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[jyoung188]

I once had someone steal my Xbox 360 and all my game cases but luckily I had all the disks in a CD binder that they didn't take.

 

[dragonlife]

I once lent a senior my copy of Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube and then he graduated.

...but I knew where he lived so I took my ass over there and demanded my shit back.

 

[MattKeil]

When I moved to L.A. I unpacked all my games and put them on the shelves, when I noticed something odd about the PS2 games. I keep games in alphabetical order, and my PS2 games from J through N were all gone. I'd put them in moving boxes in a similar order (grabbing handfuls off the shelf), and it was obvious that one of the movers had opened the box and just grabbed a stack or two off the top. I ended up having to replace MGS2, MGS2: Substance, Mark of Kri, Kya, the Jak games, and several others. Luckily when I reported it to the moving company they estimated the value at full retail price ($50 per game) and ended up refunding me almost the entire cost of the move. I have since learned not to label moving boxes as "PS2 games" or similar, as it makes them a target.

When I was about 13 we used to have a cleaning lady come in once every two weeks.

I was at a boarding school so rarely was able to play my consoles. Every so often she used to borrow my games for her kids. Her logic was that we were a lot better off than her so it was fine to borrow my games for her kids when I wasn't using them.

In principal, that sounds fine, but I bought the majority of them with my own saved money. My games collection was in good condition because I looked after them meticulously.

However...

She would regularly return the games late and scratched. One time she borrowed Ratchet and Clank 3, and Jak 3. In each box was a demo disk along with the actual game. As it turns out, I had taken my CD wallet of PS2 games with me. So when I came back for Summer vacation she had the gall to come to me and complain that the games she had borrowed without permission, and subsequently scratched, were identical. (She had borrowed the boxes containing only the demo disks).

But it gets worse. I would tell her myself not to borrow my games, and then asked my parents to stop her too. She continued to do it. Asked my parents again, but they didn't really care. After all, I was "only a kid" and I should be fine with "sharing my toys".

The worst was when she bought her family a Wii and started borrowing my new games.

I had come back from school for a long weekend, and picked up Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3. I played both a little, but didn't have much time. Half term (a week-long break mid-semester) was coming up soon so I was looking forward to smashing both games as much as possible.

Well, I come back for half term and go to play Mario Galaxy.

It's not there.

Why isn't Galaxy there.

I check for Prime 3. Luckily it's still in the Wii. But the box is gone.

I ask my Dad.

"Oh yeah, she said she was going to borrow some games. She didn't give them back yet?"

I was livid. I had one short week to play 2 amazing games and she had taken the best one. I called her. "Oh yeah, I'll bring it back when I come to clean on Thursday." I was leaving to go back to school on the Sunday after, essentially giving me 3 days with Galaxy.

When she returned it, the game was heavily scratched and the manual ripped. I confronted her. "No, it was like that anyway." I was shaking with anger but decided to just walk away.

***

A few years later we're selling the house, and the cleaner comes in for the last time. She's saying goodbye and is upset because she's worked for us for about 8 years. She's crying because she's saying I've grown up into a nice young man, and she's imploring me to keep studying hard.

I feel no emotion other than relief. No sadness. I never liked her, and she stole from me.

She asks for a hug. I refuse.

***

After we move house, I'm unloading my collection and boot up my DSi (I'd since upgraded to 3DS).

On the DSi camera, I find numerous photos that her son had been taking each time she brought him over to play my videogames when I wasn't there. My DSi wasn't even in view, it was stashed away at the back of my hardware shelf.

I almost snapped it in half out of rage.

Man, this is infuriating to read. If I were your parents I would have fired her on the spot the first time it happened. I had a friend growing up whose parents had a similar "you don't really have property, you're a kid" attitude and it was just baffling to me. He collected and built model planes, and was really quite good at it. He had them all displayed on shelves, with a few hanging from the ceiling. His parents hiring a cleaning lady at one point, and she cleaned all the models by smacking them with a feather duster, in the process snapping off at least one landing gear or propeller on every single model. They were all broken in some way or another. My friend was furious, but his dad just said they were pointless toys and he should get over it because they weren't worth being upset over. All that time and care spent on them and he got dismissed like that. To this day it amazes me that a parent can have that little respect for something their child values and enjoys.

