Topic: Opinions wanted re TurboGrafx 16 gift. Is it ethical?

So here's the story: I recently had some friends over and struck up a conversation about video games with someone I would say is more of an acquaintance than a friend. We talked about the Switch for a while. I told him that I am a collector of retro Nintendo stuff. Then he tells me about his TurboGrafx 16 collection, and immediately offers to give everything to me, for free.

I told him right away that he doesn't want to give it to me because it has value. He insisted, so I gladly agreed as long as I give him a nice bottle of whiskey in return.

The next day, he sends me a text and says there are TWO consoles, 6 controllers, all of the cords, PLUS the Turbo Express handheld.... and 19 GAMES. He once again insisted that I just take everything.

I don't have a list of the games but based on pricecharting, it's safe to say this collection could easily be worth $1,000.

So, what are your thoughts? This is obviously an ethical question as there is nothing illegal involved with accepting a gift.

I don't believe he is a particularly wealthy person. He is very generous and I would actually feel a little bad if I turned down his offer. I don't plan on selling any of it, although I'm not sure what I am going to do with two consoles. I have never been so excited about something while feeling equally uneasy at the same time.

So an acquaintance is just doing this out of generosity? That's pretty crazy.

I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with accepting it, since he must not care about it too much if he's just giving it away.

Get him the bottle of whiskey, you let him know it was worth something and he's still willing to give it away, you've done the honest thing.

He is generous but also he has absolutely no idea how valuable it is. To be honest, I didn't either until I looked it up. I am not that knowledgeable in non-Nintendo gaming.

Just incase you want to spend a bit extra on that bottle of whiskey, try here.

[insert best Homer Simpson drool impersonation]

Take the lot, sell one TG16 and the handheld (and any crap games - if there are any), keep the other console, and give what money you made from the sale of the consoles to your pal. Everybody wins!

@philly79 If it's bothering you, then let him know how valuable his collection is so that he can make a fully informed decision.

I heard about the consoles, especially the TurboExpress, can have some issues as they get old.
Picture/sound problems, I guess?
"cap replacement" which doesn't sound like it's a hard thing -IF- you know someone who is into that sort of work.

I thought the Turbo had reached a collectible value where even the not so great games might be worth something.

@philly79 If you ask me, @TheMudHutDweller made the best suggestion so far, in comment #7. If you sell one of the consoles at a reliable retro game shop, then you could give the money you get out of that to your acquaintance so he can also reap the benefits, and you don't have to feel bad, and you'd still be left with one console and some games.

Sounds like something I would do in your place, anyway.

Hope that helps. Good luck with it, whatever you ultimately decide.

Thank you everyone for the comments. I think I will take everything and test it first. I mean, there's a chance that nothing works..
If everything works, I'm just gonna sell what I don't want, and give the money to him. Seems like a win-win situation.
Best to all.

Sometimes when people are too generous they could also tend to be rather invasive with other people's life and take for granted that you would do something like this too to them so... I don't think I would accept expecially if he's not even really a friend of mine... things could become complicated imho.

@philly79 I would say there is nothing unethical about the gift if everything was his idea. I think it's right that since you know the value to tell him and make sure it's really what he wants to do with it. That said, if he still does want to give it to you, then he is just a really generous guy. Depending on when and how he got the items, though they hold value, perhaps he got them really cheap when they weren't classics and instead were just "obsolete junk". Thus he doesn't mind giving them up.

Perhaps take your friend out to a nice dinner and/or get him a REALLY nice bottle of whiskey.