Reduced Price Game Guides: Thread Eight(MODS: Please lock, Thread Nine is up)

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IAmTheCheapestGamer

IAmTheCheapestGamer

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First off, let me welcome you all to the new guide thread. Second, I'd like to ask you all to please keep conversations not pertaining to guide drops or which ones you've grabbed to a minimum to avoid cluttering the thread. It's not that I don't enjoy the chit chat, but that it may stop others from locating information on the newest drops.

That being said, let me thank Cheapy for creating this site, without which I would've spent probably 10 times what I HAVE spent on games and guides. Moreover, let me thank each and every one of my fellow CAGs for continuing to contribute to making this site a great place to find out about sales and clearances of the items we as gamers use most. Without a great community, NONE of this would be possible.

Furthermore, I would like to thank our Wiki editors HeatDolphin and Rocko for updating the Wiki. Great job.

Now, with that out of the way(and before I get to rambling), let's get on to making this new thread.

Useful Information(and links):

Game Guide Trading Clearinghouse(old one, locked now):
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102021

Game Guide Trade Thread(current one):
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175548

PLEASE keep ALL trade requests in there or PM's. Thank you.

Reduced Price Guide Discussion Thread(please keep all conversation NOT related to guide drops HERE. Thanks.): http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169252

Guide Lists:

Master Drop List(by store, alphabetically):
http://wiki.cheapassgamer.com/index.php/Category:Strategy_Guides_%28master_lists%29

Recent Guide Drops(by date):
http://wiki.cheapassgamer.com/index.php/Category:Strategy_Guides_%28recent_drops%29

What is the purpose of this thread?

The purpose of this thread is to let our fellow CAGs know when a guide has dropped to a low price(it's NOT ALWAYS A PENNY), so they can go out and grab guides for themselves and for trading with other CAGs.

Anytime you have guide drops to report, post them here. Please specify at which store you found them and which guides you found and list them in alphabetical order. Thank you.

What are penny guides?

Penny guides are guides which have been on the market for a while and the publisher(or store chain) decide that the remaining stock of these guides have little to no chance of selling, so they issue an order to pull them from the shelves and destroy them. At that time, they are also marked as .01 in their inventory system, except in the case of BBV, which marks them .01 only AFTER pulling them.

Most stores have an agreement with the publisher that states that if they destroy the remaining stock of those items, they will receive a credit for their value from the publisher. This is why many stores are usually annoyed when we CAGs come in and buy the guides AT the penny price, since otherwise they would've received a full credit for those items.

According to an employee at a local BB, they also have a recycling program for the pennied stock, so as to not clutter landfill space with the guides. As to how true it is, I cannot confirm, but I would hope that the paper is at least recycled instead of just dumpstered.

Prior Reduced price game guide threads:
Guide Three:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50515&highlight=guide
Guide Four:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1496376
Guide Five:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85976
Guide Six:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116918
Guide Seven:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131717
Guide Seven and a half:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142400

Finally, below is a list of website links, each of which goes to their respective guide page. Whenever possible, I will update the links with better ones(if available).

Amazon
B&N
BestBuy
Borders
BookPool
CircuitCity
Gamestop
Overstock
StrategyGuide.net
ToysRUs

Thanks to floormat, who did threads 3,4,5 and 6 and provided me with the links to them.

Thanks to Gwen for allowing me the honor of giving something back to CAG by doing this new guide thread. I hope you all enjoy it and it isn't TOO hard to read.
 
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Seconded on the Oblivion info. I scanned three different SKUs and none were pennied.

Picked up about 90 guides, of course the three I wanted the most:
Final Fantasy
Blue Dragon
MP3
they had none of.
 
Anyone get extras of Medal of Honor Airborne, Blue Dragon, Rachet & Clank, Manunt 2, Metroid Prime 3, Folklore, or Final Fantasy and would be willing to trade them?
 
[quote name='smaaug']I checked that one and it rang up full price. Do you have the SKU?[/QUOTE]

it is the one sticker over the upc
 
Anyone get extras of Medal of Honor Airborne, Blue Dragon, Rachet & Clank, Manunt 2, Metroid Prime 3, Folklore, or Final Fantasy and would be willing to trade them? There were huge empty spots at mine where these guides were. They were the only ones I really wanted.
 
how long do the penny guides usually last on the shelves? i'm thinking of going to BB tomorrow but i think that'll be too late.
 