 

[KyleCross]

Kingdom Hearts on the PS2, the original black label with Squaresoft on the box. It was the reason I bought a PS2 and pretty much the game I credit to opening my eyes to how awesome video games could really be. Alas it disappeared, the only explaination is one of my brothers friends stole it. He didn't exactly have honest friends, usually a bunch a potheads.

I kinda never got over it lol.

Also I gave my PS1 collection to my brother-in-law figuring he'd keep them, instead he pawned them. That one was my fault...

 

[Seik]

There was a guy that was hanging out with one of my friends when I was something like 9-10 years old. My friend asked me if he could come with him too once and of course I said yes.

I remember him being nice and all, though he just double-facing me like a pro, cauz he got away with my copy of 1080 Snowboarding on N64. It was just too clear that it was him, I'm still talking with my friend to this day and he told me he stole stuff from him too and when he realized he ditched him.

We both asked him our stuff back but he acted like he didn't know anything. What a dick...

There's one of my cousins that asked me my copy of RE4 on PS2, saying she would take good care of it and everything because she fucking knew I was taking great care of my collection. But when she left my mother told me ''No...you didn't lend something to her, really? You'll never get it back.''. I thought it would be fine at first but I slowly realized she was right. Each time she was coming to see my grand mother I asked her the game back and she was always saying ''Well, I just moved, it's somewhere in my boxes, I'll check for it soon, don't worry.'' then a couple of weeks later she told me she found it, but forgot to bring it to my place when she came back. Then, hahaha, she fucking moved again, I just gave up and swore I would never lend her anything again, fuck family sometimes.

 

[comedy bomb]

I had all of my Snes, 3DO and Genesis/CD/32x games and consoles stolen, as well as a couple hundred music CDs back in the late 90s. Never did get any of it back.

I'm mostly over it at this point.

 

[Saganator]

Pretty sure my friend stole my Genesis copy of Street Fighter II. I didn't expect him at all for a while. I figured my sister did something with it, she was always fucking with me. We were close to moving when it disappeared, I figured it would turn up in the move. Never did. I use to think about what happened to my Street Fighter a lot, I really loved the game. One day, I realized I only had one friend which came over to my house whom also had a Genesis, this kid Matt, who I knew was kinda shady, but was always cool with me. All my other friends had a Super Nintendo, no console at all, or they didn't come over. I'm about 90% sure it was Matt. It also solves the mystery of the missing firetruck Transformer toy that randomly disappeared.

Before that, I had a friend Chris, I lent him my NES game, Black Manta. Pretty shitty game, but I enjoyed it. So did he. I let him borrow it and I never saw it again. He dodged me for weeks. He finally claimed his house was contaminated with asbestos and they had to throw everything away. Never bought the story. Decided he was no good.

 

[Cannon Goose]

Off topic a little, but in a similar vein I have one friend who will always return games in a poor condition with new defects that weren't there before he received the game. Be it cracked cases, missing or ripped manuals, scratched disks, he's done it all and usually blames his younger brother.

The worst thing was when he borrowed Viewtiful Joe and absolutely hated it, then returned it to me the next day. I took the disk out of the case, put it in the Gamecube and it couldn't be read. I take it out to check for scratches and it turns out that one part of the disk had been cleanly snapped from centre to edge, just barely held together by the art on top of the disk. He said he had no idea how it happened.

Of course this friend also never has any money, hence he's always borrowing games. Thankfully another friend was selling his Gamecube games and I was able to rebuy Viewtiful Joe. On the bright side, now I've got both the yellow and pink boxes!

 

[DoktorEvil]

When I was about 13 we used to have a cleaning lady come in once every two weeks.

I was at a boarding school so rarely was able to play my consoles. Every so often she used to borrow my games for her kids. Her logic was that we were a lot better off than her so it was fine to borrow my games for her kids when I wasn't using them.

In principal, that sounds fine, but I bought the majority of them with my own saved money. My games collection was in good condition because I looked after them meticulously.

However...

