Welcome to our interview of Rafaël Lepoutre, a full set collector that adores the classic “Game and Watch” from Nintendo
First of all, we always let our guests introduce themselves, so tell us a bit about yourself?
I am Rafaël Lepoutre living in Belgium, 35 years old, have a girlfriend and father of three kids. I am working as a product manager for an IT security company. I have no other hobbies besides raising my kids, keep the girlfriend happy and collecting Game & Watch ?
Secondly, you have a full set of which platform and what made you start going for the full set?
I have a full set of Nintendo Game & Watch.
I think almost every kid in the eighties owned or played a Game & Watch. I still remember when my sister and myself got our Donkey Kong and Mario Bros for Christmas in 1989. We were absolutely addicted instantly and played them for many years. But we never knew that there were more games of Game & Watch otherwise the collecting began much earlier. I think this was because in 1989 the older brother Game Boy was released and toy chops advertised only them and sold out the Game & Watch in 1991.
25 years later I was meeting a friend who just visited a yard sale and showed me this orange Donkey Kong he just had found…..I immediately recognized the game and had an instant flashback/teleportation to my childhood.
First thing I did when I came home was checking the internet to get more information about the games. And yes that’s the moment when I discovered that 60 games were released and I had to have them all of course.
First game I bought was of course the Donkey Kong and already a few days later the Mario Bros was delivered by the mail man. So 58 more to go….
Third, what were the biggest hurdles in hitting the 100%?
I think one word and that’s time. When someone starts collecting Game & Watch, you always have the intention to buy fast because the first 25 to 30 games are relatively easy to find. Going from 30 to 40 is getting harder and especially the last 20 titles which are the very rare ones and most expensive ones. So everyone including myself had no idea when he began that those last 20 were that hard to find (and expensive).
Time also in a way of how much time I spend in looking the internet or going to flea markets and so on.
Another hurdle in general is and It’s similar with other retro game platforms as well, is budget.
Collecting retro games is an expensive hobby but Game & Watch can be very expensive.
Fourth, I am a big collector myself and I sometimes spent hours/days/weeks trying to find that one title, describe the way you worked towards your final goal?
When I started collecting in 2011 my 2 main buying websites were a local secondhand website and off course eBay. That last one was really not a good idea when you have absolutely no knowledge of quality, rarity and pricing of these games. To give you an example of how desperate I was in the beginning. I did win an eBay auction of a common loose Mario Cement Factory for $55. The game was located in the North of Canada which is close to 7000km from where I live. The seller contacted me to doublecheck on me that she lives in Canada and I still wanted the game. I confirmed, payed 20$ on shipment and another 30$ on customs and received after 3 weeks my 105$ Mario Cement Factory in OK condition. The true value of that games was 35$ 7 years ago. So that was really like they say NOOB-style.
After one year of collecting common games through the local secondhand site I got in contact with several other game & watch collectors and started building op relationships with them. These contacts made collecting easier and less expensive than eBay. This drove me also to create several Facebook groups dedicated to Game & Watch. These groups grew out to real communities and trade platforms and are a starting point for many collectors who want to have basic information and knowledge. With this community with members coming from all over the world, you have so much more contacts and possibilities to buy the more rare and special games.
But I am not denying that I also did spend so many hours on eBay searching for that one title and bidding against all the auto bidder bots.
Fifth, aside from the groundwork, there was also the financial side, could you shed some light on how this was for you?
As mentioned before collecting these beautiful games can be very expensive but can still be found at reasonable pricing when you invest a lot of time in searching flea markets and second hand sites. Finding a boxed game for 15€ at a flea market at 7AM is giving me a boost of joy.
At this moment I work with a budget per month (trying) but in the beginning this was not the case and the credit card bill was always a painful one. It is not easy not to buy that one very rare game that you’re looking for several months/years when you already reached your total budget of that month. And it is even harder trying to explain that to my girlfriend (love you).
Sixth, what does your future hold as a collector?
I have all 60 games with 59 of them complete boxed so only one left I want to have it boxed and that one is a very rare one, it’s called “Egg”.
I am always looking to find upgrades for my boxes, so trying to own the perfect mint condition boxed game.
Beside the classic boxes there are a lot of box variations depending on the country they were released, for example: JI21 (France), Pocketsize (USA & Canada), Tricotronic (Germany), Japanese, and so on…
I also collect these variations because of the artwork and the rarity.
You could say that it is endless so that’s why I’ve made my personal wanted list of 7 games. These final 7 are very rare so I am not convinced that I will own them some day but the hunt for them is very cool and fun.
If one day I do manage to collect these final 7, I would stop collecting and treasure and admire them in my cabinets for many many years.
Seventh, any advice for fellow full set collectors?
There a lot of coming and going in the collector world. Many starts collecting but after some months they found it too expensive or they release they will never reach the 60/60.
Some advice:
- Set boundaries in collecting, decide what you will collect and what not.
- Set a maximum budget each month you can spend.
- Go slow, take your time and enjoy the hunt for the games. The hunt/find is often more fun than actual owning of the game.
Follow me on Instagram @gameandwatchfreak.be
