taking inventory

Joined Jul 2004
1K Posts | 1+
Bmount
I've gotten to the point where I can't remember if I've got a game or not and I most certainly can't remember what I paid for everything so I'm starting to look into some sort of inventory management software.

I wrote a simple access database for my home inventory and was considering just entering all my games into that but it's extremely limited. I'd really like an app that'll scan a barcode and bring up the relevant information on the game and include a grading system, a wish list, and a include a good set of user definable reports. Something like stashycomics.com for video games with a barcode scanner option.

I've found a couple of apps that'll do most of what I want but they're 30 - 60 depending on features included, but they're far from perfect.

Does anyone use any site or program to keep up with their collection? If so what are your thoughts on the site/program?
 
I have the same problem. I have occasionally come very close to purchasing the same game again. I have tried making lists, but I can never seem to keep it updated. It is not that I have an excessive number of games, it is the problem of having too many game systems. And I have enough games for each system to make it complicated.
 
Some of the other collectables have websites that let you maintain your inventory for free on their website. I can't believe video games don't have this yet. I'm sure there's a demand for it and I was certain that every good idea had already been done to death on the internet.
 
I don't think the demand is there anymore. Especially in this day and age of trade-ins. People don't have libraries that we're used to.

Anyways, I just create my own on Google docs. I know its a lot of manual work but it's customized to what I want to include as far as information is concerned.
 
I wonder, it would take a lot of work, but maybe I could design something using excel. Of course I use Libre Office, same difference. You could fix it so that anything could be referenced.

I might try this. ;)

I like the idea of having information concerning the game.
 
I've never gotten to the point where I've had enough games to need an inventory haha. My biggest collection is probably my N64 games and I've got maybe 25 of those. Probably 20ish combined Xbox and Xbox 360 games, and probably 20ish PC games that are all pretty much logged in Steam.
 
Finally found what I'm looking for. Retrocollect.com has a database function where you can search the name of a game and put it in your collection. There's a statistics feature that I've not gotten to work yet and the site is a little wonky sometimes but it seems functional enough. It does lack the reporting functions a properly written database would have but until time grows on trees writing a database is out of the question. I've started with serious intent at least a dozen times and still nothing functional.
 
Well it's been almost a year since I brought this up but I've since had some database design experience and didn't sell my text book back so I think I'll be starting to make an access database to keep up with my games.

I've got so many duplicates now of so many different things its just time. I doubt i'll host it anywhere but I think if I can put it in the cloud somewhere and be able to access it with my cell phone or tablet that'd work out well.

Retro, you were talking about needing something similar, where'd you end up on the spread sheet?
 
:lol Well I did it again, only this time it was a couple of days a part. I have been grabbing up Super Famicom games from ebay. Many at $3 to $7 each and free Shipping. I inadvertently purchased two games of these two titles only a couple of days a part. :eek:
Another game I had purchased but forgot I had placed a bid on one just an hour before. Fortunately I lost that bid. ::)

What I have done, so far, is made an excel sheet with listing of games, one sheet for each console. I have started taking photos of the Super Famicom game carts and naming the photos after the game. Being that it is mostly in Japanese on the cart. I am going to place the photo into the excel sheet next to the game title. I am thinking of giving a short little game description and list the genre.

I have since taken an advance course in excel at our local college in connection with my work. And it is going to come in handy doing my lists.
 
If you've got something functional I'd love to see a copy.

If you're ok with that I could pm my email address.

I'm really looking for ideas on this database design. I typically struggle in the early stages designing things. I painted my living room four times before I found what I was looking for. I laid three different types of wood floors in closets and small bedrooms before I found what I wanted to use in the living room / hallways. I really have difficulty visualizing the design. Once I get a toe hold, or a direction I'm fine again until fine tuning. At this point there's a serious danger of me losing interest!

I like the idea of a thumbnail or a pic as that seems helpful with foreign games but also if someone less knowledgeable is helping you look for something. My sister and aunt both volunteer at thrift stores and couldn't tell a Nintendo game from a laser disc without serious explanation. If I gave them access to my database and included a wanted or a what to look for section with thumbs I'd be less at risk of them bringing back more of those jacks pacific controller, system, game in one kind of things.

