How to remove permanent marker from NES game pak labels
Time to re-define permanent!
I bought a bunch of used games, and some of them are a mess. Stickers on every side, gum and dirt sticking out, etc. Filthy (but cheap!). I’ve been able to clean the sticky stuff really well using Goo Gone, and rubbing alcohol for the contacts (to prevent the “red blinky square of death”).
But I didn’t know what to do about the labels. Some labels had the previous owner’s name in permanent marker, like so:
After doing a bit of Googling, I read a suggestion to use a light amount of Goo Gone. So I sprayed a Bounty paper towel sheet about 1-2 pumps full of Goo Gone, then lightly tried to rub the permanent marker off. And it came off, without pulling away the rest of the label. Happy happy!
If you look closely at the “After” photo, you’ll notice a darker spot where some Goo Gone seeped into the side of the label. Once it dried (about an hour later), the discoloration left, and the label looked perfect. I try to avoid the edge of the label where possible, but sometimes I miss.
So far, I’ve tried it with NES and SNES cartridge labels with great success. I tried it with an N64 game too (Diddy Kong Racing), and unfortunately the ‘Gone caused the label colors to bleed. So I’m a bit apprehensive about trying to clean up another N64 game.
If you try this yourself:
- Avoid the edges of the label where possible, to avoid discoloration (even though it’ll probably go away when the Goo Gone dries
- Don’t use too much ‘Gone. Try a spray or two into paper towel, and see how that works. If you think you’re getting the label too wet, dry off the excess liquid! Take your time
. - Don’t spray the label directly. Spray into your paper towel.
- If this is your first time, you might want to practice with a label that you don’t care much about.
- If you’re worried about the color bleeding, try wiping a small area that you don’t care about first. Also look at your paper towel as you clean. If you’re wiping up black marker, your towel will be black. If your towel turns the color(s) of your label, it might be time to stop before you smear it all to pieces!
Obligatory Flickr shots:
Legacy.dillfrog.com is up and down
Sorry guys, I’ve been having some trouble with my DSL connection. A new, hopefully stabler, modem will arrive in a few days. That should solve some of the problems.
Not sure what all these DNS issues are about though 
. Stay tuned. I’ve been ketchup-slow in updating the Dillfrog stuff lately.
Butch Walker Videos
I’ve been enjoying Butch Walker ever since his old band (The Marvelous 3) made their “Math and Other Problems” album available for download on Emusic.com, a loonng time ago. A few years later I went to his solo concert backed by American Hi-Fi, and he was spectacular. Great guitar skills, ‘pick’ acrobatics, and incredible charisma.
He’s producing a few popular artists lately (e.g. The Donnas, Avril Lavigne, American Hi-Fi, etc), and it’s a good thing. His album sales aren’t so hot. But the production money seems to be keeping his solo act (and creative free reign) alive and varied.
So if you haven’t seen or heard of him, here is Butch Charisma 101: A Video Introduction by way of Youtube.
Nur Ein! 2!
By 2, I mean 2. Not 2 factorial, which is also 2. It’s something I’m in, much like trouble.
It’s a songwriting competition, by the good community over in the Songfight Forums. Here’s how it works: they post a title and a mandatory challenge, we get ~5 days to record a song that fits, then we are judged and numbered. People with low numbers are gone-ified, and a new round begins.
Nur Ein means “only one”, which is approximately how many rounds I expect to last. Quick links:
Sidefight Threads (includes peanut-gallery commentaries of the Nur Ein rounds)
Official “Nur Ein” Web site (listen to the songs here)
My Nur Ein Entries (including CD-quality FLAC recordings)
Notes to My Future Album-Recording Self
Having attempted an album-in-a-day, an album-in-a-week, and an album-in-a-month (with varying results), here are some things I learned about my musical process. Hopefully this’ll help me refine my process for next time. For the rest of this article below,”you” get to be me… at least as far as pronouns are concerned.
Funputer
Remember those advertisements where models look like they’re having far too much fun playing video games?
I spent a weekend or two working on a small site called Funputer, where video game systems are judged by how much fun people appear to be having.
In addition to the typical game systems, Rock Paper Scissors was added as a control mechanism. It was beating all the other systems until I posted about it on Digg.
Unfortunately, I can’t find the PS2 promo images that inspired me to make the site. If you know where these might be found, pleeease let me know.
Making a Cereal Killing
I bought cereal. A lot of it. It’s been on sale. $1/box at Festival, $1.33/box at Copps. Some of them are actually healthy and tasty (e.g. Raisin Brains and Shredded Whats).
Tonight I got 6 boxes of Count Chocula from Copps. Even more interesting than its internal battle between sugarrupticious chocolatasms and whole-engraininess is the price. They were $2.19/box = $13.14. Copps takes $10 off 6 General Mills boxes, which brings the price to $3.14. The in-aisle coupon printer provides coupons for $0.75-off-2, bringing the price to $0.89 after 3 coupons.
So $0.89 for 6 boxes of so-much-for-a-healthy-diet time-machine fuel. THEN at the register, they print a coupon for 2 free gallons of milk on my next visit. Even if the cereal were inedible, I’d still buy them just to get $0.89 milk.
So we’ve got quite the cereal corner (see photo; the Count is guarding it for us). Any bets on how soon it’s cleared? Calories per cubic centimeter?
Precursor to Funputing
I just spent the last 3 hours searching for and categorizing pictures of people playing video games. I’m not sure what’s going to appear in my dreams, but it can’t be too scary.
It sure is hard to find creative-commons-licensed pictures of people playing PS3s though. If Flickr is any indication, the PS3 is a product that foreign corporate dudes hype up, a few people try, a bunch of people wait in long lines for, some guys brag about having, and nobody plays. Puce likens PS3s to stocks, and I think he’s right.
I found some C64 and TI-99 photos though, which I’m pretty happy about.
One giant excuse
In the last three weeks or so:
- My Powerbook AC adapter has died in a great cord-tripping, laptop-flying event
- The replacement adapter shorted out (thankfully not due to the laptop – my wife’s adapter works fine w/it) and is being RMA’d
- My studio PC (for recording, gaming and complex development) will no longer turn on
- I’ve been sick and lethargic for the past week
Soooo I’ve got a lot of stuff to clean up, and I’m not sure how much you’ll hear from me until it’s resolved. Somehow it seemed easier to blog this than message everyone individually.
In better news, I was able to salvage 768MB of RAM from the studio PC, sticking it inside the legacy.dillfrog.com server. And it’s about time for me to upgrade from the Athlon XP 2200+ anyway. C’mon Dell, show me some more X2 or Core 2 Duo deals .
If anyone wants some awesomely gross coughing or throat-clearing samples, I’ll hook you up.