Muahahaha, 5x Final Fantasy 1 guides ftw. Hoardage accomplished. :cool: They will look nice. In a box. With the 3 copies of FF2, 2 copies of FF3, 4 copies of FF4, and 3 copies of FF5 I have. :lol:
 
Massive Haul today:

Blue Dragon x6
Conan x5
Final Fantasy x5
Folklore x3
Golden Compass, The x9
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men x7
Lair x5
Heavenly Sword x3
John Woo Presents Stranglehold x4
Madden 2008 x3
Manhunt 2 x17
Medal of Honor: Airborne x8
Metroid Prime 3 x2 (spoken for, don't bother me about this one)
Need For Speed: Pro Street x3
Project Gotham Racing 4 x7
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (also spoken for, please don't ask for it)
Sims 2, The: Castaway x4
Thrillville: Off The Rails x5
Warhawk x3

And I left tons behind, too! (two stores each had another 10+ Manhunt 2's each!) Big thanks to the brave pioneers who were the first ones in the field today.
 
[quote name='United_Korea']how long do the penny guides usually last on the shelves? i'm thinking of going to BB tomorrow but i think that'll be too late.[/QUOTE]


All depends on which BB. Some pull guides the night before, others leave guides up for months.
 
[quote name='United_Korea']how long do the penny guides usually last on the shelves? i'm thinking of going to BB tomorrow but i think that'll be too late.[/QUOTE]

I'm hoping there's some still left tomorrow, as I'm going there when the store opens up. I ran out to get Blue Dragon (x2) and Folklore (x1) as soon as I saw the posts saying they were pennied. But I left too fast and I didn't see what else was pennied :lol: I have only myself to blame for that!

This is actually a good drop for me this time. Besides Folklore and Blue Dragon, there's about 8 others guides that I want.

Oh...and shameless plug: I have 1 Blue dragon guide for trade. Click the CML button....
 
[quote name='freshzen']Did anyone get Bioshock for a penny?

I had MoH: Airborne ring up as $19.99 and $0.01--same book.[/quote]

Yep, the $19.99 one has a sticker under the shrinkwrap, like we've seen with Gears of War, Shimmering Isles, etc.
 
So the sticker under the shrink-rap is one produced a little later than the ones that are pennied out?

I think I'm going to go clean up tomorrow if they are still there.... somehow I feel like I need more than 45 guides sitting around my house.
 
Man I hate living in this damn small hick town. Nearest BB is a good 30 minutes away (I know that's nothing to some people in big cities where a 10 minute drive can be an hour in traffic). But if I just lived in these other places nearby, with BB, I'd be all over drops like this.

I might go apply for a job tomorrow in a town about 15 minutes away from BB, maybe I'll go then. Is it bad that it takes penny guides to motivate me to find new work? :p
 
[quote name='Dave4086']So the sticker under the shrink-rap is one produced a little later than the ones that are pennied out?

I think I'm going to go clean up tomorrow if they are still there.... somehow I feel like I need more than 45 guides sitting around my house.[/quote]

LOL 45 guides? That's it? DAMN!!!! Talk to me when you have HUNDREDS sitting around your house. :lol::lol:



:pray: Someone, buy some? LOL I might as well do a shameless plug for my TL here, since it seems no one wants to listen bout keeping the guide trade posts to the CLEARINGHOUSE!!!!
 
^^Because of your shameless plug, I looked over your list to see if anything sparked my interest and i noticed the Super Paper Mario guides are now trade only. Looks like I got in on that one just in time, eh? :p


Also, SLIM GATSBY!!! Which stores(s) did you ransack? And by chance did you leave Folklore, RE calendar, or Strangehold around there? Hopefully if there are any guides lying around, tomorrow won't be to late....
 
LOL Yeah, for some reason I started making MANY 'TRADE ONLY', though I will admit that some should come off of that designation since they're not 1) for older games 2) for 'zomg rare' games or 3) for RPGs(in general).

However, I did learn from the prior time when I had about 12-15 RPG guides and I didn't mark them as such. It seemed like people came outta the woodwork looking for guides from me and once those guides were gone, that was it. So now, any guides for popular games are TRADE ONLY and I make some admittedly ridiculous requests for the trade of them.

As others would say, they're my main trade fodder.
 
i dont say a word when they ask. i just look at them stupid, which is not to hard, i just act like i got lucky. funny side bar to yesterdays haul i was carrying the guides and my damn pants started to fall down,(uniform pants and button fell off) but i was not putting guides down in fear i would lose one.
 
[quote name='camelking6969']i dont say a word when they ask. i just look at them stupid, which is not to hard, i just act like i got lucky. funny side bar to yesterdays haul i was carrying the guides and my damn pants started to fall down,(uniform pants and button fell off) but i was not putting guides down in fear i would lose one.[/quote]

This picture popped in my head when I read that...


 
[quote name='camelking6969']i dont say a word when they ask. i just look at them stupid, which is not to hard, i just act like i got lucky. funny side bar to yesterdays haul i was carrying the guides and my damn pants started to fall down,(uniform pants and button fell off) but i was not putting guides down in fear i would lose one.[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure I understand. You mean you take a whole bunch of different guides to the register and when they all ring up a penny you play it off like you got lucky? Don't they ask "if you got lucky and didn't know they were a penny, why did you bring 5 of the same copy?"?
 
