Several owners described the latter as a fantasy game where cards are generally more valuable, but also more niche than the Pokemon pop-culture phenomenon.īased on a mid-1990s video game where players catch and battle “pocket monsters” for which the franchise owes its name, the Pokemon brand has spun off a cartoon series, movies and merchandise including trading cards. While the first burglary targeted Pokemon cards, the second focused more on another trading card game called Magic: The Gathering, Schroeder said. Business partner Brian Tews said the second incident involved several display cases with higher-value cards worth anywhere from $30 to $600 a pop.

Taps Games co-owner Chris Larsson said his own store had been hit twice as well, once last May for about $7,000 in product, then again last October to the tune of $50,000. With little hope for police alone recovering their cards, which are generally untraceable as a factory-sealed and ungraded product, sellers said they’ve kept close contact with each other, communicating and coordinating behind the scenes to itemize, identify and investigate the reappearance of their stolen goods in the market.Ībout a week after the second burglary at Training Grounds, Reid said he received a call from Taps Games, a few kilometres southwest on Calgary Trail and 28 Avenue, where staff clocked a man trying to sell some of his cards. “At that point, I just threw in the towel.” “The last break-in was so bad that I had no stock left to sell,” he said, referring to a burglary last February that saw the store lose $80,000 worth of goods. It was a heavy hit to the business, but not the fatal blow.

The now defunct Training Grounds Gaming & Accessories store on 51 Avenue and 91 Street was first struck late in 2019 and taken for $20,000 in product - much of it Pokemon cards, former owner Josh Reid said.

Battle group 2 trading cards