Play N Trade Selling Hacks/Reproductions For Outrageous Prices

[FieryReign]

I guess these stores are allowed to sell these things now. I came across Sweet Home, Califonia Raisins, and various Super Mario Hacks behind their glass cases. Also Zero Wing for the Genesis(not Mega Drive) which never existed. And they were priced $55 and upwards. With no indication that they're fanmade hacks and repros. When I asked about them, the lady just seemed defensive and said "they're legal". Not like I care but I'm pretty sure they're not. Not sure why anybody would pay these prices when they can be downloaded for free. Especially since they're fucking hacks. Seems like they're purposefully trying to dupe people. Their trade in value for games is a goddamn joke as well. The young lady had to call her manager for the simplest of questions. I thought Gameslop was bad, this store sucks just as bad.

[Tupin]

The only Play N Trade near me closed years ago. From what I've read, it's a franchisee thing with incredibly lax standards/rules. It explains a lot about their stores, really.

[Tanooki]

Those are entirely illegal. PnT is also 100% franchised out, so the main office just gives their name and a cut, you follow their practices(supposedly), use their branding, logo and so on and it's it kind of scenario.

My advice, google and find the main office for PnT that owns the entire pyramid scheme of stores and let them know what's going on. Offer them up the store address, who you talked to, take cell phone images of the illegal games and send them to the main office. Let them know you'll also be contacting NOA Legal and Capcom's lawyers too since they're defrauding their properties so they know you're not just some non-serious whiner. Also forward it on to the local PD as well and let them know you did that too. The fact is they're committed fraud and software piracy which are both felonies by defrauding the local consumers.

[A.C. Sativa]

The local store here was selling repros of the 3 NES porno games for $150 each, and coming right out and saying they were repros (any serious collector would know immediately anyway because they were in normal NES cases). The insane thing? Someone actually bought one! Why would you pay that much for a repro, and what's the point of only buying one of them?

[Tanooki]

Being a gullible chump I would imagine. No bootleg should cost much over what the parts and labor involved cost, and that sure as hell isn't anything by a fat margin near $150. A good cart based release I'd think should sit around $30-40, more if it uses some bizarre or expensive parts, or in the case of a few Famicom games a harvested adapter, or with Starfox 2 since you'll have to buy and butcher a compatible FX game and do a heap of insane wiring to bypass it.

[FieryReign]

I'm not going to get into reporting them to authorities and all that. But it was a bit surprising seeing this kinda stuff there. Like they were prized pieces or something. The prices just struck me as "asshole tryin to make a buck". And the way the young greasy haired lady replied on the defensive. "They're legal", I didn't even mention legality, just like "oh snap yall sell hacks and reproductions, too"? This bitch was rude and on the defensive from the get-go and I was just tryin to spark convo while I waited for her to call her manager regarding tradeins(where was he at anyways)? These fucking cheapskates gave me an offer of 9.50 for Bravely Default:CE and 3.00 for Rhythm Thief. My blood pressure almost spurted out of my veins, but somehow I remained a cool customer and said no thank you. This is a scam even worse than Gameslop.

But not quite. Gameslop still deserves to be put on blast. Before I went out to this PnT place I made a call to Gameslop to see what their policy is on collectors editions and limited editions are. They pretty much don't consider them as existing because "that's not part of the actual game, we only sell the game not the extras that come with it". Let's just say the discussion got pretty heated with this motherfucker cutting off every sentence I attempted. Sorry but with 3ds collectors editions and AR cards, they are most definitely part of the game and it was insulting to say the least. He admitted they trash the extras because of space and because "people only care about the game". Whatever you say hoss.

Sorry, but fuck modern gaming and these douchebags who operate these stores. I remember walking into one just to check out the prices on 3ds and vita stuff. This guy hounded me before I took 3 steps in that clusterfuck. "What brings you into MY store today"? "Just browsing, thanks", I reply. "What system do you have", the sales pitcher throws at me. "I stay retro and portable these days". "Ah cmon you need an upgrade lemme see what I can do for you" he says like an asshole trying to berate me and trying to make me feel ancient for liking WHAT I LIKE. I try to keep cool because I can feel my girlfriend pinching me and seeing the rage in my eyeballs. "No thanks".

