The day got off to a great start with me turning up in my campervan (which we had loaded up the night before) at my mate Dana’s house around 5 o’clock in the morning and him handing me a very welcome sausage and brown sauce sandwich for breakfast. It took us just over 2 hours to drive the 103 miles and we had met up the majority of the Retro Collective Europe crew to start setting up or stall well before 8 o’clock. Neither me or Dana had met any of them in in the flesh before and it was great to finally meet in person all these people I had been swapping games and gaming related stories with for the last few years. It was like meeting old friends and we all got on like a house on fire. Adam and Rick from RetroCollect were making themselves known to new arrivals and were on hand to help out where they could and I’d like to thank them for their very warm welcome.
Luckily me and Dana had the end table in our row giving us more room, which was lucky because between us we had brought a whole lot of stuff to sell. More than would fit on our table that was for sure. Opening time was soon upon us heralded by a huge shout across the hall by Rick and a steady stream of visitors soon had the place heaving. Unfortunately we were too busy to really chat as much as we would have liked to the other Retro Collective guys, although some individuals (who I won’t name, er… Joe) from our group seemed to find time to bombard us with elastic bands all day which we happily flicked back. I had pre-arranged a few purchases from Matt, another of the Retro Collective guys, so some of my money was gone before the day had even started.
Luckily, half of my stock had been snapped up in no time at all and it looked like it was going to be a great day of selling. I had gone with no intention of looking around the venue myself. Doing so would lead to temptation, and well, we all know what temptation can lead to…
I did however, have to pop off to the loo and unfortunately one of the stalls nearest the exit was selling an Atari 5200, which was never going to go home with anyone other than me. I did hold out for an hour or two until I had made enough to buy it and still return home with a healthy profit, but finally succumbed and the PAL s-video modded 5200 was mine. Along with a Power Glove and a pile of Philips Videopac games from Matt.
As the last visitors were leaving we could look back on a fun, but exhausting and very long day. Now just to pack the van with what was left plus a few extras and head back home.
Roll on the next RetroCollect Video Game Market, can’t wait!