FuncoLand opened in my area just as I was old enough to make my own money, mowing lawns and stuff like that around the neighborhood. I had seen used games for sale before, typically at video rental places or maybe the occasional pawn shop, but nothing like FuncoLand.
I remember how I heard about FuncoLand - it was from a friend who saw an ad in a local newspaper or something. One of their crazy sheets where they'd list the price of tons of games, along with the address. I remember telling my dad about the ad and he flat out not believing me. He thought my friend had pulled a prank on me. A few days later I managed to get the address of the place and my dad and I went looking for it one Saturday. I can even remember the exact location of the store.
It was absolutely amazing. I walked in there with $60 in my pocket and walked out with a stack of games. This was early on in Funcoland's life that they sold me all my shit with game cases, too. That would have been ONE game prior, where at Funcoland I walked out with like 5 games.
There are modern retro gaming stores, and there are of course things like Gamestop, but nothing will ever amaze me as much as Funcoland did. When they closed the location near my house, my dad and I would literally drive all the way across Houston to another location on saturdays. It'd be a day trip, because getting from one side of Houston to the other took so long.
What an awesome store.
I remember how I heard about FuncoLand - it was from a friend who saw an ad in a local newspaper or something. One of their crazy sheets where they'd list the price of tons of games, along with the address. I remember telling my dad about the ad and he flat out not believing me. He thought my friend had pulled a prank on me. A few days later I managed to get the address of the place and my dad and I went looking for it one Saturday. I can even remember the exact location of the store.
It was absolutely amazing. I walked in there with $60 in my pocket and walked out with a stack of games. This was early on in Funcoland's life that they sold me all my shit with game cases, too. That would have been ONE game prior, where at Funcoland I walked out with like 5 games.
There are modern retro gaming stores, and there are of course things like Gamestop, but nothing will ever amaze me as much as Funcoland did. When they closed the location near my house, my dad and I would literally drive all the way across Houston to another location on saturdays. It'd be a day trip, because getting from one side of Houston to the other took so long.
What an awesome store.
