Retro Game Collector Simulator

It's not hoarding. It's a collection.

Your uncle left you one box of old games and a basement to keep them in. One box turns into ten. Ten turn into a wall of shelves, a CRT that hums when it warms up, and a drawer of cables you swear you will sort out one day.

Retro Game Collector Simulator is a hands-on game about owning too many old video games and loving every one of them.

Raid the game shop

Walk into the shop on Maple Street and dig through mystery lots, loose carts, boxed games and hardware. The stock changes every day. Whatever you buy is on your doorstep the next morning, and Marty at the counter will tell you what your trade-ins are worth.

Dump the box

Cut the tape, open the flaps and tip the whole thing out on the rug. Games, controllers, power bricks, somebody's old photos. Pick each find up, turn it over, check its condition, clean it, test it, and decide whether it stays.

Shelve everything

Every system gets a shelf of its own, and every game has its place on it. There are 300 games to collect across 17 fictional retro systems, from the first cartridges to the disc era. Fill the binder, chase better copies, and trade the duplicates in for the next box.

Every cable, by hand

Nothing here hooks itself up the first time. Find the right power supply, carry the plug round the back of the TV, pick the input, find the channel. When the picture rolls or the cartridge will not boot, you do what everyone did: take it out, blow on it, and try again.

Then play a minigame on the CRT

A game that boots can be played, as a short retro minigame on the in-game TV: one quick take with one goal. These are small built-in games made for this collection, not full versions of the titles on the box.

Film it. Read the comments.

Run a small YouToob channel out of the basement. Pick an angle, film a review of whatever is on the TV, and check the Studio the next morning for views, subscribers and a comment section with opinions about what you should review next.

Every cart has a past

A kid's name in marker on a label. A rental sticker. A note folded into a manual. The games you find belonged to somebody, and the pieces add up to the story of the town they came from.

• Single-player 3D collecting and organizing sim.
  
• 300 collectible games on 17 fictional retro systems.
  
• A walk-in game shop with new stock every day.
  
• Unboxing, cleaning, testing, shelving and hooking up hardware, all by hand.
  
• Short built-in retro minigames on an in-game CRT.
  
• A video channel with reviews, comments and collection videos.
  
• Collector memories and a town's worth of stories hidden in old boxes.