Randomly walked into the local Goodwill today as I do a couple times a month or so and found a Logitech F310 game controller. It’s basically a clone of the game controller on the Xbox for use on PC’s however it does have a switch on the bottom that can put it in PlayStation compatible setup mode though I don’t think I’ll be needing that though admittedly it’s nice to have. It was definitely used lovingly with some scratches and badly engraved marks denoting X and Y buttons might be swapped however I don’t think this is the case. I loaded up a quick game (Subnautica) and configured it for game controller and BAM, that’s it. The controller worked flawlessly with all buttons responsive and working and pulling up all the right menu’s and actions with the associated button presses.

The cost was $6.99US (the lowest new I found online was $14.99US so still good deal) which might be a little on the high side for something used coming from Goodwill however I scored on a wireless mouse they mislabeled a couple weeks ago so I didn’t feel so bad. The mouse was one of those small form factor Logitech wireless mice with the dongle in it’s spot in the battery compartment! It took a single battery and was labeled for whatever reason @ 0.90US and I needed a small spare wireless mouse to throw in my spare laptop bag with the spare early 2011 MacBook Pro sitting in it which I use when I’m on the go. Perfect.

Now normally when I play games I do usually use the keyboard and mouse, especially for first person games, however there are a bunch of games that can can be fun with the game controller as well. Sideways scrollers, driving games, and top down boss battle games are just a few games that a game controller can be useful for. Then there are the arcade type games made for joystick/game pad action. Plus it’s great to have a game controller when using game and machine emulators.

Goodwill is great for finding random stuff. I occasionally go there looking for something specific however the proper Goodwill experience is usually had when walking in to the store randomly straight off the street and having the time to properly search through the various racks and cases like some homeless person desperate for that tchotchke you didn’t even know you desperately needed. My mom was an antiques dealer and professional junk shop shopper god rest her soul and I’m sure glad that part of her rubbed off on me, somewhat deeply, as I also have become quite the expert junk shop shopper money saver yeah I’ll wear your old pants type of dude… 😉

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