About The Old School Game Vault and Founder Brandon Perton

How I Got Here

I was born in 1980 and started gaming on a Compaq Portable playing something like the Coleco Mouse Trap game. My first console was an Atari 7800 around 1986. By the time I got my NES in 1988, I was hooked. I obsessively searched for Rygar after playing it once at someone's house. I faked being sick to skip a family outing so I could finish The Legend of Zelda before I had to return it.

The first game I bought with my own money was Tecmo Bowl. I saved up paper route money for weeks to buy it in 1989. I still own that original complete-in-box copy today. (Photo Below is Me & Ronnie Lott)

The Business

I originally founded my business as an eBay consignment operation back in 2007. The basic principle was to sell people's unwanted items on eBay. At first, I would consign almost anything I was called about.

From clothes to China sets to old computers to even a food truck. Yes, the food truck was an interesting opportunity - well, at least the dollar signs sounded like an interesting opportunity, but I spent way too much time traveling back and forth to the location, taking photos and video of the food truck, and eventually listing it for sale. Then, about a week after I listed it, the owner contacted me to say the food truck had been stolen.

Then I started to realize that my time was money, and I needed to be more selective about what I wanted to sell and what I could actually sell. I actually stayed pretty busy selling other people's stuff; my little office quickly filled up. I learned to focus on people and businesses who want to liquidate their goods and products, which really helped the business flip inventory on a regular basis.

But selling other people's stuff had its ups and downs. When you sold their stuff for good money, I was happy the customer was happy, but when it didn’t sell or didn’t sell for what the customer expected or wanted, it got frustrating. That’s when I decided to pivot the business. I’ve always had a passion for old electronics. I learned as a kid that old stereo systems from the late 1970s and early 1980s really made some quality receivers and speakers.

I decided to make a weekly post on Craigslist, essentially advertising to buy old electronics. I soon started buying old reel-to-reels and Beta Max machines, which had a strong secondary market at the time. I also dabbled in buying some vintage video game equipment, not much at first, but a few old Atari, Intellivision, and ColecoVision consoles and games.

Gradually, I began to shift my focus more and more toward vintage electronics and became increasingly selective about what I wanted to sell via consignment. Then one day I was going to buy some Klipsch Cornwall Speakers from the 80s. Yes, these were, in my opinion, among the best vintage speakers around.

One rainy morning, I set out to buy these speakers. Then the worst possible thing happened: I got hit by an 18-wheeler semi on the way to pick them up. Apparently, I was merging onto Interstate I-55 when my pickup truck fishtailed on a rainy road, and I swerved right into oncoming traffic, where I was smashed by a semi.

After I woke up from this near-death accident, I had to learn to walk again. Once I was healthy enough to reopen the business in 2008, I had an idea: As I wasn’t a fan of selling other people's stuff via consignment any longer, and I knew vintage electronics seemed to sell well. Right before the accident, I sold a ColecoVision collection and made some really good money from it. That experience inspired me to shift my focus to buying and selling old video games and consoles.

Gaming Milestones That Shaped Me

• First Video Game console: Atari 7800 (around 1986?)

• First video game(s) played (that I remember): something like the Crystal Castle on the Atari 2600.

• First Video Game I rented: Space Jockey on the Atari 2600.

• First arcade and video games played: Showbiz Pizza – Mario Bros, Double Dragon, BurgerTime, Joust.

• Favorite Video Game Console: The NInendo NES - Turbografx-16 come in 2nd.

• Favorite Video Game: The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo NES).

• First game I recall binge playing: after giving someone a false excuse for why I couldn't do some other activity elsewhere: The Legend of Zelda. I had borrowed it from someone, and so wasn’t going to have it for that long. I think I told my parents I wasn’t feeling particularly well and so begged off a minor family outing.

• First cheat code: Konami code for Contra. I really liked that game and also Super C for its co-op capability.

• First game I left on: for days to beat because there was no save system: Super Mario Brothers 3 (also mentioned in an earlier blog) for the Nintendo NES.

• The first game I bought with my own money: I had a paper route when I was in grade school, and I remember saving and saving up to buy Tecmo Bowl.

• First Video Co-Op Video Game: I remember playing: Contra, every family event or holiday, my uncle would always bring his Nintendo NES and Contra. My uncle is no longer around, but one of the last times we got together as adults, I brought one of my business consoles to the family event, so my uncle and I could play Contra again, I’d guess around 2012.

• First video game that significantly enriched my appreciation of an intellectual property from another medium: Star Wars: X-Wing made by Fantasy Flight Games, and being able to pilot fighters around the Star Wars universe in a quality flight sim…holy craps, guys.

• First video game that shocked me with its violence: Mortal Kombat - The blood code.

• First handheld video game console: Sega Game Gear.

• First game I looked forward to: Bioshock: Infinite.

• Games that got me back into console gaming after about five years of gaming mainly on PCs: Final Fantasy VII, Mario Kart 64, and Super Mario 64. These games, played on friends’ consoles, got me fiending for my own console again after having wholly skipped owning a console during the SNES generation. Also, FFVII was the first console game whose story sucked me in.

• First mobile game I got embarrassingly sucked into: Angry Birds, & Still to this day, my wife and I play Pokémon Go.

• First Famous Sports Player I met: Ronnie Lott, meet him years ago at the NRA Show in Chicago.

Where am at Today

Besides running The Old School Game Vault, I spend time building websites and databases. I went back to school a few years ago for data analytics and became certified in MySQL and Oracle databases.

I have two kids. When I'm not in the office, I'm golfing or fixing things with my hands. I remodeled my bathroom last year and have been to nearly 100 Phish Shows.

I'm committed enough to this business that I got it tattooed on my arm - designed to look like an NES controller cord.

I also enjoy: Writing gaming articles as I've actually played these games, bought these collections, and lived this history, and it's fun to share it. I also share this knowledge on The Old School Game Vault YouTube channel, where I post how-to videos and detailed guides on authenticating retro video games.

I've been featured in:

Meet the (Small but Mighty) team.

Meet Zach

• Zach grew up in Maryland Heights, Missouri. He developed a love for gaming in his basement with a Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 1. He spent many hours playing games with his brother, sharing controllers, and enjoying classic video games.
• One of Zach's proudest childhood gaming moments? Attempting to speedrun Resident Evil 2 sparked a strong passion for gaming and gameplay precision. Today, Zach splits his time between working at The UPS Store and being a full-time game tester at The Old School Game Vault.
• Zach makes sure every console, cartridge, and disc works perfectly before we ship them out.

Meet MJ

• MJ is currently a high school student at Niles North in Skokie, IL, and a rising star at The Old School Game Vault. A longtime fan of the God of War series, he developed his love for gaming early on.
• When he was 7, MJ took on different jobs to save up for his dream system: a complete, in-the-box Red PlayStation 3 God of War Edition. That dedication shows how committed he is to gaming.
• MJ is a vital part of our team. He tests games, organizes inventory, and keeps operations running smoothly.