Playing video games with his father since he was a child, Keggan Georgeson has loved them ever since. He began collecting various video games once he discovered his passion.
“When I was a kid — I was probably like four — I used to play Nintendo games with my dad (like) Tecmo Bowl, which was a football game, and Super Mario Bros.,” Georgeson, a University of Idaho senior majoring in geology, said. “I used to play it all the time and ever since then I’ve always liked games.”
In high school, he went online to eBay to rediscover the games he played as a child. But the best games he finds now are from friends and people reaching out to him.
Alison Wolfe, another UI senior majoring in pre-veterinary animal science, collects books, dragon figurines and stuffed animals. Like Georgeson, her obsession dates back to her childhood.
“My mom blames herself for the book one,” Wolfe said. “I was having a really (bad) day in elementary school and my mom had a book fair going on in her office. She took me in with her and didn’t know what to do with me, so she took me to this book fair and told me that I could get one. I read this book and decided I needed all of them.”
Wolfe doesn’t like borrowing books or going to the library, she likes to own them. As a child, she bought them with her own allowance every Tuesday — the day new releases come out — until her collection finally took off.
As her personal library expanded, Wolfe found other collections to devote herself to. She already had a love for stuffed animals, which she began to channel into a stockpile of dragon figurines.
“I was like ‘oh my God, I love “How To Train Your Dragon’”— this is so adorable and Toothless is like the cutest thing ever,” Wolfe said, referring to the main dragon character in the film series.
So I started buying all those stuffed animals and the official merch and I thought, ‘oh wait, this is actually really cool.’”
With both of these collections, costs are a factor at hand. Georgeson suggests his method of perusing yard sales and thrift stores for finding vintage games for cheap, because sellers often don’t realize the value of what they have.
“Otherwise, I start off by buying them online, but now I came to realize that you’re going to pay a lot of money for it because usually, people who sell them online know what they’re worth,” Georgeson said.
As a collector, Georgeson has learned hobbies can take up not only a lot of time, but a lot of money as well — a habit he’s trying to reform. With over 100 games in his collection, the numbers add up quickly.
“When I first started, I was buying a lot of stuff that I didn’t really need. But I’ve toned it down a bit,” Georgeson said. “I’m still collecting, but it’s taught me to be smarter about buying things.”
Wolfe keeps a list on her phone, updated weekly, of new books she wants to buy and keeps up with the constant flow of new dragon merch through Amazon. She also sets aside some of her paychecks for collection additions. She calls herself crazy, but feels her hobby is worth the time and expense.
“It’s something you have to genuinely enjoy doing and something you like to look at,” Wolfe said. “Although it does stack up and the costs of books are rising, and I have 2,000 books — that’s $20,000 on books alone. I could round up, that’s just counting books I’ve read. I buy books that I haven’t read so technically that would be upwards of $40,000.”
Done with balance and constraint, collecting can be unwinding, gratifying, and perhaps even an educational pastime considering both time and expenses involved. They offer a change from daily routine and develop a meaningful connection influenced by certain objects that are collected. For some it’s an adolescent obsession, but for Georgeson and Wolfe, it’s a deep-rooted accomplishment brought into adulthood.
Story by Stevie Carr
Illustrations by Rachel Wiedenmann
Design by Rachel Wiedenmann