'Tis the season for the best deals from the best friend CAG has ever had: GameRush, the gaming division of Blockbuster Video. Since GameRush currently has such hot deals going on, and since I have already exploited the crap out of them, I thought I'd give those of you newer to CAG'ing (and I admit that many of you are quite good; this is for the newbs) a quick round up of GameRush tendencies, and how best to exploit them. For the record, I am the proud owner of 37 Xbox and PS2 titles (including recent winners such as GTA:SA, Halo 2, X-Men Legends, Full Spectrum Warrior, Burnout 3, Ghost Recon 2, Dead of Alive Ultimate, etc.) Most of them I have gotten through GameRush, and at very little cash cost to me.
First, a bit on the best deal in town (I'm in DFW by the way, where Blockbuster is based). If you trade in any 3 used titles, you can get one of their used titles for 9.99, in addition to the credit that would ordinarily be gained from your trade-ins in the first place. Usually this will net you a solid title for about 5.00, depending on which trade-ins you buy (I recommend non-sports PS2 titles, available at your local Gamestop or online...my reasoning is below.)
Whether Game Rush knows it or not (and I'm sure they do), they have created an infinite credit loop with this deal. :shock: All one needs is a small initial investment, several nearby locations, and some spare time. Here's how it works.
1. Buy 10 cheapies for trade in ($40-ish if you're lucky). Use 6 of them to trade for 2 of GameRush's high dollar ($45) games. You can see which ones are the most valuable to GameRush by checking their board near the front of the store. Make sure your titles will net you $35 from them when you trade them in (currently these are Fable, Halo 2, GTA, Star Wars: Battleground, MK: Deception; of these, MK, Fable, and StarWars are easy to find...) This will leave you with 4 of your crappy games left and 2 new ones.
2. Take your 6 new, expensive games to another Blockbuster locations immediately, and trade them, using the exact same 3=1 for $9.99 deal. You'll get the credit, as well as two new games, which you may either sell at another location (earning you about $120 total off of your initial $40-ish) or use them + some other crappy games to keep the process going elsewhere.
3. Repeat until you are thoroughly ashamed of yourself and hated by Blockbuster employees in your community. Or you may simply play your 2 or so new games and be happy, mission accomplished.
Okay, now for info that maybe not all CAG'ers know...How long can one get away with this?
A long time. Here are the limits of Game Rush's ability to stop you...
1. At any given store, they will have no record on your account of your purchases/trades from another store. As far as each Game Rush manager knows, the first time he sees you is the first time you've traded ever. I've learned this through trial and error, and there is one exception...
2. If you make enough of an ass of yourself to be considered a "dealer" as opposed to a customer, the store that you annoyed can make a manual addition to your account (like a note which says: "Beware: Dealer", which will show you for what you are at (as far as I know) every Blockbuster where you use your membership (and yes, you must use your membership in trades, but NOT in purchases, though they'd like you to...). This happened to me last summer, but after 3 months of reduced activity, the message disappeared (or was manually removed; I don't know).
3. As of 11-23-04, many of my Blockbusters started excercising the "Manager's Option" to disallow sports titles and even PSOne titles from trades. This happened so suddenly, vehemently, and consistently that I believe it was a corporate "Okay" for them to do so. Likely managers complained and Corporate listened, but it was too late to take back the deal, so this is their compromise. The workarounds? A) Don't trade sports titles. GTA3, Metal Gear 2, Fantavision, etc. are all cheap at Gamestop. Use those. B) Dangle a carrot. In the 3 for 1, my managers were much happier to take my Madden 2001 if it was paired with a Fantavision and a (gasp!) GTA:SA. C) For PSOne titles, it only took me a polite, inquiring reminder that their flyer says they're part of the deal. Push a little bit if you're still being denied, but not too much. You're getting them good enough as it is.
4. Other than that, a manager who is super-sick of you can ban you. It's never happened to me, as I am polite and don't push it. I also go at all different hours (GR is open 'til midnight, y'know). Also, take the time to go to different locations. Blockbuster managers are usually NOT interested in the big picture; they care far more about their individual store's success than that of the company, and you can generally count on that when you're selling one GR's game to another, so long as you're not blatant about it.
