Tales of the Urban Explorer: The Retro-Games House
It appeared to be an unassuming house by the roadside, but we knew it was abandoned and that there was an access point.... somewhere.
These types of explores make me unsettled. Occasionally they are crammed with belongings and that begs the question…, ‘Is it really abandoned?’
For that reason, I never stick around too long inside, especially if that 'access point' is a front downstairs window. Did anyone see us climb through it? It's not difficult to notice if you happen to be living opposite and look out of a window at the right time.
Anyone would assume it’s a burglary and that the window has been compromised, then the cops arrive while you are inside which leads to a difficult conversation and possible arrest.
Then there is the question of morals and defeating your demonic temptation. A house like this contains a rich assortment of antiques, memorabilia, and retro games, something I used to collect in a previous life.
We entered via the back garden. It was shrouded, overgrown and a conservatory came into vision at the edge of my vision.
Locked..., fuck. Was the intelligence given bullshit again?
Edging down the side of the house, we climbed an awkward gate that took us to the front garden. The window looked closed and that's because the last explorer pulled it in to make it look that way,
Climbing through windows is not difficult but there's always that 'capture time' when you could be spotted. Today fortune was on us and there were no 'Oy's' entering my eardrums.
We silently closed the window from the inside and looked around.
From the first few minutes, I knew this one to be something special. The room looked half-packed as though the occupants were about to leave, and then vanished.
Come through the side entrance and a bread knife awaits unwanted visitors.
Once it could have been orderly. Someone was planning to move out and then the ransackers arrived pitching half the boxes all over the floor.
It used to live within a bin liner but not anymore,
Looks like some type of language. I checked briefly and found the word ‘Cobol’. That made me back off sharpish.
It's rusty, metal, heavy, and out of place. What is it used for?
One of those geeky weeklies that you collect and never read.
Despite the piles of stuff everywhere, there were signs of neglect within 'The Retro Games House'.
Mostly full bottles of mouthwash and shampoo adorned the green bathroom.
A pocket radio that consisted mostly of a 'speaker'.
That’s a long corridor lined with mahogany at the point of descent. This was a large house and down there was even more clutter.
Sandra Whiting needs an eye test in 2015, interesting.
What a great old clock, complete with a key winder. Sadly I knew this item was going to be stolen, not by me but by the Tour Bus which inevitably would arrive.
The bedroom looked to be that of a teenager and one who liked PC games. The big box varieties were strewn about randomly.
According to the dates and ages, these scrawlings were generated in 1987, but by whom?
This is what got me going. Atari VCS manuals, and Pilot Wings for the SNES. Could I snitch that boxed gem and get away with it?
Probably, but I left it there like everything else for the next lot of thieving bastards to steal. Likely there was a stash of 2600 cartridges within if I searched hard enough.
I would have killed for a pair of walkie-talkies when I was a teenager. The idea of them was present in my mind during those times.
3 Litres, that’s an awful lot of Cognac.
Dated 1992, a time when I was turning sour on the Amiga and using the PC as my main gaming platform.
Unlike most of the shitty places I visit, 'The Retro Games House' was mostly dry and the books were not damaged by undue moisture.
Who's that dodgy bloke in the mirror? Must be a local ghost or something.
The sheer amount of stuff in here was overwhelming, from the new to the old. I didn’t know where to look.
The roof isn’t doing so well in this room; it could do with a little attention.
Someone was into their music and I spotted a Peter Gabriel album within the collection. Good taste!
Floppies and not ones that fit a Commodore Amiga; you had to be there to know this shit.
The games don’t end at computer games. Whoever owned these was a board geek too.
A diverse gamer, musician, and guitar player, the magazine dated 1995.
One of the strings had broken, easily fixed.
Downstairs was comparably boring compared to what was up there, but we had to come down at some point.
It was back to the entry room before we headed down the long corridor to find much more gear in the lower area next to the locked conservatory.
Another old stereo unit, does this one belong to Dad?
Many books were spotted. Do people read all this stuff; I can’t be bothered in today’s world.
The kitchen was showing signs of dampness; the house had not seen occupants in several years methinks.
The Marmite House? It’s a suitable name but a common find.
I tend to wonder if most people are natural hoarders. Whenever we make finds such as this, the amount of junk is almost always overwhelming.
Out of date in 2011; I opted not to have a taste of whatever lucked within.
The whisky would be the safe option if I had to take a swig from any of these bottles despite it being open, and the rest sealed.
Mouse Trap for kids, Diplomacy is definitely not for kids.
Looking out from the inside; our initial efforts to gain entry failed. I would have preferred to exit this way instead of that high visibility window.
Sandra was charitable and a blood donor, all good attributes.
Mr Whiting I presume and a contractor earning the golden doubloons. I wish it was still so in today’s world.
Could it be Sandra and her mum?
Sometimes you have to call it a day, and after seeing some much clutter I couldn’t be arsed climbing over all this to see even more.
