GUEST: It's a video game system called Vectrex, which I believe is from 1982. So in the early '80s, my parents built a retirement home on the far eastern tip of the North Fork of Long Island. No cable TV, before internet. My mom, who had worked at the Gimbels department store, wanted there to be something in the house for the kids, and she bought this.
APPRAISER: You could not ask for, like, a more niche, specific part of video game history. So you are correct in that it is the Vectrex system. It uses a vector display, which, a vector display utilizes drawn lines instead of pixels. Right now, I could already feel the collector cravings watching this segment. They're very tough to come by, very tough to find with the games. But the pièce de résistance that you have over here is the 3D Imager.
GUEST: Now, that my mom didn't buy. I had it just boxed away. And when I started to get reinterested, I realized that there was an accessory of some importance that was missing. And I bought this online in 2011.
APPRAISER: Do you remember what you paid for it in 2011?
GUEST: $615.
APPRAISER: You made a positive investment buying that in 2011. And if you were curious, before we jump to that, though, what your mother would have paid for this in 1982 would have been $199. That was the retail cost of a Vectrex back then.
GUEST: Ah. That sounds like a lot for '82.
APPRAISER: It is a lot. That's equivalent to over $500 today.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: The 3D Imager, such a cool video game accessory. But the reason why in particular it is so rare is that in 1983, the video game world was turned upside down. Literally, it's the video game crash of 1983. And unfortunately, the Vectrex fell right at that time period.
GUEST: Ah.
APPRAISER: There was such an oversaturation of video games. There were so many consoles, there were so many developers. There was too much for the market. So it's like the process of natural selection. Only the greatest few could survive. The 3D Imager, only three games were ever released for, to be used with the 3D Imager on the Vectrex system. The Imager was released early 1984. By the time the Imager was hitting the store shelves, the system was already failing and becoming a market flop.
GUEST: Had, had no clue.
APPRAISER: Today's market, the Imager alone is a $2,000 to $3,000 accessory.
GUEST: (chuckles) Mo, Mom would be happy.
APPRAISER: Yeah, Mom did a great job, because the whole package today, at auction, everything here, easily going to be $3,500 to $4,000.
GUEST: You're the first person to take this out of the box. I didn't even take it out of the box when I bought it.
APPRAISER: Well, guess what? I'm also going to be the first person to try this on right now. Because I can't even imagine playing a game with this back in the day. (chuckling) And using-- there's a color wheel in here that spins super-fast.
GUEST: I see-- I see it. (laughing)
APPRAISER: Here's the color wheel right here. And you would have to change the color wheel depending on what game you would be playing. All right, so you ready to turn it on?
GUEST: Let's do it.
APPRAISER: Look at the home screen! 1982. (chuckling) Unbelievable. It's the last thing I would have ever expected...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...to see here today.