He proceeds to say "you're better off downloading games for those systems", basically not wanting my money or something? Then says "he's going to do me a favor and look up an NES system and games for me", like I'm too retarded to look that shit up on my phone. Long story short, he insulted me so bad, I kindly asked him to step outside and have this conversation. It was then he decided to back off and play victim, like I wasn't minding my own business in the first place? He lost a potential sale and customer, awesome show, great job!

So yeah, fuck these modern game stores. I don't need to be judged, especially from some young arrogant fuck who thinks he owns the store. Or by a young female who desperately needs a bottle of shampoo.

[Steve W]

A local Play N' Trade was selling a reproduction of Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the Atari 2600 a few years ago. They had it at the price of an original copy, and when I asked them why they'd charge so much for a reproduction the salesguy flinched and sputtered something out. Maybe they didn't know, since they were all 20-somethings working there. Doesn't matter anyway, that store closed down. Play N' Trade stores tend to pop up and fizzle around this area. I can't tell you how many have come and gone in the last several years. They've all vanished from my region as about six months ago.

[KWKBOX]

The only play n trade that I knew of closed down due to it being a front for prostitution surprisingly. Smaller game stores are always a hit and miss. Other local ones were great but the owners changed and so did the deals and not in a good way. I stick with flea markets, swap meets, and garage sales.

[FieryReign]

The only play n trade that I knew of closed down due to it being a front for prostitution surprisingly. Smaller game stores are always a hit and miss. Other local ones were great but the owners changed and so did the deals and not in a good way. I stick with flea markets, swap meets, and garage sales.

Hey, if they're honest about it, go ahead and setup some dick holes. "The glory holes of gaming", that actually sounds cool(minus diseases).

[KWKBOX]

Hey, if they're honest about it, go ahead and setup some dick holes. "The glory holes of gaming", that actually sounds cool(minus diseases).

Well if the place was in Las Vegas it would have had better odds but out in the midwest I do not think it would fly. Maybe the next million dollar idea for Vegas?

[Tupin]

I don't think I've ever seen a Play N Trade last for very long. I think the whole company is a scam/pyramid scheme, to be honest. I think the one that was around here up until a few years ago was a vanity project rather than a serious attempt at business. Guy who ran it was cool and it lasted longer than I expected but it still folded after like 5 years.

[Steve W]

Yeah, it seems that Play N' Trade raises their licensing fees the longer the store's open, expecting sales from that store to keep going up every year. And it doesn't work out for most locations. I've heard a couple former owners gripe about how Play N' Trade's corporate management does things. The one truly good store in this area was up in Flower Mound, TX in a nice neighborhood, and he was selling airsoft guns to try and raise sales by the end. He was a good guy, I always had a good chat whenever I managed to make my way up there (which sadly wasn't that often). I guess he never thought about prostitution to raise sales, though!

GameXchange stores are popping up all over the northeast part of Texas, but they're staying out of the Dallas area mostly (there's one in Fort Worth). Two did move in several years ago, one was bought out by the ScrewAttack guys and eventually went out of business, and the second one just disappeared one day. Maybe they're nervous about moving in to an area where GameStop has a stranglehold on new games.

[Gameguy]

I'm still surprised when I hear people go to actual game stores. It's like somebody saying "I just went into this VHS rental store the other day...."



The local store here was selling repros of the 3 NES porno games for $150 each, and coming right out and saying they were repros (any serious collector would know immediately anyway because they were in normal NES cases). The insane thing? Someone actually bought one! Why would you pay that much for a repro, and what's the point of only buying one of them?
Did he buy a Retron 5 at the same time to play the repro cart on?


Hey, if they're honest about it, go ahead and setup some dick holes. "The glory holes of gaming", that actually sounds cool(minus diseases).
If they did that it would just be a ripoff from Total Recall.


http://i61.tinypic.com/2igksn4.jpg

[FieryReign]

I'm still surprised when I hear people go to actual game stores. It's like somebody saying "I just went into this VHS rental store the other day"...

Because game stores don't exist anymore and have all but disappeared....

[Tanooki]

I find it odd someone would say something like that with VHS. They exist, Gamestop annoyingly is proof of that, and there are other spread far and wide less competitors too.

