How is Play N Trade?

[Daria]

On the way to work yesterday I noticed a coming soon sign for a Play N Trade. I live in an area with 19 Gamestops within 25 miles of my home with the only competition being a craptastic CGX at the mall. South Florida needs some diversity badly.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if the company's any good. I hear they sell old games at least.

[JustRob]

hmm...didn't know you were down here too.

Anyway, which play n trade? There are like, 3 or so here now and from what one of the owners said, about 4 more coming soon.

The one in westin is ok. The one in west pines is alright, and I know the guys there the best. The one in Miami Lakes at Main Street is a fucking joke. Don't expect to find much classic stuff unless you want to overpay and a good chunk of stuff there is pretty shitty inkjet printed label repros that don't even try to look real.

Aside from that, it's the only place to find anything older than ps2 era stuff.

BTW, where is that cgx?

[TheDomesticInstitution]

I have a Play N Trade near me... and I go in there once a month or so. My best find there so far was Contra III for the SNES for $9. All in all their prices are pretty GameStop-ish. They have a pretty decent selection of classic stuff... but don't expect to get any crazy deals. It'll probably take a while for your store to build up a good selection of classic stuff if it just opens. My closest store also carries a handful of classic boxed games too, but they're mostly commons.

[norkusa]

A few PnT stores opened near me over the past year. At first, I liked them because they had decent classic selections and the employees actually knew what they are talking about. But the more I go in there, the more it looks like just another Gamestop.

I was at a PnT store a couple weeks ago looking for a 60gb PS3. They didn't have any but they did have a 20gb for sale. Only catch is that it came bundled with 3 Metal Gear games, an extra controller and they wanted $499 for it (it was actually marked down from $599). I asked the guy if he'd sell me the console only but he said no.

Another thing they do is hit the clearance bins at Target and Circuit City to replenish thier stock and resell at full price. 2 year old DDR Ultramix and Karaoke Revolution Idol bundles that were $20-$30 at Target are $60-$70 at Play N Trade. They do the same thing with Pro Duo memory sticks and other accessories too.

They do have cool stuff sometimes. Saw a complete R.O.B. once and they always have 2600 systems and games (although they're always dirt common). Everything is all priced according to Ebay though, so even if you find something you like, it's not worth buying. Like the beat to hell Madden CE cart I saw (boxed with no manual) for $30.

[Tupin]

The PNT near me is pretty good, the prices/selection are decent, but they never get in systems, all they sell is those Retro Duos. The main reason why they have such good prices is because they have to compete with a local chain and they are the only store.


It all depends, since these places are independently owned and operated.

[Sabz5150]

I'm always in my PnT, usually several times a week... I'm on first-name with the guys that work there. I've landed several excellent finds and the guys are quite helpful and knowledgeable (and always willing to swap stories and bullshit when the other customers aren't around). They always cut me deals and slice off a few bucks from the rares and oddballs.

I guess it's just my shop, but these guys are on the ball... because of them my Gamestop runs have become fewer and farther apart.

[Daria]

hmm...didn't know you were down here too.

I'm in West Palm Beach. Miami's like a whole other country.

Seriously though the furthest south I travel is Fort Lauderdale, and that's not often.

The CGX near me is in the Wellington Mall. It's not very good though. It's the type of store that only uses price tags for current gen games, anything older is ebay priced at the counter. And that's only if you can talk them into selling it to you.

[joshnickerson]

They opened up near me a few weeks ago. The prices on "current gen" games (PS2 era and above) seem to be on par with Gamestop. The older games are locked away in a glass case in the rear of the store, so it's difficult to really know what the price range of those are, though what little I did see priced was a bit high... ($8 for NES Ice Climbers? REALLY?) I was a bit annoyed that I had to explain to the clerk as to what "games for the black and white Gameboy" were, as he then pointed to some GBA games in the case.

It's a decent enough store with a good selection (they had 3D0 games, which stunned me), but the prices seem high, especially since I could get older stuff cheaper at the dirt mall down the road. I was also hoping they'd have some imports, like a PnT I visited in another state, but no dice. I'll give it a few months before I really decide though.

[DigitalSpace]

There's another thread about Play N Trade here:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107129

Imo, prices on the newer stuff aren't too bad, but most of the older stuff is overpriced.

[G-Boobie]

The only problem with broadly discussing Play N Trade is that they're franchise based, not corporate owned. It's a serious case of your mileage may vary.

I have two in my city. One is actually OK; they do disc repair, repairs on older consoles(both come with a warranty), they throw tournaments, they have SOME classic stuff, etc. etc. etc. This makes up for their generally low level of current gen stock and their prices, which are usually exactly fifty cents lower than current Game Stop/Ebay prices. the owner is a gamer and has been known to whup his customers at Soul Calibur from time to time.

The other one is basically a thrift store horribly mated to a Game Stop. Everything is in terrible shape and over priced. It smells funny. The owners are rude and don't play games themselves. They tried selling me a copy of God of War II for fifty bucks three months ago.

You get the gist.

[The 1 2 P]

They tried selling me a copy of God of War II for fifty bucks three months ago.

And you said no? You obviously don't recognize a good deal when you see oneLOL I still haven't been to the one Play N Trade we have here in Maryland, probably because it's an hour away. But one day I really need to go check it out.

