Play-N-Trades in your area...

[STICH666]

So what are the Play-N-Trades like in your area. The ones on Long Island are pretty small with a great selection of games for the common consoles but hardly anything for Turbografx, Saturn or 3DO. The staff is pretty good except for one who charges $90 for an NES and other such flea market prices. $100 for a Dreamcast? I think I'll pass.

[shadow460]

There's one at 33rd and Broadway in Edmond, Oklahoma. It's not a bad store, IMO. their boxed games tend to run a little to a lot cheaper than those at Game X Change, and cheaper in most cases than Vintage Stock. They sold out of the hard to find stuff pretty quick. I'd posted about roughly two dozen boxed N64 titles they had. I got Command & Conquer and was planning to get more, but when I went back the next time the had a whole two boxed games left.

I did pick up Felony 11-79 there, and it was $7 cheaper than Vintage Stock. That game would have cost me $5 more at Game X Change than Play 'n' Trade charged.

 

Four years ago, we had nine classic game stores around here. They were all Game X Change. Then Vintage Stock started opening and a couple Game X Changes stores shrunk or closed. Now over half of the GXC stores are gone. We have four GXC's , four Vintage Stock stores, and a PnT, which means we still have nine classic gaming stores.

 

GXC's selection is old a tired, though. they're good for common stuff and that's pretty much it. Vintage Stock has some of the rarer stuff but of course it costs more. Play 'n' Trade will probably go the way of GXC if theirprices stay low like they are now.

[STICH666]

There's one at 33rd and Broadway in Edmond, Oklahoma. It's not a bad store, IMO. their boxed games tend to run a little to a lot cheaper than those at Game X Change, and cheaper in most cases than Vintage Stock. They sold out of the hard to find stuff pretty quick. I'd posted about roughly two dozen boxed N64 titles they had. I got Command & Conquer and was planning to get more, but when I went back the next time the had a whole two boxed games left.

I did pick up Felony 11-79 there, and it was $7 cheaper than Vintage Stock. That game would have cost me $5 more at Game X Change than Play 'n' Trade charged.

 

Four years ago, we had nine classic game stores around here. They were all Game X Change. Then Vintage Stock started opening and a couple Game X Changes stores shrunk or closed. Now over half of the GXC stores are gone. We have four GXC's , four Vintage Stock stores, and a PnT, which means we still have nine classic gaming stores.

 

GXC's selection is old a tired, though. they're good for common stuff and that's pretty much it. Vintage Stock has some of the rarer stuff but of course it costs more. Play 'n' Trade will probably go the way of GXC if theirprices stay low like they are now.

Nice! We had about 20 Gamestops within a 50 mile radius and only just last year did Play-N-Trades start poppping up. They get a lot more business than Gamestop now even though Gamestop outnumbers them 4 to 1 and in turn Gamestops have been closing left and right. Here's what happens. Gamestop stops taking games for a certain console, Play-n-Trade then explodes with inventory, Gamestop closes and previous workers open their own Play-N-Trade usually run by the people who actually know what games are worth. And the cycle continues. 2 more are planned to open in the next 6 months.

[DaytonaUSA]

The local plan n trade here has a 3Do for 50 bucks. Comes with box, manuals, foam... and is mint. Thought about it, but passed. They're prices are good, but their trade in sucks horrible. Nothing sicker than going in and seeing a system you sold going for more than you got for the system and 15 games (most of which were priced at 20 or more each). I know they have to get money, but damn did that suck to see.

[+Random Terrain]

I've never seen one.

[pinball22]

The one here tends to be kind of short on older stuff -- when they first opened, they had big table things full of NES and Genesis games, but last time I was in there, everything SNES/Genesis generation and older was all on just one small section of shelves. I've never seen them have anything pre-NES... I asked once if they had any Atari stuff, and they didn't, but their response implied that other people had asked.

 

Some I've gone to in other places (Atlanta, Charlotte) had a lot more older stuff. None of them have had tons of pre-NES, but all had at least some. I got 007 for the 5200 plus a couple of 2600 games and some manuals for like $9 at one.

[RickO2]

We had a few go out of business (Grand Rapids, Mich) but they are supposed to be reopening. I prefer to go to Vidiots, a locally owned store, but I do travel into Play N Trade from time to time. I've never seen any great deals, some new used games are as much as new, but I did pick up a dogbone controller for $4.00 because an employee must have thought it was a standard NES controller. Their staff was younger so they weren't much help with the old school stuff (anything before SNES). They did have some atari games but they were always cheap commons. They were good about taking a game back that didn't work and if you have time they let you test them before you buy.

Edited October 1, 2009 by RickO2

[shadow460]

Four years ago, we had nine classic game stores around here. They were all Game X Change. Then Vintage Stock started opening and a couple Game X Changes stores shrunk or closed. Now over half of the GXC stores are gone. We have four GXC's , four Vintage Stock stores, and a PnT, which means we still have nine classic gaming stores.