I think the more shocking thing at this rate would be the fool who trades stuff in at a place like that knowing you're going to get hosed, badly, as it's no secret.

[FieryReign]

Sometimes shit hits the fan and you have to shop your things around seeing what all of your options are. Not all of us are living comfortably with disposable incomes. Some of us are trying to pick up the pieces and turn things around in life. And some of us have a hard time just keeping from picking up the cold steel, putting it to the temple, and squeezing with no regrets. It's shocking some losers are still around trying to make life worthwhile again.

[Steve W]

GameStops still exist because it fills a need. Where will those teenagers who just shoplifted a bunch of games be able to sell them quickly? After they cut open the shrinkwrap out in the parking lot since GameStop know they're trafficking in stolen merch but their minimal effort is to not accept games that are still factory sealed because that's too obvious.

[The 1 2 P]

There's no Play N Trade stores near me but I still occasionally run into bootlegs at Gamestop and Goodwill and flea markets have them all the time.

[SparTonberry]

But not quite. Gameslop still deserves to be put on blast. Before I went out to this PnT place I made a call to Gameslop to see what their policy is on collectors editions and limited editions are. They pretty much don't consider them as existing because "that's not part of the actual game, we only sell the game not the extras that come with it". Let's just say the discussion got pretty heated with this motherfucker cutting off every sentence I attempted. Sorry but with 3ds collectors editions and AR cards, they are most definitely part of the game and it was insulting to say the least. He admitted they trash the extras because of space and because "people only care about the game". Whatever you say hoss.

I like to collect as well as play, so I wouldn't sell to GameStop.
But it's just... not worth arguing over. I thought they were well-known for giving pretty bad trade-in deals (like worse than selling on ebay/amazon?)
Though I did buy a used Y's 7 (PSP) CE (I think that was the game) from them. Was expecting just a normal copy.



Let them know you'll also be contacting NOA Legal and Capcom's lawyers too since they're defrauding their properties
I doubt they're going to care. The repro sellers selling bootlegs of 20+ year old games probably isn't considered a wise use of their legal teams. If the PnT was even questioned, they'd probably claim they didn't know the difference.

[Az]

I'm still surprised when I hear people go to actual game stores. It's like somebody saying "I just went into this VHS rental store the other day....


Because game stores don't exist anymore and have all but disappeared....

"Guess what NES games I saw when I was in the store the other day?" is a line I haven't heard in real life in probably 30 years, I find it odd too once I think about it. Even with a niche hobby such as this people only mention game stores to either point out insanely high or ridiculously low prices.

[FrankSerpico]

I've never even seen a Play N' Trade. Are they a regional thing? I'm in Colorado.

[FieryReign]

"Guess what NES games I saw when I was in the store the other day?" is a line I haven't heard in real life in probably 30 years, I find it odd too once I think about it. Even with a niche hobby such as this people only mention game stores to either point out insanely high or ridiculously low prices.

Except they're not nes games. And that was the whole point, the prices of the bootlegs they're selling. Shit should be way cheaper.

[Greg2600]

Most retro game stores sell "illegal" game repros...

[Daria]

Most retro game stores sell "illegal" game repros...

Gamestop used to sell bootleg GBA carts. Nothing new here.

I liked Play n Trade when we had a couple stores in my area, but they've long since gone out of business.

[Bloodreign]

The Play N Trade here has been around 5+ years and continues to thrive. I know the owner by name and he knows mine as well as I've given his store plenty of business over the years. No bootlegs there thankfully, nor do I expect to see any. It's been my local go to place for games of old, but seems as though trade ins are few and far between there. Still manage to get some good stuff from the rarer times I get to go now.

There was a spinoff shop from a former PnT employee called Game Over (not the same franchise as those Texas game shops), he had some good shit there when he first opened (Duck Tales 2 and Chip N Dale 2 for $30 a pop loose, sure why not, I bought em, and SNES Mr Do for $7 loose), I bought a lot from him for cheaper than online. But sadly he eventually folded up his tent and got a managerial job with a local Gamestop store.

[SparTonberry]

Gamestop used to sell bootleg GBA carts. Nothing new here.

I liked Play n Trade when we had a couple stores in my area, but they've long since gone out of business.