Those piles of books look a little heavy for me, and I mean content-wise.
A great downstairs retreat, if only there was room to plonk your arse down somewhere to watch the TV, such was the lack of sofa's not containing stuff.
Letters from Sandra, the right one being the more interesting as it mentions 'COVID'. The house was occupied more recently than I suspected and had Peter been a victim of the 'Scamdemic'?
Was this the reason the house was in a semi-state of being packed away, makes you think?
We left, as usual with a massive question mark above the house. There are always clues but rarely any solutions.
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Blatant evidence of how much we hoard, don't need, never read! Yikes not that long ago people still living between this massive collection, what a waste of time and money....
Makes one realize one mans joy is another's junk, any close family ran for the hills hiding, rather than clearing this all out!
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It could well have been lived in during 2021 and I was there just 2 years later, which makes me even more guilty. I do abandoned places, but many of these type I feel are break-ins, which eventually the UX socials get wind of and then visit after word spreads.
After that everything of values gets stolen, and the house is trashed. This is why I am always hesitant when they look 'too new'.
Always LOVE your finds and have Missed your posts, but have talked about you often over the past few months when showing people the wonder and enchantment of Hive and ofcourse, you're at the top of the list to show off!
Now as for this adventure- wow such an incredible amount- close to what my mum 'collected' before I halved it and halved it again and again.
Now it's all neatly packed in clear storage containers- 98% of it in my family home and the 2% I have with me to sell, is now clogging up my little home...🙄
But you will not be breaking into my home in the future as an urbex adventure cause I don't actually own one, and absolutely do intend to sell as much of stuff as I can!
Well... thanks!
These days you can't leave a house empty for long here as this kind of thing happens. It's not the first or last I will enter, but I don't take anything. That would not be right, despite my demons telling me to steal.
First off my pleasure, I love your urbexes and even more so you're humour is my kind of humour (are you a country girl from a truck driving family too...? lol..🤣..)
And yes you're right, even tough we come from a small country town where everyone knows everyone and no one in their right mind would want to break into my family home knowing my brothers explosive temper....there are some that would be stupid enough to do it..more so the young ones anyway...
And I like your shoot but don't take philosophy, beside, what on earth would you do with it all...lol...someone in the future would be doing an urbex on your home saying jesus christ WTF...😮😳...🤣🤣🤣🤣
Wow, this one was a real find! You folks seem to have a good deal of hoarders over there though. Maybe that's the reason you have so many arsonists too. They collect all the stuff then they burn it! It's a good thing I don't do these things. That record collection would have had me tempted!
LOL, too much stuff, it needs to burn!
There was more than one collection, I only snapped one close up but vinyl doesn't float my boat these days. That Pilot Wings holds some significance in my life, I'm surprised it was priced at only £10.
Now it would be a more than that, it's 30 years old.
That is cool. I am sure someone will pillage it in due time!
It will be long gone by now, and I suspect the house is now sealed up/sold/re-occupied. This visit was a year ago and a lot changes in a year. I haven't seen it doing the rounds recently.
Oh wow, okay. You must have been going balls to the wall for a while there!
Wow - a ton of retro stuff there. Must have been nice after all the burnt out and empty wrecks !!! I liked the clock on the stairs !
There's many a burnt out wreck coming shortly, actually an abundance of them during August 2023. 😀
brilliant, that is worth getting out of bed for, I would have had to take a sleeping bag and a spare pair of pants, would be in there ages rooting
Love it
I think it may be sealed now, this was a year ago and you know how things are.
yup
Those mouthwash are questionable. The blue listerine is definitely 2000s and above. No retro indeed.
But why does the abandoned house has so many things that is so versatile with memorabilia and daily use items?
I hope no one finds some skeleton lying under those piles.
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The retro is the games, not everything inside there. I once collected those things, about 20 years ago but subsequently sold the lot on eBay a few years later. They are hard to come by now.
Oh wow. And nobody came back at all for the house?? It looks huge
One of the books definitely looked sort of a vintage edition, this one; others were obtained since 70- and mostly in 80-90-es, imo.
It looks like the people who lived here before moved out because almost all the parts of the house looks arranged even down to the shampoos and mouth wash in the toilet.
They seem to also be book lovers. They’ve got a lot of books and I love that cognac
They were ready to move out and then something happened, could it be the entire household died from COVID? Who knows...
I would put this version at the top part of the list...
That could almost be my place if I was a hoarder. I had that Total Guitar magazine and similar taste in books etc. I spy a drum kit too. My Amiga and all the games went long ago. This one looks like a bit of a time capsule. Was there anything recent?
The most recent thing I noticed was the note written during COVID times. Anything else, without a date, who knows how recent those things are?
Like you, my Amiga went during the nineties. I was not a collector of dated hardware then, and selling the stuff generally helped pay for the next new shiny toy sitting ready to be bought.
I feel nervous while looking at your post. What if someone called the cops while you were in there.