My main concern is archival though. I really want to know what I have when I'm out and I really want to keep up with what I've paid for these things. Same goes for movies and music. My vinyl collection is pitiful but I'm attempting to grow it and soon cd's will be a dead media but as of right now they are dirt cheap. Same for DVDs. Who knows if they'll be collectable (outside of special editions and steel books which I hunt for the most) in 30 years but right now it's economically sound for me since it's cheaper to buy physical copies than renting anything old and new releases I preorder anything I would have otherwise went to the theater to see. a 60-100 dollar family outing to the movies gets cut to 20 - 30 bucks.
 
Okay here is a mock-up of the idea I am having. Not sure if this may be the final draft. But this may give you an idea. I did this on an excel sheet.

game-list.jpg


I am thinking that five stars will be those games that I really love playing.

With an excel sheet you can highlight that first column and do a "find." And it should bring you to the game that you are looking for or you get a "cannot find."
Some things that I have learned, though I have not used it enough to understand, is with excel you can tie sheets together so that if you are looking for all platform games it will do a listing on another sheet from your main list, for example. (I need to go back over those textbooks)
 
I know if you hit ctrl-f and select the options you can change the search from within sheet to within the workbook, I don't know if you're talking about a macro or something you write with office's version of visual basic.

ms office has a flavor of visual basic that you can use to really make those spreadsheets work wonders, its worth learning if you do a lot with spreadsheets. I've not wrote anything spectacular myself but I've coded little things like a button that'll clear all user input data on things like inventory sheets or a macro to unprotect / protect all sheets in a workbook for things like operating reports where if you have to add or change something you can unprotect everything in the workbook, select all the pages you need changed, make the change, then protect all sheets. otherwise you'd have to select every sheet hit unprotect and type in the password. Afterwards you'd have to select every sheet one at a time hit protect, type in the password and confirm the password. Workbooks that use a sheet for every day either monthly, bimonthly, annually, etc. are painful to change otherwise.

(Swerves back to the topic)

how'd you get the text CCW 90 deg? I vaguely remember something under format but I've never used it. Either that's the fanciest in-cell chart or you're using a graphic... if that's an in-cell chart I'd love the see the formula you're using.
 
I turned the text 90 deg by formating the cell. There are some real fancy things you can do in excel without visual basic. What I have done is just used a few simple things. I have done a little more work. I have mainly been taking pictures of all my Super Famicom carts today. I have about 60 total. This list just got to be a little work when I realized just how many games I have accumulated since Christmas. And I have about 6 more in the mail. Now all I need to do is turn on each game and get a screen shot with my phone.

my_listing.gif
 
how in the world can you play chrono trigger in Japanese? Platformers and fighting games seem like they wouldn't be much of a problem but an rpg would drive me nuts!
 
:lol I have a reproduction cart coming from Aliexpress that I picked up for $15. I am going to change the boards out. They have chips on their boards, made pretty good. Or at least the Earthbound one does. I hope the Chrono Trigger one does too. In Japanese it is interesting to mess with especially since the game leans heavily on the story. I am going to do the same thing with some of the Final Fantasy games too. I work for a Japanese company. And I have a fellow worker who is into learning the language. I wished I could learn enough to be able to play them in Japanese. But their language seems hard to me. I work around them all the time and I usually use a form of sign language or broken English.
 
The letters being different make languages like Japanese more difficult for me. I pick up on words and phrases watching subtitled anime but I'd have a difficult time learning their language because I'd have to learn a new alphabet. Languages like Spanish, Italian, French, etc. are much easier to learn because I basically know the alphabet.

Some people don't ever learn to read / write in a foreign language - half the Hispanic employees at my company cannot write in English. They can't speak English as well as the ones who can write either. The ones who have taken the time to learn to read English have went on to accomplish more within the company and their own lives. My chief engineer started as a breakfast cook when he first immigrated here. He had some mechanical aptitude and ended up going to school for everything from Spa and Pool to HVAC. In a few weeks working with me on some networking projects he's learned enough to be a low voltage electrician. A few more projects and he'll be able to design a simple network. Many don't consider learning to read and write in a language as knowing and understanding the language but I couldn't disagree more. I've only been able to learn Spanish because I could read it.

In my case that's been super helpful as I'm the undesignated IT support and I just launched a cloud based reporting and dispatching system that's BYOD and I can't tell you how many cell phones and tablets I've had to install the software and get the device's IP address to put on an exception list, all in Spanish.