North Hollywood Store Sells Used Video Games

Leave it to a 14-year-old to come up with a deal on video games. When I sent out an SOS on my KGIL radio show for a bargain spot for these popular pastimes, a teen-age bargain hunter called in to let everyone know about Game Dude in North Hollywood, where he and his pals buy and sell secondhand games.

Owner Herb Davis opened his used video games store five months ago, when he realized that the average game player gets bored with a game in about 30 days. Davis reasoned that there should be a solid market for used games.

Game Dude has about 350 titles, from the original Pac Man (at $17 because it’s somewhat a collectors’ item) to Super Mario Bros. 3, which is the hottest new game on the market. The used price isn’t much cheaper. It sells used for $44, $49, new.

Davis gets his inventory from the public, usually his regular customers.

All the major video game names are represented: Nintendo, Sega, Sega Genesis and Turbo Grafix-16, and all are priced depending on the demand. “Duck Hunt” originally sold for $30; used, it is $5. A “gun,” however, is required to play it, and that is $15. The original Super Mario Bros. game that retailed for $25 is available used at Game Dude for $8. There is a big selection of video games for less than $15.

Some video game players tire of a game and toss it out. Smart players, however, will let them accumulate and bring in a box or bagful to Game Dude, which requires a driver’s license or passport as identification, and that a seller be 18 or over. Those under 18 should bring their parents. The games are bought for cash or can be traded for another game.

Game Dude also buys and sells used video game systems. Right now, the top Sega system, which sells new for $79, would bring $30 to the seller; after cleaning it up, Davis would sell it for $60.

A small percentage of the inventory is new and discounted about 25%.

If you think only youngsters are into video games, Davis says that many rest homes use them and have found they help seniors with hand and eye coordination, to say nothing of their enjoyment.

Game Dude is at 12104 Sherman Way, North Hollywood. Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Major credit cards accepted. For information, call (818) 764-2442.