I bought one before. I just took it back and told them like "It's not working for me. Sorry, but I think it's a bootleg." and they exchanged it for a different copy that I believe legit.
(was a Pokemon game but I'll give them them credit it at least looked like a real copy as all the information like the ESRB logo, etc. was there but positioned differently than a real copy. So it's understandable how they could mistake it.)

[Einzelherz]

Yeah there are tons of bootleg pokemon and final fantasy GBA games. I don't know that I can blame minimum wage college kids for accepting them.

Recently the local Vintage Stock stores have started selling repros labeled as such for $50, which to me seems as legitimate as it can be.

[Gameguy]

"Guess what NES games I saw when I was in the store the other day?" is a line I haven't heard in real life in probably 30 years, I find it odd too once I think about it. Even with a niche hobby such as this people only mention game stores to either point out insanely high or ridiculously low prices.
Exactly. Game stores made sense back before the internet was common, back when the only ways you could sell something was at a garage sale or through a paid newspaper classified ad, or directly to family/co-workers/friends that you knew personally. Or if you were looking for a specific title, you'd go to a store because you wouldn't know how to find someone who had a copy they wanted to sell. Stores were the middlemen providing a useful service. Today you can easily sell your stuff yourself for full value either online or through free classifieds, you can find anything you want at almost anytime online, you can order obscure rare items brand new online. There's very little reason to travel across town to visit a store anymore when the services they provide are basically obsolete, especially when their pricing is far beyond what's competitive.


Sometimes shit hits the fan and you have to shop your things around seeing what all of your options are.
If you're desperate for cash, instead of selling a game for full price on ebay(let's say for $20), you'll sell it to a store for $3-$5 instead? The Gamestops near me don't even pay cash for games, they only offer trade credit. I know people do this especially with pawn shops, but this is why so many people are also struggling for cash on a regular basis. Buy things at full retail rather than shopping around or waiting for a price drop, trade them in for pennies or just trash it as it's easier than selling yourself, repeat the process as you head to the payday loan shop.

I don't usually think of Gamestop as a game store, mostly because they only sell modern games and now cell phones and other non-games. It's like thinking McDonalds as a restaurant, it's a place that sells food but so does a gas station like 7-11.

[Steve W]

I've never even seen a Play N' Trade. Are they a regional thing? I'm in Colorado.

Not regional really, they're all over the place. Play N' Trade comes across as a good way for a person/group who want to open their own game store to get a solid start. All Play N' Trade stores are kind of independent since they're all licensed. But from what I've heard they don't give stores as much help as they need and keep raising the yearly prices on the license, eventually forcing them to go under or drop the license and do it on their own. Which is why Play N' Trade stores have such a short lifespan, they only stick around for a few years before they're forced to close because their sales don't go up as high as the license requires.


There was a spinoff shop from a former PnT employee called Game Over (not the same franchise as those Texas game shops), he had some good shit there when he first opened (Duck Tales 2 and Chip N Dale 2 for $30 a pop loose, sure why not, I bought em, and SNES Mr Do for $7 loose), I bought a lot from him for cheaper than online. But sadly he eventually folded up his tent and got a managerial job with a local Gamestop store.

I wondered what happened to that store. Last year I had the chance to go to Lafayette and was bummed out that the Game Over store was gone. I liked that place, the couple of times I was able to visit it. And I'm shocked that the Play N' Trade is still there, honestly. They normally don't last that long. There aren't a lot of retro game stores in Louisiana outside New Orleans, so it's sad when one closes. On the plus side, a new GameXchange has opened up in Alexandria. But on the minus side, by the time I find out about Next Player Video Games on Google Maps over in Jennings it turns out it's closed.

How's Buy Backs? I wanted to hit the place last year when I was in town but didn't get the chance. How's their pre-NES game selection?

[Bloodreign]

Not regional really, they're all over the place. Play N' Trade comes across as a good way for a person/group who want to open their own game store to get a solid start. All Play N' Trade stores are kind of independent since they're all licensed. But from what I've heard they don't give stores as much help as they need and keep raising the yearly prices on the license, eventually forcing them to go under or drop the license and do it on their own. Which is why Play N' Trade stores have such a short lifespan, they only stick around for a few years before they're forced to close because their sales don't go up as high as the license requires.