She would regularly return the games late and scratched. One time she borrowed Ratchet and Clank 3, and Jak 3. In each box was a demo disk along with the actual game. As it turns out, I had taken my CD wallet of PS2 games with me. So when I came back for Summer vacation she had the gall to come to me and complain that the games she had borrowed without permission, and subsequently scratched, were identical. (She had borrowed the boxes containing only the demo disks).

But it gets worse. I would tell her myself not to borrow my games, and then asked my parents to stop her too. She continued to do it. Asked my parents again, but they didn't really care. After all, I was "only a kid" and I should be fine with "sharing my toys".

The worst was when she bought her family a Wii and started borrowing my new games.

I had come back from school for a long weekend, and picked up Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3. I played both a little, but didn't have much time. Half term (a week-long break mid-semester) was coming up soon so I was looking forward to smashing both games as much as possible.

Well, I come back for half term and go to play Mario Galaxy.

It's not there.

Why isn't Galaxy there.

I check for Prime 3. Luckily it's still in the Wii. But the box is gone.

I ask my Dad.

"Oh yeah, she said she was going to borrow some games. She didn't give them back yet?"

I was livid. I had one short week to play 2 amazing games and she had taken the best one. I called her. "Oh yeah, I'll bring it back when I come to clean on Thursday." I was leaving to go back to school on the Sunday after, essentially giving me 3 days with Galaxy.

When she returned it, the game was heavily scratched and the manual ripped. I confronted her. "No, it was like that anyway." I was shaking with anger but decided to just walk away.

***

A few years later we're selling the house, and the cleaner comes in for the last time. She's saying goodbye and is upset because she's worked for us for about 8 years. She's crying because she's saying I've grown up into a nice young man, and she's imploring me to keep studying hard.

I feel no emotion other than relief. No sadness. I never liked her, and she stole from me.

She asks for a hug. I refuse.

***

After we move house, I'm unloading my collection and boot up my DSi (I'd since upgraded to 3DS).

On the DSi camera, I find numerous photos that her son had been taking each time she brought him over to play my videogames when I wasn't there. My DSi wasn't even in view, it was stashed away at the back of my hardware shelf.

I almost snapped it in half out of rage.

Boy, by the way your parents treated you and treated the cleaning lady, they might as well fucking buy her the games instead of allowing her to take yours. Sorry to hear that.

 

[ElectricKaibutsu]

Someone stole my white DS Lite. It was in a case with my best games. It was awhile ago so I kind of forget what I lost, but I know one was Chrono Trigger because I've still never finished it. I'm not even sure when it was stolen. I think I had it in my luggage when I was traveling so a baggage handler could have taken it.

 

[tensuke]

In 8th grade my friend (well, "friend") borrowed San Andreas on the PS2, I got it like right after it came out so it was the original version before they had it pulled and re-rated. He had it for about 6 months, and when he finally gave it back, I noticed the Gameshark/AR codes didn't work anymore. I looked at the disc and sure enough, it was the newer version. Although he used the same case, because it was the same map (tears were in the same place). So I don't know if he actually lost the disc (which is likely, his room was awfully messy all the time and he just threw bare discs around), or just wanted the hot coffee for himself.

Edit: Oh yeah, wasn't me per se but my brother was with our mom when she was getting a carwash, maaaaaany years ago, he had an og Game Boy with zelda. Our mom told him to just put it under the seat, and when they got back into the car afterwards the Game Boy was gone.
Also I stole my friend's Megaman 3 on GB, I didn't mean to, I had just borrowed it and was terrible at it, so I forgot about it and one day a few years later I found it and just said, "Oh yeahhhh."
Also I let a friend (another "friend") borrow my Sapphire version, and never got it back. It's cool though, I had Emerald too which was far superior.

OT, but I thought this thread was going to be about games you thought of but then someone else actually made later. In my case, it was Watch Dogs, which Ubisoft shamelessly ripped out of my head (and ruined).

 

[atr0cious]

First time, lost my gaming PC, DVD collection, and every physical media released in America related to Metal Gear Solid.

Lesson learned: Don't live in a party house.

Second time, after making someone mad in video games:


I was able to get my steam account back, but got put $5k in the hole.

Lesson learned: PC gamers can be really sore losers.

