How to "de-humidify" sealed games?

So last night my world (as a game collector) basically came to an end. The new condo that I just moved into had a leak in the closet and as a result, all of my games in there got wet. The leak did not come from the ceiling, but rather it came from behind the wall and then went under and up through the carpet. The carpet got soaked so all of the games on the bottom got wet but even the games further up my stacks (I was storing them in stacks until I got settled and then they were going into bookcases) got wet and humid. The result is that many of my rare unsealed games were destroyed (including Rakugaki Showtime!!!) and many of my sealed games have this humidity under the seal. Hard to describe, but it's basically like these little air bubbles under the seal. I tried pressing them out with my fingers, but that didn't work. Anyone have any suggestions? Opening the seal is not a possibility here. I am filing with my insurance company but that is a separate topic.

woah man, I am really sorry to hear about that. Sounds like very bad luck!

I am no expert at "dehumidifying" but for your sealed games, it sounds like you may need to let the water vapour to escape. I would use a pin on the corner perhaps and create a very small hole to allow for this to escape and the place it near a warm source such as radiator (or for a very short time by sunlight). Hopefully the instructtions will not the "crumpled" effect due to the water inside

Good luck!

type-r wrote:woah man, I am really sorry to hear about that. Sounds like very bad luck!

I am no expert at "dehumidifying" but for your sealed games, it sounds like you may need to let the water vapour to escape. I would use a pin on the corner perhaps and create a very small hole to allow for this to escape and the place it near a warm source such as radiator (or for a very short time by sunlight). Hopefully the instructtions will not the "crumpled" effect due to the water inside

Good luck!

Placing them near a warm source may not be a good idea if there is water vapour underneath the seal. This may create condensation, and make things worse, especially if it's Nintendo games which come in cardboard box's. Even if it's PS2 games or similar, the water could damage the inlay cards beneath the case.

You also need to be careful that the water underneath doesn't go mouldy, as mould could start to grow on the inside of the seal and create more damage.

I've had issues with de-humidifying in the past.
yes there is a possibility to get the paper stuf a bit crumpled, but placing them in a warm (not hot!) place for a couple of days is a best idea. The sealed stuff is pretty stiff and there is enough pressure under the plastic to keep boxes from disfigurement.
However no SUNLIGHT! This thing kills everything.
Just some dark warm place. Near the heater probably.

Thanks for the tips guys. It was "only" my DC and PSX collection that was ruined. Thankfully I guess, my SNES/NES/N64 games are in boxes outside the closet so those are perfectly fine. My problem is many of my gems are ruined - the sealed WD games (ATl Collection, Lunar 1, Lunar 2) are still sealed and all but the cardboard boxes are totally ruined and warped. Even my signed copy of Elemental Gearbolt has moisture under the seal, and to me that's not easily replacable. I guess that's what insurance is for.

I also thought about a small game insurance ... I think if you have a couple of games sealed its a good investment ...

I have $90k worth of insurance so i am definitely covered. Personal property insurance is cheap. But I was hoping not to bring this through insurance because then next year my premiums go through the roof!

Wow that really sucks. The only other thing I would suggest beyond what's already been mentioned is to place them in low humidity environment. Perhaps setting up a dehumidifier would help them dry out quicker.

The developer put a de-humdifier in the room but so far it seems to have done nothing. I don't even want to post pictures here. It's too sad to see what some of these games look like now

Oh man,

I am so so sorry for the damage my friend. That is truly criminal, and it's never really the value that hurts the most...but how hard it is to find a pristine example these days. I have had more than my fair share of ruined games always due to ppl packing $300.00 games with 20 cents worth of packing material. But hey, these are the times to really appreciate what you do have in life...a nice roof over your head, good forums friends and hey, you DO have a Sealed radiant Silvergun (I swore I bought one but can't seem to find it...this confuses me...hmmmm).

Well, I guess I can be happy that it was "only" my PSX, SAT and DC games that were ruined. My older games (NES, SNES, N64, etc.) weren't in there so they are ok. Some of my now "humid" games include:

Rakugaki Showtime
FFVII GH sealed
All WD games sealed (Lunar 1, 2, ATL)
MGS sealed
Suikoden II sealed (NOOOOOOO!!!!)
Legend of Mana sealed
Tactics Ogre sealed
etc.

Probably about 500 games total. These were pristine too. I am jacking the values by 3x for my insurance company.

buy a portable heater. it should solve your problem. building heaters are no good since it sets the temp. for the entire place. so its good to have a portable heater that has variable temp. just place it infront of the heater and far enough that it wont damage anything. you should also experiment under a lamp light, preferrably a halogen lamp. this is how i dehumidify mine but be careful not to get it close to the lamp or it will shrink the plastic. it only takes about 5 minutes to get it really warm.

i used to do it with just plain sunlight but i have no room to place them under. if you do, place it under the sunlight for 20 minutes or less, just to get it really warm but cover the top with a towel but dont wrap it since you need that small moisture to get out. i wouldnt do it to cardboard games like snes or nes or even n64 games. poking a hole didn't help me, it just created more damage. since the water came in, it should come out somewhere.

before you do all of this though, experiment first. use a dvd or a crappy sealed game.