When Retro Rick started his YouTube channel, he did it as a side hustle, mostly reviewing retro games. He then saw that other people on YouTube were taking videos of hunting for retro nostalgic items at garage sales and flea markets. Once Retro Rick started filming his retro hunting videos, going places he was already visiting anyway, his channel began to grow.
Then, he got an idea. For years, Rick had been building a retro game collection by buying games on the cheap, then selling off one or two high dollar games to essentially build his collection for free. So, Rick decided, why not start a challenge, beginning with just a ten dollar bill, hunting thrift stores, online classifieds, and garage sales for cheap games he could flip at a solid profit to get better games.
The best part of this series is that he already had a system down for building an essentially free game collection. But, to make it fair, he started a separate eBay store. He also decided to open up the items he could flip to valuable DVDs, DVD/VCR combos, and other popular nostalgic items to add to the game fund. While some people may consider this cheating, if you can turn an easy profit playing an arbitrage game of thrift to eBay, then you should do it!
Retro Rick now proselytizes the idea that opportunity is every where. Plus, to become a successful YouTuber, all you have to start with is a decent mobile phone (he has an iPhone, but Android works, too) or GoPro to make these hunts enjoyable viewing content. Of course, then you have to either do all the editing and promotion yourself, or hire others to do so.
As it so happens, Retro Rick recently admitted that in the middle of doing this challenge actually threatened his health. After all, this channel was his side hustle on top of a regular full-time job where he often worked over time. He actually ended up being hospitalized for overworking himself, but by that point, was fortunate that the channel and his other eBay store were making enough money he was able to hire an editor (Riff of Pixel Game Squad fame) and a few other team members to build the Retro Rick brand.
When he finally brought the 10 Dollar Game Challenge to an end, Rick was fortunate that the WhatNot live video auction app was taking off. So, he was able to sell off a huge chunk of the game collection, while keeping the games he needed for his own collection, making enough money to purchase an entire complete U.S. GameCube collection for $20,000.
While honestly I haven’t enjoyed the Retro Hunting videos and follow-ups to the 10 Dollar Game Collection Challenge nearly as much, I was very excited that through his relationship building, Rick is now the owner of a local game store in Little Rock, Arkansas: Retro Rick’s Game Point! Considering that he started his channel as a hobby, which then turned to a ten-dollar investment into tens of thousands of dollars of gaming consoles and games, he’s done really well for himself!
Rick shares videos about his game store on his other YouTube channel: The Retro Life!
My favorite part of the Ten Dollar Game Collection Challenge is when he found two five dollar bills stuffed in a game case. You could say the whole collection literally paid for itself right then. I enjoyed the entire series, and while it’s over now, I’m thrilled that Retro Rick gets to begin his journey as a game store owner.
For your viewing pleasure, here is the complete playlist of the original 10 Dollar Game Collection challenge playlist.
There is also a Season 2 of the 10 Dollar Game Collection, in which Retro Rick is attempting to build a complete Nintendo 64 game collection starting with just, yeah, ten dollars. It’s been fairly successful, although given the restriction, it’s not quite as interesting as the first. That being said, here’s the playlist for you to enjoy:
While there are certainly critics saying that Retro Rick is using his newfound fame as a YouTuber and video gaming influencer to get better deals, you can’t say he didn’t earn it. In fact, he made it a point during the entire first season of the 10 Dollar Game Collection challenge to not take advantage of his growing audience – although it’s practically impossible to negate that advantage entirely, and the emergence of WhatNot definitely helped him out a lot. The truth is, once you make it, it becomes a lot harder for every day people without the online influence to accomplish some of the crazy deals he can now pull off; but, you can’t say he didn’t earn the right to gain this influence!
So, the next time you visit a Goodwill thrift store, flea market, or garage sale, you may just happen upon something valuable you may not expect. Opportunity really is everywhere, and you just have to know where to look. Plus, as Retro Rick has proven through his success, you may not even have to really go that far out of your way to find something that takes off and takes your entire life in a brand new direction.
