I recently reached the difficult decision that it was time to sell my beloved Sega Saturn kiosk; difficult because, on the one hand, it's probably the most unique and interesting piece of video game memorabilia that I have, while on the other hand, it's heavy (read hard to move) and takes up a lot of space. I'm not really a video game collector. Sure, I have a few obscure video game-related things, but nothing on the order of my enormous Sega kiosk.
When I spotted it a few years ago on Craigslist, I'd never seen one before. I had never even owned a Saturn for that matter. My last Sega system was the 32X. (Hey, it made sense to me at the time.) But for some reason, something clicked (snapped?) when I saw that shiny kiosk on Craigslist, complete with Sonic's large blue face staring at me, and I just knew I had to have it. It's tough to explain because it's one of those things where you either get it or you don't. If you thinks it's ridiculous, you probably think it's really ridiculous. If you think it's awesome, you probably thinks it's really, really awesome. For me, it just had the right mix of coolness factor, uniqueness, apparent rarity, and suitableness as a shrine to all things Sega.
Fast forward to the present, and the kiosk currently lives in my TV/game room, which also doubles as a guestroom. Not having a garage and not wanting to put the kiosk in any other room in the house (partly due to marital compromise), this was really the only place it could go. Unfortunately, it takes up real estate that could (and probably should) be used for other things. The problem with having a piece of video game memorabilia the size of a refrigerator is that it can't just be tucked away. Wherever it is, it's going to draw attention, for better or worse. So after much waffling on the issue, I decided that it was time to sell.
As I said, it was a tough decision. What ultimately tipped me over was a bit of last minute rationalization that ran like this. 1) Someday I'll live in a much bigger place with lots of space. 2) When that time comes, if I decide I really want to get it back, I could just find another one and re-purchase it. 3) At that point I'll have more places to store something so large. Seems reasonable. Might not happen. By then I may have no interest in this stuff for all I know. But for now, it makes it a little easier for me to let go.
Even now, I have some ambivalence about my decision to sell this gorgeous monstrosity. I may never come across something that serves so perfectly as a physical monument to my fondest video game memories as a child. And once it's gone, I may well never be able to find one again. But that's life. I just hope that whoever winds up with it appreciates its peculiar awesomeness half as much as I do.
So does anyone else have a large and impractical video game-related item that they just can't let go of, even though they know they probably should?
- My favorite games of 2009 - December 12, 2009
- On letting go of a rare and impractical piece of videogame memorabilia - April 30, 2009
- Killzone 2: Can amazing looks make up for an utter lack of personality? - March 11, 2009