 

[Sakura]

When I was a little kid, someone borrowed my copy of Sonic 3D Blast for his son or something. But he quickly moved and I never got it back. I've never finished the game
I remember how happy I was to find it under the Christmas tree that Christmas...

 

[Shojx]

This has happened to me twice.

First was in 2000. We had just gotten the Playstation and it was the newer, smaller PSone model, but I'd had the N64 for a number of years already. I was really lucky to have both an N64 and a PS1, especially considering how tight money was for us in those days. Blockbuster was my best friend, but every now and then, on rare occasions, I'd actually get to buy a game; usually it'd be a game I rented first and loved enough to want to own it.

Anyways, one night, for a reason I can't remember for the life of me, we "had?" to stay at a hotel for one night. But, my older sister and brother were staying behind at the house, and were apparently going to throw a party of some sort. I can't come to any logical conclusion as to why my parents would take me and my younger siblings to a hotel for one night randomly, while leaving behind my two older siblings to throw a party, but before we left for the hotel, I remember being skeptical about simply leaving my N64 and PS there when a bunch of people would be partying, drinking, or whatever. Of course, I was assured (by my parents? by my older sister/brother? I don't remember) that I was worrying over nothing, and the excitement of staying in a hotel (lame right?), which we didn't do very often, was enough to get me to stop worrying about it. Right before we left though, I took out the game currently in my N64, which was a rented copy of either Pokemon Puzzle League or Kirby 64, and hid it. (I can't remember which, because I played both around the same time)

Fast forward to the next morning, and we return to the house to some great news. My N64 and PS1, along with the games that were sitting beside the systems, were gone, presumably taken by someone the night before. I was devastated. The games taken were Goldeneye 64, which was lying somewhere nearby the N64, along with Crash Team Racing and Spyro 2, one of which was in the PS1 and the other which was lying nearby. All the extra controllers for both systems were gone too. Thankfully, the rest of my N64 games were untouched, maybe because they weren't out in the open, although CTR and Spyro 2 were the only PS1 games I owned at the time. I had barely owned it for that long...

As it turned out, whoever took them was apparently someone my older sister knew. They weren't friends or even acquaintances, but she knew who it was, and we lived in a fairly small city where everyone seemed to know everyone else. Still, I didn't get the stolen systems / games back, I think the guy who took them sold them by the time my sister found out he was responsible, and he never got in trouble for it as far as I know. My older sister ended up taking responsibility for the incident, I guess she was the one who wanted to throw the party in the first place. She ended up buying me another Playstation, though it was the chunkier model, along with new copies of Spyro 2 and Digimon World (no CTR though ;_. I also got my first memory card! (Yep, I had played CTR and Spyro 2 without owning a memory card, and yes, I did finish Spyro 2 multiple times, sometimes to 100% completion, contemplate that) My brother's friend ended up giving us his own N64, along with his controllers and copy of Goldeneye.

It was a pretty upsetting experience for me at the time, but it could have ended worse, and at least the rest of my games were safe... right?...

Fast forward to a few years later. We were living in a different city (and technically country!... but still NA ;']). I had a "friend", who was someone I didn't really know that well but they went to my school, and they lived not too far from me, so I let them come over a few times.

Whenever he was over the first time, he was really interested in the older games I had, as in Genesis / N64 / PS1, as opposed to the new gen at the time (Gamecube/PS2), so I let him look through them both times he came over. After the second visit though, I didn't want him to come over anymore. I don't even remember WHY, I just didn't. Thinking back on it, I think the fact that he was looking through my games made me uncomfortable. So not too long after the second visit, he was knocking at the door, and I didn't want to let him in. Buuuuuut, my younger sister and I had just gotten in a fight, and to get back at me, she let him in, knowing I really didn't want that.

So once again he asked if he could look through my old game stuff, and I was like "sure...". I feel like I was playing Wind Waker, or maybe SA2B during all this, I don't remember. Every now and then he'd say something like, "Oh, you have this-game" and I'd be like "...yeah". I remember looking over at the closet where he was looking through all the stuff and thinking "He's making a bit of a mess, that's gonna be annoying to straighten up". But after a little while, he said he had to go, and left. I was just kind of like "Kay, bye" and let him leave on his own without really even looking at him. Aaaaaand, a little while later, I went to the closet to straighten things up aaaaaaand...