 

GXC's selection is old a tired, though. they're good for common stuff and that's pretty much it. Vintage Stock has some of the rarer stuff but of course it costs more. Play 'n' Trade will probably go the way of GXC if theirprices stay low like they are now.

Nice! We had about 20 Gamestops within a 50 mile radius and only just last year did Play-N-Trades start poppping up. They get a lot more business than Gamestop now even though Gamestop outnumbers them 4 to 1 and in turn Gamestops have been closing left and right. Here's what happens. Gamestop stops taking games for a certain console, Play-n-Trade then explodes with inventory, Gamestop closes and previous workers open their own Play-N-Trade usually run by the people who actually know what games are worth. And the cycle continues. 2 more are planned to open in the next 6 months.

There's still a dfference between GXC and GameStop, though. For those who are just starting into classic gaming, GXC is a great place. They get some odd stuff in from time to time like Virtual Boy games, that Game Stop wouldn't even think twice about.

 

I've seen some of my stuff get re sold for several times what I sold it for, too. I sold an FB2 recently minus the book and one of the joysticks that I wanted to keep. I got $9.70 out of it, and not a minute after I agreed to seel it, vintage Stock had a price of $19.95 on it. I sold some VHS movies for 10 cents each that day and they had $1.95 prices on them. Command & Conquer for the N64 got me $3, and is selling for $13. I don't feel too badly about it, though. I wanted the stuff out of my house, and getting a buck here and there for it is better than getting nothing for it if I'd thrifted it or thrown it away.

I used the store credit to buy a Genesis 2 to 32X cable. As a bonus, I suppose, it came with a 32X, too.

[Tom-Lynx]

I've never heard of them but all of a sudden there are a ton getting ready to open in the Chicago area.

[+Random Terrain]

I've never heard of them but all of a sudden there are a ton getting ready to open in the Chicago area.

Maybe I'll eventually get to see one too. There was a time when I never heard of Walmart or Target or Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, so you never know.

[+HammR25]

There's one in the Dallas area and it looks like it's virtually right next door to a bike shop I frequent. I guess I'll have to check it out sometime.

[pinball22]

Maybe I'll eventually get to see one too. There was a time when I never heard of Walmart or Target or Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, so you never know.

 

I'm assuming the time when you'd never heard of Walmart was sometime before, say, 1985? And you're not from a different North Carolina that's on another planet?

[+Random Terrain]

I'm assuming the time when you'd never heard of Walmart was sometime before, say, 1985? And you're not from a different North Carolina that's on another planet?

Never heard of Walmart or walked into one until the 1990s. I saw a Blockbuster Video before I saw a Walmart.

[pinball22]

Never heard of Walmart or walked into one until the 1990s. I saw a Blockbuster Video before I saw a Walmart.

 

What part of NC do you live in?

[+Random Terrain]

What part of NC do you live in?

Near Greensboro/High Point.

[shadow460]

I'm assuming the time when you'd never heard of Walmart was sometime before, say, 1985? And you're not from a different North Carolina that's on another planet?

Never heard of Walmart or walked into one until the 1990s. I saw a Blockbuster Video before I saw a Walmart.

 

You, good sir, were deprived of the wonderful impact Sam Walton could have had on your childhood!

[STICH666]

**** Walmart! Caldors was where it was at!!

[pinball22]

Aha... apparently NC resisted Wal-Mart for a while.

shows its spread, and none appear in NC until 1986, and they don't become widespread until 88.

 

Over here in TN, they suddenly flood the state in 1981 -- it's because that's the year they bought out Big K, the store we used to go to all the time when I was little.

[Frizo]

I have one here in CT, but its an hour away...good thing Im moving there in a couple months! GOODBYE INTERWEBS SHOPPING! (Not really)

 

It has a huge selection of PS1,Saturn,Dreamcast, Genny, NES, GBC,GB, GG, and alot more.

 

And a shiteload of ps1 controllers and alot of other controllers too.

[Austin]

There is one here in Herndon, VA. Aside from the local estarland.com, there aren't any other places here to buy old school games.

 

I picked up a dreamcast a few weeks ago and decided to finally stop by the play n trade to see what the selection and prices are like. Unfortunately it is franchise owned and it seems like the owner sets the prices. The prices were outrageous, even on common Genesis and Sega Cd games. $22 for Shenmue. About $20 for f355 challenge. Bleh. Rip-off. Cart only NES games were not any better...

[Tom-Lynx]

Well the first one finally opened close to where I live in the NW Chicago suburbs and I checked it out this week. I was impressed that they set up several demo systems, and not just of the latest generation games. They even had a Jaguar and an NEC TurboGrafx. I almost picked up Klax for the Genesis since I enjoy the Lynx version.

 

They were still doing a lot of inventory and pricing, so the items weren't all on the shelves yet. But I'll definitely be going back and it was much more interesting than the average GameStop I've been to.