · Post by **KilrPilr** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 2:06 pm

carlsson wrote:From what I understand, two of the three complete sets of the Ultima game are or were owned by Ultima collectors who didn't even have or was interested in getting a working VIC setup so they could see if the game would load. Leo might be the exception to this.

Yes, I am the exception. Being a commodore junkie, the fact that this game fell into my hands is a miracle on its own. It could have just as easily ended up covered in tons of sand and gravel never to be found. Pure luck united me with this game and the others I found that day including a boxed cartridge copy of Ft.Apocalypse for the atari 800. I have ,of course, loaded this game a few times on my Vic to play it and even made copies of it. I have also shared it with a few people to be sure that the game will be around in the future. Not everyone will have a copy but it is out there.

To sell or not to sell. That is the risk I am about to take. The possiblity that one day it may be worth 10 fold of what it is today and then the other side of the coin that says it could end up 10 fold less. Who knows and only time will tell. My gut instinct says it will end up more valueable, as 4 years ago it was only worth $300 to Ed Franks. It has gone up 10 fold since then.

I kick myself today for not picking up a batch of UR carts off of ebay a couple years ago. Those carts will probably never surface again,especially all in one lot, and there was titles I never heard of and they all had boxes and instructions. The buy it now was $500 and I should have just went for it. I instead tried to work out a trade deal with the seller, which seemed to be working, until someone came forward and bought the damn things. Now all I can do is regret the mistake I made in not just buying them and worrying about how to pay for it later. I found out who the proud owner of these carts is now and being he is a collector they are in good hands but they should have been in my hands. Have a look here to see what im talking about.
http://www.members.shaw.ca/hepting/A1/eBay.htm

Leo

KilrPilr · Post by **KilrPilr** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 2:15 pm

carlsson wrote:I would probably make my own (illegal) copy, possibly even photocopy the cover if I got the nerve and sell the original as soon as possible.

It is not certain that what sells for $3600 today would sell for more than $3000 tomorrow. Of course, you can set a reserve price and withdraw the item from eBay if it turns out not to be as attractive as expected. I wonder what happens if a fourth and a fifth genuine complete set emerges from the closets. I wonder what would happen if the current copyright holders just for fun would start a new production and sell it on a webshop for $30. Certainly a reprint is not the same thing as the original, but I believe it could destroy the collectable desire by a great deal. Pure hardware is something else, as it is hard to start an Altair or Apple 1 production plant today.

These are all questions I ponder. While these things are all true there is the other side of the coin that says what if the copy Ed franks just sold gets ruined in the mail or buddys house burns down taking his copy with it (god forbid) or no other copies emerge? .There is lots of possibilities but I think in the end it will stand up to the test of time and hold its value. Hopefully anyway

Leo