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N-Philes: How much do you think you've spent total on all of your games?Bowins:Hmmm... that's a hard question. Actually, I think it is more of a scary question than a hard question. I'm sort of known as a collector who has spent a lot of money, especially considering that I've only been in the scene for about 18 months. I'd say a good estimation is $30,000.
N-Philes: Anything particularly your favorite? Anything you like to show off to your friends, or other collectors?
Bowins:I'd say my favorite thing I have is my near-complete NES collection. I've put a lot of time and money into it, and I just love the way it looks on my shelves.
As for showing people, I have things that I show off to gamers and things that I show off to non-gamers. If I had my friends come into my game room, I wouldn't show them my copy of Stadium Events because they wouldn't appreciate it. A fellow collector however would love to see it because it is quite an item to them. Typically, I show my friends things that have the "cool" factor to it. Things like my Vectrex and my Virtual Boys usually get a good reaction.
N-Philes: What's the most you've paid for one game?
Bowins:Ahhh... another hard one. I was lucky enough to get Stadium Events as a gift, so I didn't have to pay for that. I bought a copy of the Donkey Kong Competition Cartridge for $250, which is the most I've ever paid for a single game. Although I have had three arcade cabinets, which I spent a little more on.
N-Philes: Where do you see yourself going from here?
Bowins:I can't really see myself getting out of collecting for a long time. It is a really fun hobby and there is just too many games to get for me to be satisfied enough to stop. As far as collecting goes, I plan on completing the NES, SNES and N64 libraries in the near future along with the Sega Master System and 32X collections, which are very close to completion. Other than that, just working hard on what I have found to be the most satisfying thing I can do to pass the time; collecting games.
