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Everything retro - big and small! Live from Perth, Australia!

Sunday, April 27, 2014

The Swap Meet At the End of the Earth

Fear & Loathing in... shit, I don't even know where.
It's been over two years since I went to swap meet.
This is because of several reasons: having to work on Sundays when they're usually held (yes, I'm one of those sad individuals), conveniently not having money when they're happening or just because I'm lacking courage to wake-up at 7am.
All the Swap Meet Planets aligned last weekend though as there was one held closeish to where I live. Closeish as in half an hour away, in the direction opposite of civilisation. Usually I wouldn't bother with one that far away on a weekend day where I wasn't working (those days are usually reserved to laying around the house in my boxershorts) but I happened to be going to a party the night before in the local area.

I know what you're thinking: "ahahahaha you're going to a swap meet the night after a party? Fat chance, Pal." (said everyone I told). But I was determined, I needed  to go to one after such a long gap.
I'm not at the age where binge-drinking is cool any more, so I didn't foresee any issues with waking up. What was the problem though, was rain. All night during the party it absolutely pelted down, so I didn't bother setting my alarm thinking the swap meet would be washed away if it did try and go ahead.
I woke up at 8.30am on my own volition and looked outside. Perfectly calm, not a cloud in sight. I cursed the sky for a couple of minutes before chucking on my shoes, getting in my car and onto getting lost in the local area. The phone reception there is out of this world (the same it would be on the Moon) so my smartphone including GPS was more or less useless. After driving around for another half an hour or so finding a garage sale along the way, which had nothing but a $80 fat PS2 and crappy games at $10 each (laughable, the only word I can use) I found it.
The weather was starting to make a turn for the worst at that point, but I was there. It was around 9.10am by that point. Usually I like to arrive between 7.30-8.00am, so I was quite late by my standards, but damn it, I was there.
It's a fair chance that all the good stuff was gone by that point, but I did pick up this gem for $5:


Tim Schafer's masterpiece by Lucas Arts, Grim Fandango. I've been looking for this for a very long time in the wild. It's one of those games that people will charge out of the arse for if they know what it is. For example, at the time of writing, the only non-sealed copy I can find on eBay is listing for $50. Not the kind of money I want to be spending on a single game. 
It's great, finally something decent to play on my newly setup PC for retro gaming. Expect it to be the first PC video review I release. 



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