Mattel Children's Discovery System

[leej07]

So, I was perusing the database, and I discovered the old Children's Discovery System(CDS) is included as a gaming system. Naturally, this surprised me, as I had never before really thought of it as a gaming system.
As I own a CDS, I added it to my collection, but I have some questions. After much research, I managed to determine the CDS is rather rare. Does it have any value whatsoever, or is it little more than a curiosity? Why is it included here as a gaming system? Does anybody here know anything about who originally came up with the idea for the CDS?

[tactical_nuke]

Why is it included here as a gaming system?

Well it does seem to take different games. Looks like it's similar in idea to the Tiger R-Zone. An LCD game with swapable carts.

[leej07]

Hmm, I see. Makes perfect sense, I just had never really thought of it as more than a toy computer. But, I guess by a stretch of the imagination, it could be seen as the spiritual ancestor of later handhelds.

[noiseredux]

wow I used to have one of those when I was a kid. I never could remember what it was called though haha.

[leej07]

Oh wow, really? Based on my own research I determined they are extremely rare today, but it seems that rareness hasn't translated into a high collector value. I for one have only ever seen one CDS, which happens to be in my collection.

[Sauza12]

It's extremely rare for any kind of edutainment system to have any kind of real value.  It's not the kind of thing that gives that nostalgic spark. 

That being said I've never even heard of it until you brought it up.  You'd think after 15 years of hardcore collecting I'd have heard of everything, but there's always something.

[leej07]

Most people haven't ever heard of it, which is largely why I was surprised to find someone actually did remember it enough to enter it into the database.

[kristen]

I also have one that I'm trying to find the value of. I found that there used to be a listing on ebay. It sold for about $2,200.

[singlebanana]

I also have one that I'm trying to find the value of. I found that there used to be a listing on ebay. It sold for about $2,200.

I think you guys might be a bit off in the value, if you got that price off of eBay. Yes, there appears to be one with games at a BIN of $2296.55, but if you check the Sold listings, it looks like one sold for less than $20 best offer and a stack of 6 cartridges sold for $5.....  I'm sure it's a tough item to locate, but I think the huge price as indicated by the current BIN is probably just someone trying to poach off of people who don't have an idea regarding actual value. Just my assumption here as I'm not expert, but all signs lead to this theory.

[tactical_nuke]

I agree.^ This item seems to be rare but not in demand at all. Making it more affordable although scarce.

[Izret101]

Indeed.
Never base prices off asking.

Always base prices off what people are actually paying for it.

I can put an empty soda can on eBay and ask for a 50$ BIN. That doesn't mean the can is worth 50$s it means that is what I want for it. The can is still worth a nickle (or dime....) depending on your state.


If you want to put it up at a crazy high asking price go for it. Maybe a market will develop around it and you can be the trendsetter. Never know what someone might pay if the right person comes looking.

[leej07]

It's rare, but nobody collects it, so it has no value.

[Cryptid Collector]

For reference, I have a a PS1 game that's an R7 on DP(same as action 52) but can be bought CIB for like $30(or maybe even $20 on a good day) because there's no demand for it.