[neuropolitique]

they ain't gamestop, so they get my business

[Press_Start]

I've been to the one closest to me a few times and it's a good place. They got lots of systems hooked up along the store to try out their games. Though their selection of current-gen is low, their older-gen is pretty good (NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, Gameboy, Sega CD, PS1, etc) They also provided CD cleaning and buffing services for your scratched and smudged discs. You may run off with a great deal, if you know where to look.

Some of their items are overprices, but the real kicker for me is the B2G1 on all used games. You can get 3 games costing 15 each for the price of 10 each.

Like somebody said before, its franchise based. The reception you get may vary from store to store. Just today, they offered me free CD cleaning and buffering service just before I bought the games and came out pretty good.

That's my two cents.

[theshizzle3000]

they ain't gamestop, so they get my business

Couldn't have said it better myself.

However, I really enjoy th PNT by me, but I have been a loyal customer there since they opened about two years ago. I find that you just have to keep an eye out on stuff, and on occasion you can find a great deal on some of the older stuff.

[Xian042]

Like someone mentioned before they are a franchise, which means the owners have freedom to handle certain things the way they see fit, unlike corporate owned GameStop which makes thier puppet retail drones do everying by the book or die. This can be good because you will find real diehard gamers running the store, not just over eager corporate ladder hopefuls or socially inept emo kids.
The downside of this is, yes, most of them use Ebay as their price bible, so don't expect to find any major scores.
One opened up near me recently. I went in when they first opened and just saw a small selection of common last gen games. I asked if they sell any classic games and they said,
"well, we WILL be selling that stuff, we just don't have it now"
So I asked if they take classic stuff in trade, they said,
"Well, we WILL be taking that stuff, we just don't do it now".
Ok I get it. They did have a Wii hooked up to play with NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams in it. The game had just come out and being an old Sega nut I was dying to try it. This was a good opportunity to test their game knowlege. I asked how this one compares to the original. All I got was "Oh, uh, yeah, you know, its good, uh, that was N64 right?"

FAIL

I saw where this was going, so I just played NiGHTS for a bit and left in dismay. I cursed that stupid owl all the way home.
I put the place off a few months and went back when they had time to build up some stock. It looked like someone recently dumped off their entire PS1 rpg collection, and had a good amount of common PS1 and Dreamcast. They also had some random Saturn and 8 bit stuff. I saw a short stack of Jaguar games with Trevor McFur on top. I asked to see what the rest of the games were. He lifted up Trevor and, low and behold, there was Aliens Vs Predator for $5 loose. MINE!
So if you can wade through the ocean of overpriced RPG's you just might find a deal.

[fuchikoma]

The one in Weston is pretty weak. Their 'classic' colleciton is mostly PS1 GHs and sports titles. I managed to grab Armored Core 1 CIB for $4 though.

[Daria]

So if you can wade through the ocean of overpriced RPG's you just might find a deal.

Luckily I own all the overpriced RPGs. Now it's the obscure RPGs I'm looking for.

But I get what you mean.

[Oobgarm]

The local one here is terrible. They have an overabundance on crap sports and PS2 games, which I cannot fathom how they survive on. Anything prior to PS2 at the store is trash and not worth the time.

Last time in, the employee followed us around and practically begged us to buy something, which says tons about their sales.

We've got close to 25 GameStops within 30 minutes, plus 3 other independents.

[Bojay1997]

The one closest to me guts their games, has a small selection and their prices are generally identical to Gamestop, so my opinion is that they are a worthless addition to the video game retail landscape.

[Xian042]

Luckily I own all the overpriced RPGs. Now it's the obscure RPGs I'm looking for.

But I get what you mean.
Those, too, are overpriced

[Steve W]

A new one opened up in Arlington, TX, making it the second in the surrounding areas of Dallas. But neither store have much in the way of classic games. That is, if you consider N64 games classic (I don't). The problem with Play N' Trade stores is that because they're franchised, they don't get classic game stock from a centralized distributor like they do with modern games, so they can only sell what people bring in. And if nobody in the area brings in any classic stuff, then they just fill those cases with Retro Duo consoles and a few NES carts they dug out of the owner's attic.

I've been to several locations and they vary wildly in classic stuff. Modern stuff, they've got plenty of. I'm after the retro games, though. One store has 3DO and Neo-Geo Pocket Color games, another location has Lynx carts and Atari 2600 games, then I hit the ones locally and they've only got junk. The owner says he'd like to get in some classic stuff soon, but it never seems to happen.

[AlphaGamer]

............................

[Daria]

There is one opening on Forest Hill Blvd. in West Palm Beach soon

Store which prompted the thread BTW.

[fuchikoma]

The locaiton just north of downtown ft lauderdale on US1 looks like it was still being set up when I drove by today.

Anyone ever been into the place that just says 'VIDEO GAMES' along the south side of 183rd in North Miami Beach? Always looked kinda... shady.

[JustRob]

It's on 163rd actually. Went in there a couple of years ago thinking it would be a mecca for the area. Well, it was, if all you wanted was psx games. I swear it looked like the dude had the entire psx run up there and NOTHING else. A few ps2 and xbox games but that was it. I asked if he had anything older and he pointed to a couple of longbox psx games...

[50TBRD]

I like them. The prices seemed good and they told me that they could get stuff shipped there from the warehouse. In addition, they cleaned the game and game a dust cap.