Tracking down board game parts

Does anybody have any tips for tracking down hard to find board game parts? My in-laws have their old copy of Tornado Rex with everything except the Torando Rex top that spins down the board. They have seriously kept it for years and years in hopes they can some day find the missing piece. I've periodically searched the interwebs for one over our 10 years of marriage, but no luck. I've found a guy on BGG who might have what I'm looking for.

But aside from Ebay, Amazon marketplace and BGG, any suggestions? Is there some underground vintage board game site I can check out?

Ebay, grinding thrift stores, and craigslist are usually it--and for stuff like MiltonBradley games, Craigslist is actually one of the best as you can often find incomplete sets for cheap. Some of the big money games had some fan sites that had part exchanges, but a lot of that seems to have died with the death of Geocities ages back [although do check to see if there's a Yahoo or Google group dedicated to the game in question as those can be of some use too.]

That said, ebay is usually pretty reliable for parts when it comes to games that sell for big bucks when complete--Fireball Island, Tornado Rex, Dark Tower, and the stuff from the 60s like Voice of the Mummy.

As far as BGG goes, don't look in the collection lists. Look for the weekly geeklist that the thrifters put up. I know when I was grinding thrifts frequently, I never bothered to put stuff on my list because of the huge volume of stuff [and just crap] I picked up. Check that list for recent finds and follow the conversation under the entry to see what might pop up. Also, just peruse a few of them to see who is regularly grinding these days and either PM or post a public note to the Geeklist asking for parts as any decent regular thrifter is going to have a bin full of parts for games that sell well. I *still* have a bag of Dark Tower and BattleMasters parts just in case I come across a $3 incomplete set.

(And I wish I had kept my bits from an electronic game called The Generals--sort of a battery operated version of Stratego. It is, as far as I can figure, the national pasttime of the Philippines [and possibly Malaysia, too] and I STILL get messages all the time on BGG asking for parts from folks over there looking to complete their sets. Also wish I had kept one of the games I had found as it was pretty cool. I just couldn't pass up the $75 and thought for sure I'd find another one on top of the 5 I had already found and sold...haven't seen one since that last, totally mint set...)

This is a bit specific as it only applies to Magic Realm.

There is a very nice lady out there in the US of A who sends you replacement chits for Magic Realm for free because they are so easy to lose and so critical to game play. I think she was involved in one of the rule rewrites.

Somebody out there has one for sale that doesn't know what it is. Troll ebay for "Tornado Top" or whatever words are printed on the piece to see if its been mis-filed.

BGG used to have a parts geeklist, where people listed what the had and what the needed. I recieved some cards off it and sent off some shogun/samurai swords guys a few years ago.