Twin Knights Gaming — Local services in Troy

hi! previous employee here! (just a heads up, don't go to the door under the sign, it's the door closest to the main road! not the ones by blacked out windows!!) Their biggest selling point in marketing is technically their chess (even though its primarily private events and tutoring you have to personally contact the owner/tutors about) but the part I was hired for was the Pokémon stuff; here's the highlights:

Pros: hands down best prices for ETBs and individual cards, if you're on budget come here! Owner last I knew lets you buy in bulk too, if you call ahead. Great snack selection :) Events are managed well and the play Pokémon event packs are handed out generously to participants, even those who didn't rank top three sometimes wide variety of cards, and (last I knew - I was the one who sorted them most days) SORTED BULK that you could look though. I often helped competitive Pokémon players find specific cards for their decks, something like 10-15 cents a card? Great trade-in rates for cards too, something like 50% of market value for cash, 60% if you do store credit/trade, most other places don't give as much for cards. Owner himself is a nice guy, if a bit of a hussler. If you run into him he's fun to chat with. Big guy, can't miss him. (don't call looking for him tho, he'll never answer even if he's there, staff was told to say "oh sorry he's not here rn" even if he was)

CONS: Open hours tend to vary, don't trust the website/google page, who knows what the hours are now doesn't take PSA graded cards (or any slabs/graded cards) whatsoever, they never sell well here. frequently there are shady and/or unhygienic customers so I don't recommend bringing kids ngl; Owner doesn't refuse any customer, and sometimes had shady folk come in for odd reasons? No employee discounts or benefits on products/events beyond first dibs. I was fired for calling in sick (last august?), ironically two days before I was going to quit. It was incredibly unprofessional on their part, it was a "hey sorry can't make it today, got the flu" only to get a three paragraph text of "your employment here is no longer necessary" or something like that. DON'T WORK HERE if you can, employer was late on my paycheck a number of times (like a whole paycheck rotation late) and pay was only like $11 an hour when I worked there. Didn't affect me personally since I didn't really need to care about pay all that much. Can't say the same for everyone. They're ruthless on expectations that weren't communicated clearly, although it could have just been that manager, dunno if he still...

Just started getting back into trading card games with my 5yo son, so we decided to go to Twin Knights for their Crown Zenith release party. We had a BLAST! The ticket included discounts on merch, a spin on the wheel for a free pack, a ticket for a raffle, entry to the tournament, food, drinks, and a to go gift which included 2 more packs. Well worth the entry fee. The staff was very welcoming and promoted a family friendly atmosphere. Very professional and knowledgeable. HIGHLY RECOMMEND stopping in and checking the place out and CAN’T WAIT for...

Offered the “T.O.” To roll for who had to move and was Informed that since he is the T.O he doesn’t EVER have to move and that if I don’t like it I can concede. Sadly this store doesn’t really have good people to run good tournaments. If the T.O. Is going to abuse his power like that instead of being friendly as a T.O should be. This does not bode well for the future of this game store sadly and I can’t say me and my friends will be excited to come again...