Games A Plunder

Games A Plunder is a card and game store in Cobleskill, New York, with Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and One Piece Card Game singles in stock, plus Warhammer, Dungeons & Dragons products and pre-owned video games. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, runs a Friday night Magic event, and buys cards from sellers, so it suits players looking for singles and a weekly game as much as collectors with a binder to move.

What's on the shelves

Singles are the core of the card side. The store carries Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, One Piece Card Game and Yu-Gi-Oh! singles, and each game has its own searchable stock. Cards are graded on a five-step scale of Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played and Damaged. Near Mint means a card that looks fresh out of the pack, with an unmarked surface and crisp corners. Lightly Played cards can show slight border or corner wear or minor scratches, with fewer than four total flaws.

Beyond cards, the store sells Warhammer products, including Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer Underworlds, along with a full range of Citadel paints (base, layer, contrast, dry, shade, spray, technical and air) and glue. Dungeons & Dragons books and miniatures are stocked, as are board games, among them Cards Against Humanity. Warhammer customers can order by the following Tuesday at 1 PM for a Sunday preview by texting the store.

Video games are a real part of the inventory too. They are pre-owned unless marked otherwise, and disc-based titles come with their case and cover. Discs are resurfaced before sale if needed, and cases may be replacements or carry stickers. Newer console games carry no country code restrictions, so some discs or cartridges may come from other regions, though that applies only to games that work on NTSC consoles. Retro cartridges come as the cartridge alone unless specified.

Weekly play

Friday is the one fixed night on the calendar, and it follows a store day that already runs an hour later than the rest of the week.

Selling your cards

The store buys singles through a buylist system. Sellers sort their cards, list them in the order they will be shipped or dropped off, and choose cash or store credit when submitting. Buylists must reach the store within 7 business days or may be cancelled. Cards that arrive out of order can be delayed, with a fee of up to 15% of the total, and the store may reject an order outright.

A few firm limits apply:

• Non-English cards are not accepted.
• Oversized cards, basic lands and art cards are not purchased.
• Singles are not bought until 7 days after a set's release date, or until 7 days after a card is added to a ban or restricted list.
• Counterfeit, proxy and fake cards are not returned and earn no cash or credit.

Staff check each card's condition on arrival, and prices change with market value and current stock, so buylist prices are not a firm offer. Payouts go out once the list has been received and checked: cash is held at the store or paid by PayPal (with PayPal fees deducted), and store credit is deposited to the seller's account. Sellers cover their own shipping, including return shipping, and the store recommends boxes made for trading cards and tracked, insured shipping.

Hours and getting there

The store is at 555 Main St in Cobleskill, NY 12043, a stop on the same street as the comic shop a few doors away.

The local scene

Flashback Comics is also in Cobleskill, about 0.1 miles away, which makes a short walk between the two. Turnpike Hobby in Sharon Springs is about 9.9 miles from Games A Plunder.