It might be the first time in history that a game store was the subject of a large-scale heist. Trade-N-Games, located in Fenton Missouri and founded in 2002, was the unfortunate target of a robbery earlier today, that would see an estimated $100,000 worth in video games stolen from the store.
"This was a straight up heist in and out stole my safe with over 150 of the most valuable games." stated store owner Jason Brassard. "That's all they took! If you have been to the store, seen my videos like the big unboxing of graded games that's what was taken plus many more."
The unboxing videos refer to the stores Youtube channel, where Brassard is shown unboxing the collection of games - all officially graded for quality from WATA Games with certification- to the public a few months ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX7XK7Wn-Pw
Almost all 150 games stolen were complete in-box versions of some of the rarest games on the market, spanning eight different systems from the Atari 2600 to the Sega CD. Brassard posted a list of the games found in the safe, with the biggest loss likely to be the rare NES game Stadium Events, complete with both the cart and manual now stolen. Considered one of the rares NES titles ever made due to an extremely limited print run (200 copies), the last copy to come up for auction sold for $35,000 in 2015. Other rare games included a complete copy of Little Sampson, estimated to be worth over $4,000, and Cheetahmen 2, which is has sold in the past anywhere between $10-$20,000. Some rare Nintendo test cartridges were also stolen from the safe, including a NES Joystick test cart and a NES Power Pad test cart.
Other well-known games lost from the heist include the Sega CD game Snatcher, Captain Novolin and Super Noah's Ark 3D on the Super Nintendo, and Tank Command on the Atari 7800. Brassard noted that the safe itself was a 5 foot tall, 3-foot wide slab that was around 500 pounds empty. He believes that the safe was specifically targeted, as no other items in his inventory were taken.
Beyond several being seen in videos or Instagram after he had sent them to be graded with Wata Games, many of Jason's games were previously pictured in the book he wrote about identifying and valuing 80s video games. The games for Atari systems made up about 60 of the titles, while there were a couple of Colecovision ones as well that were in the book.
"I have insurance but this is next level folks." Brassard stated on his Facebook post. "I had [an] alarm and response was 5 min from police. No one [was] caught. I'm not doing too good right now, but I'm able to get the store open as normal."
Many fans of Trade-N-Games in the local Missouri area, along with fans online, have expressed support to Brassard over the theft. The Missouri Game Con, MO Game Con, is also offering a $2,500 reward on any information in regards to the heist, according to their twitter feed. This is from a $1000 offering they put in, along with other donations from local collectors.
Currently, there are no leads into the robbery, but the investigation is currently ongoing at this time.
What are your thoughts on this story? Have you ever been to Trade-N-Games? Do you collect rare games? If you have any information on the heist, be sure to contact Brassard or local authorities. Leave your comments below.
