Capital Games — Attraction in Mifflin Township

DISCLAIMER: VISIT THIS SHOP!

I hate that I had to give it two stars.

It was my first time in Capital Games. I was as anxious and excited as you can be going into a store for the first time. When you walk in, you will be blown away by the selection available. Store smelled a great deal like cigarette smoke, which some people wouldn’t like.

The employees there, I didn’t get their names sadly, one of them was Andy (who got a bit upset when I commented about pricing being a bit high..more on that later), but they were incredibly friendly and helpful. The gentleman I dealt with had blond hair and tattoos, literally went above and beyond trying to help me. I truly can’t say enough about how amazing the employees there were.

The issue seemed to be with the GATEKEEPER. I believe his name was Dan. In a very “wizard-of-oz” “man-behind-the-curtain” fashion, any item in the store that I had a question about had to be ran by Dan. I honestly felt horrible for the guys working there because it seemed they couldn’t sell anything without running it by (I want to refer to him as Dan, but GateKeeper or GK feels more appropriate) GK.

So my experience was that I saw two CIB versions of the N64 Zelda games. I just purchased them in a FB group for 120 and 230 and they’re in NM condition. The two at the shop were in rougher shape and the prices were (after checking with GK) 150 and 300 respectively. Which to me is no big deal. The employees remarked they just came from GK’s personal collection so I understand the attachment.

Turns out, there’s a good chance all of the things come from GK’s personal collection. I say this because there was a Pikachu N64 that a friend of mine wanted. The employee reluctantly told me it was $360, to which my friend via FaceTime agreed to. As we are about to checkout, the employee helping me (who was truly phenomenal) wanted to check with GK because he likely didn’t want chewed out for selling something without the proper clearance. Well, turns out the price was $400, not $360. At the time my friend decided he didn’t want to pay that, he would later change his mind.

I was interested in a copy of Majora’s mask, loose. The employee advised me that there was a chip in the cartridge (which I appreciated the honesty) and I asked about price…after checking with GK it was $80. Which is $7 above going rate for a non broken version. And to be honest, I had just left forever games that is just down the road, they had the same game with a similar defect for 49.99 (for comparison). So I had to outright pass.

Then I notice my personal grail item.

Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine on the N64!

And boy was I in luck, they had 4 copies!!

One copy was missing roughly half of the front sticker, and three were in similar states with partial to complete blockbuster stickers. I inquired about price, after another GK intermission. I was quoted $80 on the jacked version and $125 each for the other three. Again, much too high. No I’ll will, business is business and those guys were truly above and beyond amazing.

On my way home, my friend changes his mind, calls me and says he will do $400. The pika hi console is rare and he is willing to bite the bullet.

I go back and update the employees and again, I can’t stress this enough. The blond gentleman and a new dark haired fella were insanely courteous and helpful letting me test the system and making sure I had everything I needed.

While setting the system up, I pull up ebay, show them a current Indiana Jones cartridge in identical condition to the three copies they had, it was selling for 89.95 with 4.99 shipping. That was one currently available that I could purchase with a click of the button (recently sold copies went for $80) I show the employees and tell them that I will pay them $95 right now for one of those copies because I would rather give my money to them than ebay. GK could do $110. So I walked.

I didn’t want to leave empty handed (sans the system for my friend). I would have spent another $500 in...

About two weeks ago, I walked in to Capital Games. The lighting was very dim, which I thought was odd. Then I noticed a layer of dust on absolutely everything. The store was filthy. I browsed for a little bit, and noticed there were no Sega Genesis titles out, which is strange, considering the fact that this is a retro game store. I asked about Genesis games, and I was told that they were "buried in the back" and if I gave them a list of what I was looking for, they could "dig through them and get back to me in a couple days." Uh, what?

So, admittedly against my better judgement, I continued to browse. I found the game Galactic Attack for the Sega Saturn. It was marked either $30.99, or $36.99, I couldn't quite read the tag. I brought it up to the counter, and inquired about the price. The employee said "Oh, the prices change so often with retro games that we don't mark them." He starts to look the game up online, right in front of me. "$75 for this. Yeah, it's up there. If this was in better shape... it would be $105." Keep in mind, that as of the time of this posting, the value of this game is between $45-55. And those are eBay prices. There are folks on Amazon and eBay ASKING more for the game, but SOLD listings dictate the true value of an item.

The thing is, I'm willing to support local businesses and pay close to eBay prices. But this was price gouging at it's worst. And honestly, with how prevalent online selling is, why wouldn't you want to offer fair prices and good customer service in a brick-and-mortar environment? I should also mention that while the employee was not outwardly rude, but I did not feel welcome at any point during my visit.

My review isn't the only one of this type on here. A message to the owner - you should be horrified at these reviews, and you should make an effort to change your business practices. I am your target demographic. I'm in my early 30's, and I finally have the money to buy all the games I couldn't afford when I was growing up. I came in from out of town, and I allow myself a decent budget for my retro gaming hobby. I would have gladly paid full market value for the game I had selected. But I certainly won't pay 40% over the fair price for the game, and honestly, how can you expect anyone else to?

This is truly the worst game store I've ever personally been in. It's going to take a lot of work to turn it around.

UPDATE: I finally saw the owner and employees in action at the CORGS game convention at the end of May. Once again, nothing was priced. They were looking up all values on the spot on smart phones. Totally unprofessional. And the truth of the matter is - they have an excellent selection of games. But I've come to realize the reason they have so many good games is because their inventory simply does not move. I spoke with other attendants of the show, and Capital Games is NOT well liked, for the aforementioned reasons.

For all of those reviewers that are surprised by the negative comments on here - why? Do you really have that low of standards when it comes to who do you do business with? This isn't just me being picky. This is a horribly run business, and I'm nowhere near the only person...

I will start out on a positive note... The only one they have... They do have an okay selection. Here are the negatives, as far as my opinion goes... 1. They don't keep up to date prices, as all used games/consoles/ etc etc change ! 2. They are not as friendly as other reviews have mentioned! (They make you feel like you are wasting their time, whether it be you're trying to grab an old game you lost, or attempting to get ahold of some awesome memories from the past), 3. I would like to reiterate that this is my experience, but.... I purchased a system, quite recently, (7/23) and was told they would track down the charger for me (and he said it would be quite easy to do so, because I asked how much he would charge for the system without the charger... He said the same price, SINCE IT WAS SO EASY TO GET THE CHARGER) Anyways, I've yet to hear back about the charger. --------- All this being said, I am able to return the system, but that's not the point. Terrible customer service and promises not being met/ kept, that's what DIDNT sell me on this store. Hope I could help someone else from choosing the wrong used gaming store !

7/31/18, still no word from them as far as my charger goes, jsyk. Don't worry, Amazon got it to me in 2 days! But also, Grant, I am not going to disclose anymore info (other than your name/ also wipe your product clean next time! Since they dont care) in order to respect your privacy, but they didn't even wipe your console clean.... (Although you should have, to reiterate, but still) you, sir, are lucky I am an honest person and didn't post posr away any of your info!!!! )To the rest of you, BEWARE THIS STORE!!!!

8/3/18 now, I just called and got a hold of the guy that actually checked me out.... He told me he would have to check with the owner..... I'm sorry, but what kind of owner could he/she be if he/she isn't doing his/her job/managing the people to do their jobs? But they'll get back to me Sunday with the charger or with an ETA of said charger... Haha, I appreciate a good joke, WHEN ITS NOT AT MY...