Things were missin'.

Gone were Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo Kazooie, which had survived the Room Raid of 2000, missing along with newcomers Mario Party 3 and Pokemon Stadium 2. He left Goemon's Great Adventure though, bless his heart. On the Playstation side, Spyro 2 left me once again, along with Digimon World and 102 Dalmations (lol). And then, my poor Genesis games, Sonic 2 and 3 were no longer with us. He left Sonic & Knuckles though, how stupid, Sonic 3 is just incomplete without it. I swore he said he didn't even have a Genesis. Also missing from the TV stand was my copy of Pokemon Ruby, which triggered in my mind the memory of him asking "Oh, you've got the new Pokemon?"... I'm so stupid. I was in the middle of beating the Elite Four, I wonder if beat them for me?...

Extreme-G was also nowhere to be found, but it's possible I was only now realizing I had lost it because I had completely forgotten I even owned it.

All I could really do is look at my sister and say "...You shouldn't have let him in."

I gotta wonder how he managed to take all these games at once... Though none of my N64 games had their cases anymore... and he WAS wearing a heavy hoodie... why didn't I question any of this. For all I know, he took them at different times because I didn't check my games until after the third, and final visit.

And for some reason, he didn't touch any of my Gamecube or PS2 titles, and at this point in time, we were a little better off financially so I had a few things to choose from... Me and Blockbuster were still besties though.

*sigh*

After that day, I didn't see the guy on my bus or at school anymore, although he wasn't in any of my classes so maybe he just stopped riding the bus and conveniently avoided me in the halls... Funnily, about 4 years after that, I saw him again at my high school, but he was now a grade lower than me and apparently doing really bad in school. From what I know, he ended up dropping out that same year.

I haven't had any games stolen from me since. I'm very protective of them now, yep. Trust no one.

 

[PhantomZone]

Had WWF Attitude and my PS1 memory card stolen from my house. I never found out who took it for sure but I have a feeling who it might have been. He went to jail for something else a short while later, so I just let it go.

In hindsight it's not so bad considering how shitty the game was.

The game was pretty good, although i did enjoy War Zone a little bit more despite it not having as many characters.

 

[darkwing-buck]

I remember losing my Metroid Fusion cartridge to a teacher in 3rd grade, afterwards I totally forgot about it after getting Metroid Prime. Till this day never got it back

 

[gwiz210]

I loaned a guy Tekken Tag 2 but then it got stolen from him and he won't buy me another copy :|

 

[Otakumegane]

I've never been stolen from.

Likely because I'm paranoid about that stuff.

 

[Trojan X]

Someone stole my Sonic R on the sega saturn. I believe I know who did it but I never saw the punk again after I invited him to my home. He was actually a friend of my good friend. *sigh... It still burns me a little to this day because I did welcome him to my home so I expected him to treat me as how I treated him, full and nothing but respect.

After that day, I never invited anyone to my home unless I know them or did some kind of check in some shape or form.

 

[Trojan X]

I loaned a guy Tekken Tag 2 but then it got stolen from him and he won't buy me another copy :|

That is irresponsible. He HAS to buy you another copy because it was his responsibility to look after it. Even if someone set fire to his home, he still has to replace the copy that is lost.

Rule of thumb -- if you borrow something from someone, you have to look after it 10x greater than you normally look after your own stuff. If you damage it then you have to replace/repair it to its original condition.

 

[fantomena]

CD1 of Star Wars: Republic Commando I think. Took it with me on school one day, when I got home I noticed CD1 was gone. Did not have to be stolen, but that's my guess.

I was super pissed because I loved the game, so I bought it a couple of years later on a Star Wars sale on Steam.

 

[Aeriscloud]

The only game I have ever had stolen from me was The Legend of Zelda : The Ocarina of Time. It was from Christmas 1998 too. I remember it had the original Fire Temple music and Moon/Star blocks.

 

[Trojan X]

Was about 8. Moving to Portugal, forgot bag rucksack in McDonald's in a London airport I don't know which one now. Go back 2 mins later, it's gone, ask staff they say they don't know about it...

Shit load of SNES games gone, toys gone... Sacked, some fucking punks saw my bag and took it.

