How many ZX tapes should a respectable collector own?

[firelord]

This should probably go to the games category but it might not seem clear yet...
I have some very serious questions that are not related to any running 2023 spectrum competition...

1. A spectrum games collector, that respects himself, how many tapes should he own?

2. How many tapes can make a collector a "Pro Collector"/"Amateur Collector" or "Noob Collector"? Eg 1000 tapes make you a "Pro Collector" or an "Amateur collector" ?

3. Where do you store the tapes? Do you rent warehouses to store them or keep them inside your house?

4. What catalogue system should a collector use?

5. Does a zx spectrum game collector has a life? Your wife wants to travel the world or prefer buying zx tapes?

This topic has a serious purpose . I'm not bananas!
The answers will be taken very seriously by the "Firelord Quality Games - Research Department!"

[Mpk]

1 A spectrum games collector, that respects himself, how many tapes should he own?
Just one : Turbo Esprit displayed on a marble plinth in the centre of their living room.

5. Does a zx spectrum game collector has a life? Your wife wants to travel the world or prefer buying zx tapes?
Just driving around town in their cool Lotus making reckless 90 degree turns. Ram a purple car now and again.

[PROSM]

For questions 1 and 2, the answer is "quality over quantity". A well rounded and carefully considered collection is surely worth more than a thousand copies of Make-a-Chip.

[HEXdidnt]

I suspect I'm entirely the wrong sort of person to even think about answering this sort of question but...

1. When and why did 'Collecting' become a pissing contest? It's absolutely not unique to the Speccy community either. I mean, I have probably something in excess of 100 original Spectrum games - many more acquired through a software library set up in my father's workplace back in the day - but I've never considered it to be a 'Collection' in the same way that the shelves of books, DVDs, and games for the Jaguar (12), Saturn (145) and Wii (77) are not a 'Collection'... it's just my personal library. If the size of one's collection is the metric by which one acquires or maintains their self-respect, I feel one should see a therapist.
2. This is surprisingly easy to answer, if only in somewhat hyperbolic terms:
   • a "Noob Collector" would have just a handful, but a particular desire and drive to increase that number - just "the start of a Collection".
   • an "Amateur Collector" would have enough that they consciously consider it have become 'a Collection', that they feel the need to track/catalogue it in some way, and it would likely include one or two obscure/imported titles (eg. the original Spanish versions of some of Dinamic's games) which a non-collector would consider superfluous, all carefully stored in off-the-shelf storage units.
   • a "Pro Collector" might have a massive collection, grown from the same or similar template as the "Amateur", and including original, full-price releases, compilation releases and budget re-releases of the same game in hermetically-sealed, magnetically-shielded, purpose-build storage units, with a detailed and intricately-constructed catalogue. Alternatively, as @PROSM suggests, they might take a "quality over quantity" approach.
3. Some are in large lockboxes, some are in tape racks, some are in purpose-made tape archive cases, most of which are currently still stored in my parents' loft. My more recent acquisitions are currently stuffed into one of the drawers in my coffee table, with one or two tapes of my old SCREEN$ stashed in lockable disk box along with my SAM disks.
4. Extending from #2, this would vary from Collector to Collector based on individual preference. I have a spreadsheet for one of my collections (not games), and have tried a number of online collection-cataloguing options. For games, I'm currently using retroplace.com, mostly because it's the first one I tried that wasn't an absolute chore to use.
5. See #1. If the act of being a Collector means one cannot afford to have other hobbies or go out/on holiday once in a while, it's possible not so much a Collection as an Unhealthy Obsession. Of my own collection, my girlfriend has always said that, as long as it doesn't prevent me paying the bills, she has no problem with my spending... though there's the tacit addition that she'd like for both of us to be able to go on holiday and to the theatre/concerts/other events once in a while. This is, in itself, a significant improvement on my ex, who always maintained that I'd "never find anyone else who'd put up with it".

[Nitrowing]

1. Enough to have a simple display of games your friends will have played (and a few in a drawer)

2. A noob will have maybe 2 dozen cassettes that came with their hardware purchase. An amatuer will have some big boxes to proudly display. A pro will have a spreadsheet catalogue and everything carefully boxed away.

3. Mine are in the living room along with random books on random shelves.

4. Dunno, never bothered

5. My ZX collection has no impact on my life, just a trophy display.

[firelord]

Just to be sure that people don't take this too serious or insulting:
"Firelord Quality Games" is a famous software label that is behind the best games in CSSCG Competition the last decades!
Also ,one of company motos is "Quantity over Quality!"

[spider]

Too many variables here as its dependent entirely on the individual.

Some may as mentioned prefer quantity only, and be happy with 100's of tapes adorning a few rows of shelving.

Others could be happy with a couple of dozen or so well known titles and/or big box versions.

Then other collectors will want every inlay/variant of some games.

Each to their own

Spoiler

No , this is not mine.

Myself, I don't really fall into any of those categories, I have most of my original collection still plus a few small bundles that arrived over time. I am actually looking for an "awful" tape myself, I won't say what it is because this is not a wanted topic, simply as I want it for the sake of it.

[uglifruit]

1. At least one complete "themed" collection. (All Design Design releases, all the beyond big box, etc)

2. Noobs just have one cronosoft release, or similar. Pros have a complete database and up to date wants/swaps list on their phone.

3. In "the lock up" and "at home". Depending on which are of immediate use.

4. Modified dewey decimal by publisher. From 0x00h (A'n'F) through to 0xFFh (Ultimate)

5. Holidays are perfectly acceptable. As long as the are to Portugal within visiting distance of the ZXSpectrum museum

[AndyC]

6. No more. No less.

Less than that isn't really a collection, more is just hoarding.

[PeterJ]

There is a related discussion here:

viewtopic.php?t=10123

[firelord]

There is a related discussion here:

viewtopic.php?t=10123

You are correct but, this topic was started to help the research of a famous & respectable ( ) software company !

So far, I think I have covered most of the collector profiles in the final product.
I also learned that you could be a collector with only one item in your collection! This actually makes me a washing machine , oven and refrigerator collector ...

[Ralf]

Exact amount of tapes is impossible to tell. It's similar to a question "How many trees make a forest".

If I had to give some number however, I would say you become a collector from 50 tapes over

I also learned that you could be a collector with only one item in your collection! This actually makes me a washing machine , oven and refrigerator collector ...

There is another issue, I would say a collector buys things more to own them and not use them. Collecting is not practical.
Like collecting this stuff in original foil, that you never open and which is expensive exactly because it was never used.

If you have 10 pairs of shoes and wear them all regularly then you aren't shoes collector.
If you have 200 pairs of shoes, many of them you wore once or never, you don't need them yet you keep buying more of them then you are a collector.

[Morkin]

I also learned that you could be a collector with only one item in your collection!

Spoiler

"Ted, have you seen my record collection?"
"Here it is... and you need more than 1 record to have a collection."