I wondered what happened to that store. Last year I had the chance to go to Lafayette and was bummed out that the Game Over store was gone. I liked that place, the couple of times I was able to visit it. And I'm shocked that the Play N' Trade is still there, honestly. They normally don't last that long. There aren't a lot of retro game stores in Louisiana outside New Orleans, so it's sad when one closes. On the plus side, a new GameXchange has opened up in Alexandria. But on the minus side, by the time I find out about Next Player Video Games on Google Maps over in Jennings it turns out it's closed.

How's Buy Backs? I wanted to hit the place last year when I was in town but didn't get the chance. How's their pre-NES game selection?

PnT used to get a lot of purchases from me, sadly I have slowed my visits as prices have gone up on things, that and they never seem to get any imports in, some Game Over thrived at at times. PnT has changed locations only once, closer to my workplace, every now and again they'll get something good come in (like Saturn games, but Area 51 and Tetris Plus being near $20 a pop has made me not touch those considering I have both on the PS1).

Dom was the cat that ran Game Over, he'd get his stock at first from Estarland, PnT got theirs from a little lady at a weekend swap meet (she gets her stuff from Florida she once told me, she is also horribly overpriced on even some common things these days). Game Over survived one move back into Lafayette from outside the city (where you visited them on your trip, and where I spent oodles of cash when they first opened), no longer got stock from e-Staland , and eventually the dude gave up. Really hit me in the gut that the one place I could count on for retrogames popping up in, including imports, went belly up.

(Side Note: Oh the memories of finding and buying KoF Neowave PS2 and Rockman Complete works 5 from there, but stupidly passing on a Rockman X3 on the PS 1 there still haunts me/makes me feel good these days. Encountered KoF Nests Saga for the PS2 there, $50 for a reprint version passed on it, few years later Amazon surprised me with a $30 first print issue listing I immediately jumped on, glad I waited on that one.)


As for Buy Back, they are very very hit and miss, and not always a bright staff working there. They once wanted $59.99 for a copy of the first Rescue Rangers. When I saw it, I made the girl working the counter immediately check ebay to see their error, she immediately pulled the cart off the display, said oops, put it in a drawer. Not sure if they ever repriced it to what it should sell for, or got some dumb sucker to pay $60 for the first game. Never seen anything truly hard to find there, have bought very few games from them unless it was something common that I wanted (like NES Prince of Persia, that damned thing never popped up anywhere else before then, or after). They tended to get stuff in I had trouble finding AFTER I already had bought the game online. They literally though have no pre-NES selection at all, they don't even have Gameboy stuff to buy which disappoints me.

[Steve W]

As for Buy Back, they are very very hit and miss, and not always a bright staff working there. They once wanted $59.99 for a copy of the first Rescue Rangers. When I saw it, I made the girl working the counter immediately check ebay to see their error, she immediately pulled the cart off the display, said oops, put it in a drawer. Not sure if they ever repriced it to what it should sell for, or got some dumb sucker to pay $60 for the first game. Never seen anything truly hard to find there, have bought very few games from them unless it was something common that I wanted (like NES Prince of Persia, that damned thing never popped up anywhere else before then, or after). They tended to get stuff in I had trouble finding AFTER I already had bought the game online. They literally though have no pre-NES selection at all, they don't even have Gameboy stuff to buy which disappoints me.

Dang, that sucks. I was bummed that I forgot to go there last time I drove through town - instead of hanging out in Lafayette last year I decided to make the drive to Baton Rouge and check out the game stores there and didn't find anything good. I guess it wasn't that big of a loss then. My nerd-liness, my nerd-itude, my nerd-errificness, has always been in the era that I fell in love with gaming, the pre-NES era, and it's always sad when a retro game store doesn't stock very much from that time period. I will go through phases where I'll collect stuff like Genesis games or Xbox games, but I always go back to Atari systems. It's the first thing I look for when I go into a new game store.


Play N' Trade stores always make the task of constructing a map of retro game stores so difficult. They tend to come and go so quickly. Somebody here put together a Google Map of game stores many years back, I'm sure most of those locations are long since gone. It'd be kind of nice if somebody revived the idea, and then kept revising it to keep it up to date. Maybe a crowdsourced mapping project is something everybody on this forum can contribute to.