Damn. If you had time, you could have arranged with your parents to go to security and do a CCTV check. After all, airports are flooded with cameras in case of bombing and so on. .... Oh yeah, if only your parents thought of that for you were only 8yrs old. I feel for your old wound, dude.

 

[FoxnHurley]

Not necessarily stolen, but they became unattainable. Several years ago I used to lend games with a colleague of mine. He was a really nice guy who I never had any issues letting him borrow games from me. Unfortunately, a year later, he died from complications of a heart condition that were likely caused by his liking for energy drinks and smoking.

The week before he passed, he had several new releases for the 360 that I lent him, Thinking that it would be very insensitive at that time to ask his girlfriend to return the games, I cut my losses and just bought the titles again when they eventually went on sale.

 

[Usobuko]

I borrowed and traded very often when I was a kid. I don't recall people outright stealing my stuff, I do notice they sure as hell don't take care of them as I do.

 

[JoJo UK]

My Steam account was 'stolen' twice, the person who took over it just deleted my friends list, changed my handle and used my games to play which is mates in Russia.

God knows how they got access as I've never had anything else 'hacked' including Microsoft/Sony/Google/various other accounts, always have antivirus/malware software and didn't have any CC details attached to the account.

Got it back both times thank fully.

 

[Mozz-eyes]

To this day it amazes me that a parent can have that little respect for something their child values and enjoys.

If I ever have kids, I'm going to take as much interest in their hobbies as I can. Treat them with respect, too.

That sucks about the model planes. I swear, I hear nothing but bad stories about cleaning ladies.

What pissed me off the most about my situation was that even though I bought the games with my own money, they didn't really register with my parents as they were just "games".

I'm still livid, after all these years. Both with my parents and the cleaning lady.

 

[mrmickfran]

A kid stole my Game Boy Advance with Super Mario World inside.

I don't let anybody touch my handhelds anymore.

 

[greatestjediever]

Ninja Gaiden 3 on NES. Lent it to an acquaintance of my older sister. Never gave it back even after getting her to ask a couple of times. Always wary off lending things to people after that. Only lend things I'm willing to lose forever.

 

[BibiMaghoo]

As a boy, I saved for several months for a copy of Earthworm Jim. When I had enough - as I was in school at the time and lived over 20 miles from a games store - I asked my father to pick it up on his lunch break at work, to which he agreed.

I was hyped all day to play it once he got home - I finished school before he finished work. When he came home, he sat me down and told me he was very sorry, but that his car window had been smashed while he was in work, and the game stolen.

The game was the only thing that was stolen. They smashed a car window for my copy of earthworm jim.

Where ever you are, if you ever read this and know you did this. Fuck you. Fuck you for stealing my game, and fuck you for breaking that window. At the pearly gates, if ever asked who deserves my wrath, it would be you mother fucker.

 

[PontyfaxJr]

Me and my cousin and a couple of close friends would lend each other games so much that sometimes we'd forget who owned what.

A guy named Andy was notorious for lifting people's gameboy games but nobody liked him anyway

 

[casmith07]

This thread sucks.

My recommendation for everyone is to make an Excel spreadsheet with the game info and the current store value and ebay value if it's not available in store. My gaming collection has become quite sizable so I did this to protect myself from a move. I also usually pack my favorites myself and hand carry them.

 

[Jaeger]

Black Label, unopened copy of Final Fantasy VII.

 

[casmith07]

When I was about 13 we used to have a cleaning lady come in once every two weeks.

I was at a boarding school so rarely was able to play my consoles. Every so often she used to borrow my games for her kids. Her logic was that we were a lot better off than her so it was fine to borrow my games for her kids when I wasn't using them.

In principal, that sounds fine, but I bought the majority of them with my own saved money. My games collection was in good condition because I looked after them meticulously.

However...

She would regularly return the games late and scratched. One time she borrowed Ratchet and Clank 3, and Jak 3. In each box was a demo disk along with the actual game. As it turns out, I had taken my CD wallet of PS2 games with me. So when I came back for Summer vacation she had the gall to come to me and complain that the games she had borrowed without permission, and subsequently scratched, were identical. (She had borrowed the boxes containing only the demo disks).

