CIB, sealed & loose

Three words do most of the work in a game's price. Here's what they mean and which one to buy.

Loose

The cart or disc alone — no box, no manual. This is the cheapest way to own and play a game, often at a fraction of the boxed price. For common titles, loose is the sensible buy. The trade-off: loose copies barely appreciate, because the box and manual are what got thrown away in 1994 and scarcity lives there.

CIB — complete in box

Cart or disc, original box, manual, and ideally the inserts (poster, reg card, tray). CIB is the collector's default: it's the whole object as sold, it displays properly, and it holds value far better than loose. Check listings carefully — "boxed" sometimes means a battered box and a missing manual. The manual matters; for many titles it's rarer than the cart.

Sealed

Never opened, factory shrink intact. Sealed is a different hobby: you're not buying a game, you're buying an artefact. Prices can be multiples of CIB — sometimes absurd multiples for grail titles — and the market includes graded slabs (WATA, VGA) where the case is the product. Two cautions: reseals exist (shrink-wrap machines are cheap — look for original fold patterns and seam style), and a sealed game you open instantly becomes an expensive CIB.

Which to buy

• To play: loose, or CIB when the premium is small.
• To collect: CIB with the manual, best condition you can afford. Buy the box, not the story.
• Sealed: only from established sellers with feedback and photos of the actual item — and be sceptical of any grail priced under the market.

The prices on our pages come from live eBay listings, so you can see what each tier actually trades at today. Start with your platform.