Very interesting how someone could just abandon a home like that and so many "things".
I have never owned so much stuff in my entire life. Perhaps if someone digs enough you'll find the owners buried under it. They might actually be in there.
It's always a risk and the reason I don't like front entrances. Going in via the back pretty much ensures there will be no unwanted arrivals.
dammit, what a find.
Wow, that's a lot of memorabilia in one place. So tempting. I'm wondering what one would get in the collector's market for some of that stuff. Would it be worth the trouble of hiring a U-Haul truck then organizing all that stuff for sale online? Not that I would do something like that, but I like thinking about logistics 🚚 🤔
Not me, I don't steal things, and that would attract attention. I don't want arresting.
Heh. Absolutely. I was just wondering about a situation in which you were somehow allowed to take all that stuff. It seems like a lot of it would fetch a good price in the collector's market.
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Wow, this was amazing! There were a lot of things to see there. I can really see the appeal of why you do this because of this house. If I was there and there was no danger of being caught, I would have loved to check that gamer room out. There were comics, video games, a Favre jersey, a guitar, manga, and a lot of other stuff. And it was only 1 room. Seeing how other lived seems pretty fun.
Oh wowwww as a book loverrrrrrr I found the collection of books so amazing.... such envy for that one but yeah many things like that becomes junk for many different reasons but I guess that depends on the people living on the place a long time ago:<
What a place. All those books. Very fascinating. Premature archaeology.
And then when we die its not just us who needs to be eaten by worms.
I just wanted to get in, take the snaps and exit. The less time inside the better. Explaining ourselves in there would not be fun.
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Quite enjoyable post to read, and outstanding, memorable place to explore, no doubts. Those pics (and all the book / vinyl shelves) were the highlights of the blog for me. I spotted 'Human league' and 'Fleetwood mac' at one of compact cassettes, Herb Alpert, Cure, a lot of Beatles stuff among the vinyls... Nice taste indeed! Would love to explore the labels on the others.
3 Litres of Courvousier STILL UNSTOLEN ????? un-imaginable situation for me xD
I spotted among the VHS even the Pinguin's paperback edition of Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' - such a Thick Brick To Read... the divercitty does impress! and amount of stuff indeed is overwhelming.
Whoever owned all this was not one person, I believe, a few generations were collecting it... what if it was a big band of marodeurs, that for a few decades from 70-es to 90-es was capturing the stuff according their likes, bringing to their nest and hoarding, hoarding... heading not a single item to the trash bin at all?..
Yes... my guess exceptions are rare, at least that must be correct for the European culture, others may differ. This is one of the thoughts that should come to mind after such an exploration visit.
Have a !BEER and a rest after this voyage - you deserve it. 🍺
It was probably tidy once, then the idiots arrive and toss everything about and that make it look like this. I have seen it countless times.
Probably gone shortly after our visit. It depends how quickly it was sealed and removed from the UX scene.
the folks are apes... barbarians :/
I always have this thing about those abandoned places. I wonder what happened between those four corners of the house. Anyways, thanks for sharing and interesting blog.
Ugh, I had an Amiga too (actually it's still somewhere in a dark corner of the basement) and I know these Amiga magazines.
Maybe in a few years, I can expect a visit of some Urban Explorer? I don't have any more records, cassettes or CDs because I donated them, but I have some old CD players and a Panasonic SVHS VCR ... but I don't use them anymore ... I missed selling them... I'm not a collector, but maybe it's time to clean out the cellar? 😵💫
Only if you die, and have no relatives the pass the property on to. This is what happens here often, though not in this case.
A couple of years go fast.
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Wow, what an amazing time capsule! A lot of that stuff (particularly the games & electronics) is from the era I grew up in. I would probably get caught inside that house by someone, because I'd want to stay long enough to go through every little thing!
I'm with you on the issue of morals. I'd have a hard time not taking a souvenir or two from a place that crammed. Thus far, though, I never have, even when finding similarly cool stuff. That clock though...so beautiful! Would've been hard to leave it there for some asshat to break or steal, when I know I could give it a better home.
But the value of what you saw inside was probably in the 10s if not hundreds of thousands. Books and vinyl and computer software, oh my! To say nothing of old Disney VHS tapes and board games, which can bring primo cash in good condition. Of course, someone would have to have the patience to list it all on ebay/Amazon/wherever and then ship it off to the four corners of the globe, but dang.
To answer the question you posed - the rusty metal thing is an embosser. Usually used to make an impression of an official seal on documents. I have seen several over the years and even had my own when I had a registered corporation. Makes me wonder what impression you would have gotten if you'd slipped a piece of paper in and pressed the handle.
Thank you for sharing this amazing find!
!PIZZA
There's always temptation when stumble on something like this. You have to resist and so far I have and it's a good feeling when you can talk to your inner self and say... 'I have never taken a thing'..
That's worth something and is a moral that never existed when I was younger and would have. Age does have it's graces.
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