But it gets worse. I would tell her myself not to borrow my games, and then asked my parents to stop her too. She continued to do it. Asked my parents again, but they didn't really care. After all, I was "only a kid" and I should be fine with "sharing my toys".

The worst was when she bought her family a Wii and started borrowing my new games.

I had come back from school for a long weekend, and picked up Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3. I played both a little, but didn't have much time. Half term (a week-long break mid-semester) was coming up soon so I was looking forward to smashing both games as much as possible.

Well, I come back for half term and go to play Mario Galaxy.

It's not there.

Why isn't Galaxy there.

I check for Prime 3. Luckily it's still in the Wii. But the box is gone.

I ask my Dad.

"Oh yeah, she said she was going to borrow some games. She didn't give them back yet?"

I was livid. I had one short week to play 2 amazing games and she had taken the best one. I called her. "Oh yeah, I'll bring it back when I come to clean on Thursday." I was leaving to go back to school on the Sunday after, essentially giving me 3 days with Galaxy.

When she returned it, the game was heavily scratched and the manual ripped. I confronted her. "No, it was like that anyway." I was shaking with anger but decided to just walk away.

***

A few years later we're selling the house, and the cleaner comes in for the last time. She's saying goodbye and is upset because she's worked for us for about 8 years. She's crying because she's saying I've grown up into a nice young man, and she's imploring me to keep studying hard.

I feel no emotion other than relief. No sadness. I never liked her, and she stole from me.

She asks for a hug. I refuse.

***

After we move house, I'm unloading my collection and boot up my DSi (I'd since upgraded to 3DS).

On the DSi camera, I find numerous photos that her son had been taking each time she brought him over to play my videogames when I wasn't there. My DSi wasn't even in view, it was stashed away at the back of my hardware shelf.

I almost snapped it in half out of rage.

Jesus man. By contrast, my family's cleaning lady would dust and clean all my consoles and games and stack them neatly alphabetically. And English wasn't her first language.

Still miss her to this day, and I've been gone for 11 years.

 

[bLaiSe]

I had a house party a few years ago and some of the dudes were playing on my PS3. When I woke up in the morning my God of War 3 copy was missing. Had to buy it again because I haven't finished the game yet.
At least they didn't take anything else...

 

[Boards of Canada]

My brother's piece of shit friend stole Turok from me, I game I paid $100 because I lived in a small town and the only way to get it was by having a local computer shop order it in.

 

[pinkurocket]

Reading this thread is really upsetting. ]:

 

[C.Dark.DN]

I can't find my Mega Man Legends or Tron Bonne ;-;

 

[Imbarkus]

My brother's piece of shit friend stole Turok from me, I game I paid $100 because I lived in a small town and the only way to get it was by having a local computer shop order it in.

Man you got robbed twice!

 

[milena87]

My mom used to teach catechism at our house when I was little. Since we only had 1 room, the dining room, big enough to sit all the boys and girls coming over and since that room is where me and my sister played, most of my toys were pretty available.

At first they mostly messed with my Legos, but as far as I know nobody ever stole them. They just loved to destroy them.

One Christmas my cousin gifted us a SNES and in the next years she would gift me and/or my brothers different games. We were pretty poor at the time, and our only source of gaming came from her. I never actually bought a game (for the SNES, PC or GBA) until I was 14 years old.
After 2 years we had Magical Quests with Mickey Mouse, Beauty and the Beast, Yoshi's Island, Superstar Soccer Deluxe, Bomberman, Pinocchio and Donkey Kong Country 3.

Anyway, my parents didn't want us to play with the SNES in the living room (I still don't know why), so we played on the little TV in the dining room, instead.

One day I wanted to play with Beauty and the Beast and I couldn't find it anywhere. And Magical Quest was nowhere to be found as well. We searched for a week and couldn't find them.

Then I started suspecting one of those kids that came over for catechism. After all, I played just before leaving the room so that my mom could teach, and those 2 were the only games out in the open and not in their boxes, safely locked away.
I asked my mom if she could ask the kids to give the games back. I didn't want to know who did it, I just wanted the games back.
Obviously I never got them back.

And I never finished Beauty and the Beast.

