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Prelude

I was out shopping for some games for my new Wii the other day. Since we really enjoy the “fun” aspect of the gaming console (especially when it comes to playing it with our young grandsons,) I was looking for something that gave us “more of the same.” I had decided the package “Game Party” as it contains a wonderful combination of games ( darts, shuffleboard, etc.)

I live in a fairly large city. So, imagine my surprise when I could not find it in any of the stores here in town! I even checked on-line and found that none of the large box and online suppliers had it available in stock. I then checked out the used game market, hoping that someone may have “tired” of the game and put it out for resale…

Opportunity Missed

Alas, no… There was none to be had. But I stumbled across several “used copies” of another game that intrigued me, “Star Trek Conquest”. They were asking $19 for them… Well I’m a big fan of Science Fiction turn based strategy games AND Star Trek and this seemed to cover the best of both worlds, except I don’t like buying a game without first researching it and so I went home to do that first.

It didn’t take long to find several reviews on the game, all positive and what surprised me even more, was that the game was originally sold for $15! I thought that the $19 was a little high, but close enough for me not to worry about it. So I went back the next day to get it… only to find them all gone… and it was about to get worse – much worse…

Final Costs

I did find one copy locally, hidden in the back of a small Wii section of games for sale at the local video store. They were asking $29 – and I thought it was a mis-pricing by the manager. So I went home to checked online to use some other stores prices to argue the price down…

Imagine my surprise when I found the same price on-line AND higher… This is probably the first time that I have ever seen the cost of a game “increase” due to it becoming (obviously) an unknown game that was now starting to become noticed, and the demand was driving up the price!

I decided to check back at the two stores that “had” the games on for $19 (but were now sold out) and asked if they were expecting or had other copies “in the back”. Unfortunately no – they didn’t, but they would be getting some in within the week… and the cost… $34.99!!! Ouch!

I mentioned to the clerk that I could not believe my luck in missing the lower priced items and that I was amazed to see it almost double in price after it’s first release. He agreed and then added – “yeah, I know what you mean. I bought it when it first came out for $14.99!”

Suffice to say I raced back to the video store and was relieved to see that they still had that lone copy of “Star Trek Conquest” for $29 and bought it on the spot – sigh…

I also eventually got the “Game Party” off of E-bay at a “fair” price (higher though when you add in the cost of shipping but there is still no one locally that carries it.) Of the two games I prefer the Star Trek one – it’s a really good game – however you can’t play against anyone with it and I know the other will be a hit with my grandsons.

Final score on this one?

Robin 0 Worm 1…