Massive RPG video game collection held in Des Moines home

Video games have grown in popularity since “Tennis for Two” debuted in 1958. They have also grown in capabilities and number of options. Few understand the number of options better than Des Moines’ Frank Schwartztrauber. 

The 62-year-old commercial maintenance technician played video games when he was younger but eventually sold his gaming systems. He started to get back into gaming after playing Super Mario on the NES. A friend suggested he play the Legend of Zelda games, and, after that, there was no going back.

“I was up all night playing (Zelda), and, then, we’re over at somebody’s house, and they were playing a game. It looked like ‘Legend of Zelda’ but with four people, and they said it was called ‘Final Fantasy,’ ” Schwartztrauber said.

He then became a collector by default due to his adverse feelings about throwing anything away.

“When I buy something, I keep the box, I keep the package, I just keep everything. I had my first ‘Final Fantasy’ games all in the original box, and they look great on the shelf,” Schwartztrauber said.

Since his early affinity for role-playing games (RPGs) came from “The Legend of Zelda” and “Final Fantasy,” he focused his collection mainly on the adventurous side of video games.

Why have RPGs caught his attention over the years?

Frank Schwartztrauber’s collection ranges from video games, strategy guides, magazines, gaming systems and more.

“It’s because you can put yourself in the game. I mean, you have a character and then you can envision yourself as that character — however you want to create it, whether it really looks like you or doesn’t look like you. You decide what skills you want. Do you want to be a smarter guy that’s a magician, or do you want to be a stronger guy that’s a badass sword wielder?” he said.

Schwartztrauber claims his collection of RPG games and strategy guides rivals any other in the country. 

“For magazines, I have about 3,000. I just added one last night, so that makes 6,112 physical games. I probably have a few thousand more downloaded games. As far as strategy guides go, about 1,700 strategy guides and video game-related books,” Schwartztrauber said. 

As his collection has grown, Schwartztrauber has continued to build shelving for his games, guides and magazines. His collection originally started in his living room but eventually moved upstairs to his attic where there’s more space. His attic is now lined from wall to wall with his collection. He says his collection won’t go beyond what he can fit there. He has already begun slowing down his collecting to focus on buying games he knows he’ll play, something he hasn’t been able to do with a majority of his collection. 

Schwartztrauber believes the rarest piece in his collection is a box set for the game “Earthbound,” which has skyrocketed in value since he purchased it. Even so, that’s not why he collects these items. 

“I didn’t actually have the original box for ‘Earthbound.’ I ended up buying it about 10 or 12 years ago, and the box was $175. Now the boxes are $700 to $800 by themselves. That’s a pretty rare piece. I don’t want to have a ton of rare stuff; I just have a quantity of stuff,” Schwartztrauber said. ♦