Hi. Lately I have heard more and more about Play N Trade, a store that competes with gamestop. They have repair services, rentals, but most importantly (at least to me) they carry retro games. I was wondering if anyone has been there yet because it is about 2 hours to and back from the nearest Play N Trade to me. What are the average prices that they charge for games and consoles because it sounds almost too good to be true. I contacted them asking about particular consoles and prices but only found out what they have in stock. They seem to have everything. A game gear bundle with 52 games, Saturn, Dreamcast, Virtural Boy, ect. Can anyone give me a better idea of the place and what they charge for games and consoles?
Many have closed in fact. Once in a while you may catch one that has a lot of games, but often they have too little. The condition of the games is a big risk. I got a bunch of gamecube, ps2 games, many were scratched or damaged and I had to return them. There is one in Garfield, NJ, but their retro inventory is cleaned out. There are a few in Central NJ on Rt. 35 and Rt. 1 new brunswick. Their pictures indicate a large selection, but who knows? Remember their inventory is based on trade ins.
I have heard a lot of them closed but the one closest to me was given a review on google for being a good place to buy retro games and better then the other one which is near me. Also, when I contacted them, they did specifically mention having a virtual boy in stock which means someone must be trading in there stuff. Also, the fact that they sold you scratched and broken games seems odd to me because they seem to advertise a try (any) game before you buy system and a disc repair service. Did they not offer this?
I just found out that this particular Play N Trade has been open since August 2008 so it reassures me that they haven't been forced to close within that time. I wish that they would have continued answering my questions about pricing, but they seemed to stop responding. It might just be worth a trip to see if the virtual boy is sub-$100. Has anyone bought a console or seen what they usually charge because I will go sometime tomorrow unless everything they have is overpriced.
I don't know which store you talked to, each one is different. They are a franchise system, unlike Gamestop which owns all its stores. So some franchisees may run the store well others horribly. I'm just giving you my experiences. There was a store out in West Caldwell, NJ, since closed. It had next to nothing retro. The Garfield store had a lot, but recently is mostly barren. The store in Middletown on Rt. 35 has a lot. Again, it depends on how much they get traded in. Also, their POS register systems were VERY antiquated and they seemed to have a lot of problems using them. The discs were no good, but their disc resurface machine was out of order and they had no idea when the owner was going to fix it. They had Gamecube games which somehow had the top layer of the disc warped. I suspect the games were in a flood, no clue. They didn't have a Gamecube there to test anything. The prices are no better than ebay, or anywhere else. I think the consoles were IMO overpriced, and what they had was kind of beat up. But again, they take whatever gets traded in. My advice is take the trip, it's fun just to hunt regardless.
I think I am going to go. The game gear bundle (which comes with the console and 52 games) is only $75. The Virtual boy comes with 3 games (unknown at the time because owner left store) and is $175 (so probably going to pass, but maybe he will let me try the console at least) I think I am going to go buy the $75 game gear bundle. EDIT: Oh Cool. This is my 100th post!
Be very careful with Game Gear, because they have all those capacitor problems resulting in loss of sound or terrible video. Make sure you try it in the store and are satisfied with its playability. Virtual Boy is even more tricky. Often the tripods are missing, as well as other things. $175 is crazy.
Never even heard of this store, but apparently theres one next to the mall I usually go to (Ontario Mills in Ontario, CA). WIll look for the store on Friday after work. Now Im anxious if they realy sell old gen games.
I know about the capacitor problem and will make sure to try it first. As for the virtual boy, unless one of those games is jack brothers, I am not buying it.
I've been to maybe 6 in New Jersey with the results being so varied, its out of control. The 2 closest to me are a nightmare, having sold me a gutted new copy of Dead Space 2 without the manual or Online Pass and having abysmal classic stock, to one in North Jersey by the Digital Press store having a Neo Geo bundle dirt cheap but not selling it to me because it was missing the power cable. Boxed AES + 6 games for like $250, and the guy wouldn't let me talk him into selling it without the cable. I was in disbelief.
Mentalwarp that's the Garfield store, which has quite a problem getting trades so close to digital press. I had such a horrible experience returning damaged GameCube games I nearly got into a fist fight there.
Ah, I wasn't sure the town. We're from around exit 4, so we weren't familiar with the area. We're heading back up to Digital Press next weekend, and I'm going to try to stop back in there just to see what all they have. Thank you for the reference, much appreciated. I'm a sucker for boxed systems though, and am on the hunt for an OG Sega CD among other stuff at the moment. I just refuse to pay inflated eBay prices of $200+, then shipping, and hope it doesn't get decimated in shipping.
Never buy a game that requires a key / pass / whatever to play online in a second hand store! Any decent store will refuse to buy in certain games because of a non-transferable licence. CEX in the UK have big disclaimers on their counters stating that second hand software may not include keys for online play or DLC, and you should not expect it to be included. As for the Neo Geo, we all know that's a cheap price. They know you're going to try and haggle them down without the PSU, so they're not interested. Other than that, they won't have been able to test it and, if they have to offer a warranty, they'll want to do so before selling it.
I bought it NEW, it was just the gutted floor copy, with the disc taken out so the box can be on display on the sales floor. I didn't even try to haggle for the Neo Geo. I pulled the cash out and tried to pay on the spot. If he wouldn't sell at the asking price, why would I try to pay less?
There's a Play N Trade on Rt. 35 in Middletown, the pictures I've seen seem like the store is full. The Garfield store was barren a month ago last time I checked.
I decided not to go since I found out there is a local retro game store in my community. Granted, the Dreamcast I bought was broken (no controler responce) but it was an easy fix and it also happened to be a REV0 and came with AV, power, and a controller. And the VMU's were decently priced as well ($7) and I got Crazy Taxi (all stars) CIB and scratch free for $9. So it is a decent store. Also, the two Play N Trade stores near me have the same pic be pictures of the same store, so I think they could just stock photos.
That happens to some of them. I think they are all privately owned with there own altered policies and ect. Thats why I decided agents going.
The Dreamcast also happened to have a dying internal battery that only held enough charge to keep the clock going while plugged in (I could turn the console off, but not the power strip). I fixed that as well as adjusted the laser a bit so it can read games better. (Also, the original cost of the unit was $45 and I fixed it with stuff in a pile of spare parts and scrap).
