I declared earlier in the week that I might visit the swapmeet this weekend to hunt for video games, but I was still on the fence up until the last moment. I did end up going but for another reason. I decided to visit the unconformity at Frenchman’s mountain on the east side of Las Vegas which is near the swapmeet. This is a geographic structure where you can see some of the oldest rocks on earth (something like 1.4 billion years old). The mountain is slanted back and a series of faults have exposed the buried rock. Since there are so many layers of rock you can see alot of earth’s history in one place. There are sea fossils and coral all over the place which is amazing since Las Vegas is usually associated with being a desert. This area of Frenchman’s mountain has endured decades of abuse. Garbage, glass, and other debris litter the area, but walk a few hundred feet up the side of the mountain and you’ll be clear of the refuse. I didn’t find any treasured fossils.

Afterwards I hit up the swapmeet in usual fashion. I don’t like to go on Saturdays because there aren’t as many vendors, and it seems like they take forever to get ready. This Saturday was no exception although the very first booth did have a few NES titles. Vindicators did enticed me. I wanted to visit Mario’s World of Games. A few weeks prior I got a few Nintendo NES games from him for $3 each. The first lap around the swapmeet he wasn’t ready. In an attempt to kill some time I hit up the first booth and obtained the Vindicators for $3. By the second lap Mario finally started putting out his wares, but I was waiting for the vendor who sold me the unlicensed games a few weeks earlier to open. During the first lap she had slopped a crate of Nintendo NES games onto a side table, but it was clear she wasn’t ready to deal. I cut the second lap short to revisit her, but again she wasn’t ready – not only that she put the box of NES games away. By the third-lap I got tired of waiting and flat out asked her if she had any Nintendo games – knowing full well that she did. Sure enough she takes out three crate-fulls.

“How much?” I asked.

“Five to eight dollars,” she replied with extra emphasis on the “dollars”.

I rummaged through the crates. There were no unlicensed games. None. Not even a Tengen title. I settled on a copy of Legends of the Diamond for $5. I may have over paid, but I felt a little guilty asking for games and having her bring out three crates.

I marched back to Mario and verified that his games were $3 each. He explained that they were, unless they had a sticker on them. When I saw these games a few weeks earlier there was a copy of Rescue Rangers. I should have bought it then because at the time Mario’s wife thought all of the games were $3. Now there was a sticker on the game, and the expectation for this title was $15. I don’t need the game, but at $3 it was worth a shot. Anyways I started pulling out the titles I wanted: Swords and Serpents, Super Team Games, Kabuki – Quantum Fighter, IronSword, Bad Street Brawler, and the best of the bunch: Maniac Mansion. There were a few other titles I wanted including Pin*Bot and Abadox, but the labels were in poor shape.

The best thing about the 8 games I got today is that with the exception of IronSword I never played ANY of these before – emulated or otherwise.