The stickers that can get smattered across used games and their cases can leave a frustratingly stubborn residue that can seem near impossible to remove. In this article, Syd Bolton gives a number of suggestions for dealing with this that will ensure that your game collection looks absolutely fabulous. Note: Proceed with caution, should you try any of these suggestions. The Armchair Empire and its staff assume no responsibility should any mishaps occur.

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The Pitfalls of Collecting:

Stickers and Buying Used Games

Game collecting has gotten to be a pretty serious past time for a lot of people (myself included) and given the cost of some games, there is going to be a time when you buy a game used. Many collector’s do whatever they can to keep their collections in as close to “mint” condition as possible but buying used and buying online (where you can’t necessarily see the actual merchandise) makes that a challenge.

Stickers are the enemy when it comes to used games. In new ones, the majority of stickers are contained on the outside of the shrink wrap, easily fading into our landfills with the plastic they are stuck to. If you buy your games used however, you are going to be faced with the dreaded price sticker (and sometimes worse).

Certain retailers have gone sticker crazy in the past few years, plastering “trade-in” enticement stickers and “warranty” seals over the cases where they open. The first thing you can do is always ask that they use the “clear” stickers that come off more easily and cleanly than the paper ones. If there is a price sticker (or two, or three) and a sticker covering over the original barcode, you might need some help getting it off cleanly.

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It seems like everyone has a method that works or doesn’t work for them, so I’ll try to share with you each type I’ve heard of and experienced, and the pros and cons of them.

If you are trying to take a sticker off of a DVD type game that is in a plastic case, the first thing you can do is get a feel to see if the sticker will just come

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off naturally. Sometimes they do. Fingernails are helpful in this case, so if you haven’t bitten them off after facing some incredible scary bosses in the last game you played, give it a try. If it feels like it’s not going to budge cleanly, go get a hair dryer. Yes, you heard me right. A hair dryer can be used to heat up the glue that attaches the sticker to the case and is an absolutely necessity for older games that have stickers stuck on cardboard boxes. Try a lower heat setting at first, because the downside to the hair dryer method is that it will sometimes melt the plastic on the DVD case, usually just enough to change its shape slightly.

Once you have managed to remove the sticker, you will sometimes find there is still residue of the glue left behind. The first thing I do is use the sticker I just pulled off and dab it against the residue, quickly pulling it back. The remaining glue on the back of the sticker will actually adhere to the remaining gunk on the case and pull it off. Repeat as necessary until all the ‘goo’ is gone.

Speaking of which, a product called ‘goo gone’ on the market will also help remove sticker residue, although I’ll warn you that many people don’t like the citrus smell it leaves behind (although it usually clears within a few weeks). Goo gone is a good choice when there is a lot of residue left over and works best with plastic, I personally would not use it on an old cardboard game package.

Rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs also work well (but again, I would not recommend these on cardboard boxes). On plastic game cases and cartridges it works very well and is not quite as abrasive or smelly as goo gone (and much less expensive of course).

The hairdryer technique combined with a knife to gently peel back a label also works really well for actually DVD’s that might have a “Rented from” or “Property of” sticker in their center ring. Of course, experiment with the heat and be careful when handling hot items and a knife at the same time!

Sometimes a case is just too badly damaged or has that “used” look to it, so you might want to consider purchasing some game replacement cases. You can purchase them online, or here’s another alternative for you. Often, you will see games on sale for a really low price (for example, the PS2 Jampack’s are often cleared out at a dollar or two). These are official PS2 games in official cases, so why not buy them up and discard the discs or give them away to friends and relatives? Keep the original cases for your collection.

You can also do the “switcheroo” if you trade any of your games in. If it’s a PS2 game, keep the original official case and trade your game in with a standard black DVD case. The downside here is that when purchasing a used game, you better make sure you are buying one in an official case at the retailer in case somebody else reads this article and pulls a switcheroo on you.

In the case of classic games, there are many options out there and if you can’t find original cases or boxes for your games, the next best thing to do is print your own. Yes, I know that it’s not official but least having your games in a case will keep them protected and looking attractive which is an important element in collecting.

Keeping your games in the best possible shape will increase their value over time and give you a collection to be proud of. With some additional care, time, and some household items you can make your collection something you can be even more proud of. Happy collecting!

Syd Bolton has been collecting game consoles for over 20 years and has dozens of systems and over 5,000 games. He is the newest addition to the Armchair Empire. Have any interesting stories about your game collection? Make sure you share with us here.