Family in Washington State searches for stolen Nintendo game collection

PUYALLUP, Wash. (NBC, KYMA) - A Puyallup, Washington family is searching for answers after someone broke into their home and stole a massive collection of Nintendo games valued at tens of thousands of dollars.

An empty feeling toward something that was once full of life.

"I shake, I get headaches, I get all this stuff. I don't even want to look at them. I mean the shelf, I want to rip that shelf out and get it out of my house because I know what was there," said Roger Holler, whose Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was stolen.

Holler and his family were out of town last week. When they returned home Sunday evening, they discovered someone had forced their way inside, and the shelf that held hundreds of classic NES games, a collection that took nearly four decades to build, had been cleared out.

"I'm like, 'Are you kidding me?' kind of thing. Obviously, there were some other choice words I said that night when it happened. I punched the wall, I kicked the wall. I was like, 'What the heck is going on?'" Holler shared.

For Holler, these were never just old video games. His mom gave him his first NES console when he was 11. That gift started a lifelong passion, one he later shared with his own family.

"To me, this week it feels like I'm losing my mom again. Similar, I mean it's different, you know your parents and your loved ones. But this is my other love, this was my other child. I have three boys, but this was my child. I started this before they were even born," Holler expressed.

He said he had more than 860 games. Spending years hunting through stores, driving across Washington and traveling to gaming conventions, he was just three games away from completing the full NES library.

"It was going to go to the grandkids. It was ultimately going to be for them, for their college education, whatever the case whatever the case may be. That was what the end goal was going to be for. Not for my kids, they're going to be mad now that they know that. That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to put it toward them. It was valued anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000," Holler remarked.

"To watch that essentially life long collection just ripped out is heartbreaking," said Chris Sterling, Holler's son.

Sterling grew up on the hunt with his dad, riding along as they tracked down the next game. Now, they're tracking down who stole their collection.

"I guarantee if you were to show up tomorrow and say, 'Hey, here's your things. I apologize.' He'd probably just hug you, cry and say, 'Thank you' because that's just who he is," Sterling spoke.

A man with a fierce passion that has now decided to call it game over.

"This definitely hurts, and I don't think that I will ever collect another thing again in my life," Holler said.