Well, I guess that's it. The rest is commonsensical (i.e. remove stickers from game boxes, and if you can't, trade in just the game and manual...). Also, don't go excessive. I know I have gotten a lot of games at their expense, but bear in mind that this was over 6 months and 7 store locations. Let me know if you've got any questions, and happy hunting.
First, a bit on the best deal in town (I'm in DFW by the way, where Blockbuster is based). If you trade in any 3 used titles, you can get one of their used titles for 9.99, in addition to the credit that would ordinarily be gained from your trade-ins in the first place. Usually this will net you a solid title for about 5.00, depending on which trade-ins you buy (I recommend non-sports PS2 titles, available at your local Gamestop or online...my reasoning is below.)
Whether Game Rush knows it or not (and I'm sure they do), they have created an infinite credit loop with this deal. :shock: All one needs is a small initial investment, several nearby locations, and some spare time. Here's how it works.
1. Buy 10 cheapies for trade in ($40-ish if you're lucky). Use 6 of them to trade for 2 of GameRush's high dollar ($45) games. You can see which ones are the most valuable to GameRush by checking their board near the front of the store. Make sure your titles will net you $35 from them when you trade them in (currently these are Fable, Halo 2, GTA, Star Wars: Battleground, MK: Deception; of these, MK, Fable, and StarWars are easy to find...) This will leave you with 4 of your crappy games left and 2 new ones.
2. Take your 6 new, expensive games to another Blockbuster locations immediately, and trade them, using the exact same 3=1 for $9.99 deal. You'll get the credit, as well as two new games, which you may either sell at another location (earning you about $120 total off of your initial $40-ish) or use them + some other crappy games to keep the process going elsewhere.
3. Repeat until you are thoroughly ashamed of yourself and hated by Blockbuster employees in your community. Or you may simply play your 2 or so new games and be happy, mission accomplished.
Okay, now for info that maybe not all CAG'ers know...How long can one get away with this?
A long time. Here are the limits of Game Rush's ability to stop you...
1. At any given store, they will have no record on your account of your purchases/trades from another store. As far as each Game Rush manager knows, the first time he sees you is the first time you've traded ever. I've learned this through trial and error, and there is one exception...
2. If you make enough of an ass of yourself to be considered a "dealer" as opposed to a customer, the store that you annoyed can make a manual addition to your account (like a note which says: "Beware: Dealer", which will show you for what you are at (as far as I know) every Blockbuster where you use your membership (and yes, you must use your membership in trades, but NOT in purchases, though they'd like you to...). This happened to me last summer, but after 3 months of reduced activity, the message disappeared (or was manually removed; I don't know).
3. As of 11-23-04, many of my Blockbusters started excercising the "Manager's Option" to disallow sports titles and even PSOne titles from trades. This happened so suddenly, vehemently, and consistently that I believe it was a corporate "Okay" for them to do so. Likely managers complained and Corporate listened, but it was too late to take back the deal, so this is their compromise. The workarounds? A) Don't trade sports titles. GTA3, Metal Gear 2, Fantavision, etc. are all cheap at Gamestop. Use those. B) Dangle a carrot. In the 3 for 1, my managers were much happier to take my Madden 2001 if it was paired with a Fantavision and a (gasp!) GTA:SA. C) For PSOne titles, it only took me a polite, inquiring reminder that their flyer says they're part of the deal. Push a little bit if you're still being denied, but not too much. You're getting them good enough as it is.
4. Other than that, a manager who is super-sick of you can ban you. It's never happened to me, as I am polite and don't push it. I also go at all different hours (GR is open 'til midnight, y'know). Also, take the time to go to different locations. Blockbuster managers are usually NOT interested in the big picture; they care far more about their individual store's success than that of the company, and you can generally count on that when you're selling one GR's game to another, so long as you're not blatant about it.
Well, I guess that's it. The rest is commonsensical (i.e. remove stickers from game boxes, and if you can't, trade in just the game and manual...). Also, don't go excessive. I know I have gotten a lot of games at their expense, but bear in mind that this was over 6 months and 7 store locations. Let me know if you've got any questions, and happy hunting.
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