This unusual item in my collection comes from a high-profile dealmaker in the reel world and since it was captured on film that makes this piece game-used ... used in The Hollywood Game that is.

My latest in the Collecting Game-used series is something I grabbed last year but it got lost in the shuffle with some delays on photo-matching end and, well, it's still not yet definitively matched to the frame above -- but I think it's likely. It's something straight from the production of Ballers and the fuzzy visual above was found, with some dumb luck, in a semi-pirated, fan-tweaked clip somewhere out there on YouTube months ago. Rather than spend more time and a few bucks to revisit HBO Max and find it, I'm just going to let it roll here today.

What is this super-cheap but unusual addition to my collection of weird sports stuff? Keep reading.

Continue reading →

If you're a regular reader here, then you know that Ballers has had a place in this Collecting Game-used series with other event-used pieces shown off here a few times -- in fact this is not the first time I have typed something like that.

Yes, I realize that "the game" there isn't reality, but the items used in production are, and, this time, it's for an item I bought cheap and on a whim -- 100-percent without research. And ironically the piece turned out to be the lynchpin to an entire scene and it was all there all along ... I just had to go to the tape.

Some quick background -- there was unique auction for a number of props from the HBO series via Heritage Auctions and Screenbid a few years ago and then the remaining props and other pieces went off to a company that burns that stuff from all kinds of production companies over time for this and other shows. Some items can be sold on the serious cheap because the company doesn't necessarily have the time to match things up to specific episodes or moments like you're about to see, though some items come with more detail than others.

If not, keep reading to see the details this time.

Continue reading →

Some Hollywood chatter could mean big things for fans of Harry Potter -- and those who might be sitting on some cardboard from the past.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a new Potter series could be coming to HBO Max at some point, giving fans a new way to explore the universe and merchandising machine fueled by past films that was created by the books by J.K. Rowling. Part of that merch in the past included a bunch of trading card releases with both gaming and non-sports elements (autos, memorabilia, you name it) in play and it's clear that one version remains a scorcher in box form.

The Wizards of The Coast box you see above is for the trading card game that was the first to arrive coinciding in advance of the arrival of the first film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, back in August 2001. It's a box that has sold for as much as $950 in recent months on eBay but with good sales volume -- and asking prices for boxes and cases (the few that still might exist) are commanding even higher marks. There are other WOTC expansions for the game that also sell relatively well but not quite as strong -- those include Quidditch Cup (November 2001), Diagon Alley (March 2002) and Adventures at Hogwarts (June 2002).

These gaming sets all arrived around the time of Pokémon -- and we all know how that story has gone.

Continue reading →