Rudy's worst nightmare

[Jules]

...has come true in the Jules household.

Four game boxes have been "somewhat damaged" to "completely destroyed" by termites.

1) Gabriel Knight Mysteries
2) GK1
3) The Beast Within (UK version)
4) Leisure Suit Larry Collection (1997 version)

This was discovered today as I noticed my Gabriel Knight Mysteries game box looked funny. It looked *wet*. Upon closer inspection, it was dry but my finger poked right through the box! The termites had eaten the inside of the cardboard box, leaving the thin, coated, inedible (plastic, I guess?) layer on the outside. It was this box that had taken the brunt of the damage.

Inside contents contained: all cds including the mysteries soundtrack (which look fine, although needs to be cleaned), GK1 novel, GK3 graphic novel and game manual.

Sitting peacefully next to my GKM box was the LSL Collection box. Contents included: manual, cd's, hint book (bought separately), and "The Official Book of Leisure Suit Larry" which was also bought separately, and cleverly thought I should keep it in the box to keep everything organized.

[Jules]

Here is the inside of the LSL book :

On the bright side, they must've been some horny termites. ^_^

Sitting next to that was my GK1 box. Definitely less damage but I'm not sure if I want to clean it and keep it or just throw it away (yet still keep the cd's). It also has the hintbook. The box is the most damaged and I will throw that away but I'm still debating whether or not to keep the manual, graphic novel and the hint book. I would feel awkward giving it away because they're not in the best condition but if any of you are desperately wanting them, you're more than welcome to take them for free. Just pay shipping. I just feel so sad throwing them in the garbage.

Last is GK2.

Surprisingly, it suffered the least amount of damage. Just a little nibble on the bottom. I might give this away too since I burned all three GK's to one installer CD that Collector kindly made.

I was surprised that I wasn't as sad as I thought I would have been. Maybe 15 years ago I would be crying over the damage but now that these games are easily available via GOG and that I have copies of them elsewhere, I'm not too sad about the boxes.

I don't plan on physically replacing the game boxes. In every tragedy, I think of the underlying reason of why it happens and if it's a sign. It's been nagging at me for a long time but I really do need to start minimizing the amount of physical things I have in order to become more mobile. Most of my treasured games are still in Pennsylvania but the few games I have here in Louisiana I'm thinking about taking them to PA except for a few which I would like to sell. Would anyone be interested in my Colonel's Bequest and Heart of China games? These are unaffected by termites and you can name your price.

Le sigh. A sad day, but at the same time, I think of worse things and glad worse things did not happen.

[Jules]

I notice some of the pictures are showing up as broken images but it looks like refreshing the page until they show up allows you to see them.

Also free to a good home are my GK2 and 3 strategy guides which have the least damage. I just found these now. The holes are on the outer edge that doesn't interfere with any of the reading.

Going through the remainder of my non-damaged collection, also free to a good home is everything in this picture below. A co-worker had given these to me for free. I think one or two have something missing but I'll have to go through them about the contents. I never used these to play the games and I have both the PQ Collection (1997) and SQ Collection (UK version) so they are welcome to anyone who wants them. These are *not* damaged by termites. Just pay shipping. (Unless you want to visit me in New Orleans then shipping is free. ^_^)

[JasefWisener]

Sending you a PM.

[Collector]

I'll take the PQ4, since it is the floppy version.

[Jules]

Jasef has claimed Open Season and PQ3. Unless you want to negotiate with him.

[Collector]

I thought he already had PQ4.

[JasefWisener]

I've just got the box. No manuals or an actual copy of the game other than in collections.

[Rudy]

[Qbix]

Wow! *shocked*

[BBP]

Poor Jules! That IS horrible! {hugs}

[AndreaDraco]

Why these termites concentrated their attacks on Gabriel Knight? It's a conspiracy!

All jokes aside, though, I'm sorry Jules. I'm not a collector like... er... Collector or Rudy, who want every box to be perfect and who accumulate every single Sierra game (sometimes even in different editions) out there, and in fact of many series - like King's Quest or Leisure Suit Larry - I only have thehandy collections with every adventure in one slim DVD cage. Of course, this doesn't apply to Gabriel Knight, which I have in multiple copies, all in pristine condition, and I would indeed be sad if these boxes were ruined.

So, what I'm trying to say is... *hugs*

[Rudy]

If that happened to my collection, I'd dedicate the rest of my life to killing termites . How did this happen, Jules? Were they stashed somewhere in the basement for a long period or something?

[Jules]

Thank you for your sentiments.

Why these termites concentrated their attacks on Gabriel Knight? It's a conspiracy!

They must've been hungry for a GK4. Nyuk, nyuk.

All jokes aside, though, I'm sorry Jules. I'm not a collector like... er... Collector or Rudy, who want every box to be perfect and who accumulate every single Sierra game (sometimes even in different editions) out there, and in fact of many series - like King's Quest or Leisure Suit Larry - I only have thehandy collections with every adventure in one slim DVD cage. Of course, this doesn't apply to Gabriel Knight, which I have in multiple copies, all in pristine condition, and I would indeed be sad if these boxes were ruined.

So, what I'm trying to say is... *hugs*

Yeah. I think my most treasured is the GK boxes, KQ and QfG boxes (which the latter two are thankfully still in PA). I think I'd be more devastated if the KQ and QfG were ruined because my mom bought those for us when they first came out. There's more sentiment attached to those. But yeah, like you mentioned, just having the games and the ability to still play them is fine.

If that happened to my collection, I'd dedicate the rest of my life to killing termites .

I could totally see you doing that! Rudy on the cover of a Space Quest box instead of Roger with a pesticide gun in his hand instead of a plunger, fighting his way for freedom from termites! ^_^

How did this happen, Jules? Were they stashed somewhere in the basement for a long period or something?

They were sitting on a shelf, along with the unaffected games, in the closet and those four that were damaged were sitting closest to the wall. It turns out termites had made their home outside of our house, in the ground, concealed behind a vine that was growing on the brick wall. They made a dirt tunnel up the side of the house and found their way inside the wall. They tunneled up through the wall until they found an outlet with food - my cardboard game boxes and the yummy paper books inside. They found the jackpot until I came along and busted in on their party. We have to repair a small section of the wall by the shelf where they tunneled through the sheetrock. They'll die off now that we've cut off their supply of water (from the ground outside) and constantly keeping an eye on them from building another tunnel to the ground.

So yeah, no more shrubs or vines closely planted to the house. We should have known better. v_v

[Maxor127]

I'm paranoid where I store my things now. I had a bunch of children books that I grew up with that were ruined when our basement flooded. I think I'll be even more paranoid now thinking about what could happen to things that are even safely on shelves.