 

[C00kie M0nster]

I had the landlord break into my apartment when I told him I was going away on vacation and steal my ENTIRE Gamecube collection (60+) games.

I was crestfallen as I could never prove it and the police wouldn't do anything about it.

 

[FranXico]

I borrowed my MegaDrive copy of FIFA 1994 (I think?) to some kid in the street and that little asshole never gave it back.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

I need to invest in a vault. Too many cases you may never look in for years to steal games from.

 

[A.D. Skinner]

Only thing that went missing of mine was a PS2 game manual (can't remember which game) after I borrowed it to someone. I don't know why I ever did. The guy was alright but I barely knew him.

My brother always told me not to lend anything to people so maybe he got hit hard when he was younger. Also, my parents wouldn't let me have anyone over, ever. Didn't even have the chance to have things stolen from us.

Good advice, brother. Nicely done, parents.

Editing to add, that I am well aware of what little shits kids can be and will certainly be guarding everything from cousins to friends to flat out refusing to let friends of friends my kid doesn't know, into the house. Bye bye!

 

[Moongazer]

Lost my entire DS and part of my 3DS collection while travelling. I put my DS case inside my suitcase thinking it would be okay as it's locked and nothing ever happened the hundred times I've gone travelling. I arrive to collect my luggage only to find to my lock broken and gone and all the tags and stickers removed, it was a small miracle I was able to identify it.

I open my suitcase at home and find all my clothes and stuff in a mess and opened. I check to make everything is at least there, but unfortunately the one thing I was hoping was still there wasn't. Scumbag took my DS case, I had easily about 30 games there I've collected over a few years alongside a couple of 3DS games as well all amounting maybe to about £300 or more worth of stuff.

So be aware if you travel put your games stuff in your backpack/hand luggage and not your suitcase. I learned that lesson the hard way and won't ever make that mistake again.

 

[Velkyn]

Brought my gameboy and Pokemon Blue to school. While I was waiting for my bus, someone (who bullied me quite often) asked to see it. When I declined, he grabbed for it, and I felt Pokemon Blue get pulled out of the gameboy. He denied taking it, I never got it back.

Most recently, I had a copy of Assassin's Creed stolen by an angry roommate as I was moving out.

But the game theft that will haunt me always is my grandfather's NES collection. It was he who got me interested in games in the first place. Whenever I'd go over to spend time at my grandparents' place, my grandfather would always be working on a game. Mapping out areas in Final Fantasy. Grinding in Dragon Quest. Videotaping his Mario runs and trying to beat his times. The collection was never about the games for me, it was the closest thing someone who loves games as much as I do has to a cultural history. Grandfather played games in his retirement, so there were, as far as I know, roughly 20-30 NES games that were packed in a box along with the console after he passed. They were left to me, along with his medals and other war memorabilia when I came of age. Unfortunately, the games wouldn't make it that far. Almost 20 years ago (goddamn, has it really been that long? ugh.) some scumbag snaked in through my mom's basement window. She had been left my grandparents' house, a small postwar shoebox of a house in the sleepy Canadian suburb where I grew up. After taking all he could carry, which included every videogame and console in storage, the guy apparently heard a sound, panicked, and literally jumped out a window, breaking the glass with a few well placed kicks. I never did see my grandfather's games again, but I can at least find solace in thinking that they were pawned and landed somewhere where they made someone as happy as they made me.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Was going to say I was lucky because I had never had games stolen from me, but then I read this:

[Post redefining "lucky"].

I have had lost portable games and even a whole PSP system (this one was last year, it stings), but that's obviously m fault. I also lent several G1 Transformers (mostly minicons) to a school's kid when I was a kid, and never saw them again.

 

[finsternIRL]

Someone stole my ps1 copy of Disney's Hercules that I got for christmas

 

[ghostjoke]

Someone stole my original Spyro on PS1. Someday I fell find them and they will rue the day. You literally stole part of my childhood.

Not stolen but my brother overwrote my fully completed saves of Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX. It felt like theft, all those hours gone.

 

[VibratingDonkey]

The worst I've had happen was the guy I borrowed Tekken 3 to had put orange peels on the cover of it, making it all misty.
I later stepped on it by accident, cracking the front and hinges. PS1 cases were shit.