[quote name='Ubiiquitous']"if you got lucky and didn't know they were a penny, why did you bring 5 of the same copy?"[/quote]"I know, is that some luck or what? I better go buy a lottery ticket while I'm hot!"
 
Only if I have use for any extras will I take more than one. Usually, that's an extra for a friend, or a friend of one of my kids. Unless I get lucky at one of the stores from Hell that pull guides the moment they drop. Then, I'll clean them out. But, there are a few stores that leave guides up for a while, or never pull them. Those, I respect and only take single copies. Hording guides is a problem when you have no reason to have more than one copy. They just take up lots and lots of space.
 
Dang, I got over to my BB on my lunch break today (shoulda gone yesterday--they might have pulled them at open yesterday???).

Anyway, looks like they pulled (Racine, WI) unless some picked it completely clean.

I did find a couple Thrillvilles hiding in the PC area.

Anyone interested in trading a Ratchet for Thrilliville also see my guide list:

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36138

Mostly interested in a Ratchet and perhaps Heavenly Sword
 
Damnit! I moved from a location where a BB was 5 mins away to where the nearest BB is 50 mins away.

This will be a mission failed for me.
 
Was able to score some of the recent drops at a Best Buy near me. Went to the east part of town and that Best Buy, which is always behind on pulling, actually had not one penny guide. I decided to truck it up to the north side BB figuring if any BB is caked full of lazy employees and ones that dont care this would be the one. So im gathering around 8 guides all different. I gathered 2 Super Paper Mario which were the same pennied guide from several months back and as the cashier is ringing them up, the SPM is ringing up $14.99. I told her immediately I didn't want it. She said wow this is a good sale, immediately calls a supervisor to ask if SPM was included in the 1 cent sale. He said no by her reaction and he also questioned her ringing them up and told her they weren't supposed to sell them.

He comes up and said he's not supposed to sell them but he doesnt care as we both agreed it cost BB more $$ in man hours to return these to the back (probably back on shelf again, LOL) then it would be to let me pay and walk out with them. He said it wasn't his call so he calls the on duty store manager and it's one that I have had problems with in the past as well with these guides but at a different location. She immediately grabs the guides, instructs another employee to go get the rest of them and she tells me that she's not going to be unethical and sell these to me? I advised her that they were on the shelf and so therefor she must sell them to me. She refused and said that 1 cent means to send them back. I told her that these are probably the highest profit items in their store and that there is NO WAY she is sending these anywhere as it's not cost effective. Well i guess i must know more about retail management then her as she storms away in front of customers and says "your still not getting these"

She left the area with her penny guides. She was very unprofessional and left her cashiers embarrassed as they told me they were sorry. Let's just say im glad I bought NOTHING from that store and that i had 2 children with me that required a cart that i left all the way out to the deepest part of their parking lot!

One way I know you can score these probably every time is to buy a Monster cable of some sort as if they refuse to sell the guides then, then just dont buy the monster cable. Im sure they will fold everytime as you can always return the monster cable.
 
[quote name='swolgam']He said it wasn't his call so he calls the on duty store manager and it's one that I have had problems with in the past as well with these guides but at a different location. She immediately grabs the guides, instructs another employee to go get the rest of them and she tells me that she's not going to be unethical and sell these to me? I advised her that they were on the shelf and so therefor she must sell them to me. She refused and said that 1 cent means to send them back. [/QUOTE]

The best way to handle the transaction is to bring guides up and ask the clerk to do a price check because you're "looking for ones on clearance." As they ring up at a penny you just point out (nonchalantly) that that's how they scrap them by making them a penny.

The hope is that the clerk will just ring them up without asking questions (or getting a manager). If you can normalize the situation, clerks are more likely to play along.
 
When I got my first penny guide at BB (Gears of War 360), dude was really happy to be working that day and he started shouting, "Awesome. Dude, this is just a penny. Awesome!" to . . . I don't know who, maybe the whole store or his buddies that didn't respond who knows, but he kept yelling it and was acting like it was the greatest thing in the world. I thought about punching him in the throat before he got the attention of a manager, but it seemed they were all ignoring him maybe out of habit, so I just used my most monotone voice and said, "Yeah, awesome." He is now referred to as Captain Awesome.
 
Well, I went back today and to my surprise..... they had MORE guides on display. Some ones I missed yesterday actually appeared overnight I got about 30 guides today, plus my 45 yesterday. Still only got 1 Bluedragon, folklore and H.S.

I actually had a chat with the manager (who was moderately attractive and shared the same taste in games as me, but that is beside the point). She said they were not notified of these price changes. I gladly handed over my printed off list, because she was so cool about the situation. There was a guy playing guitar hero and I offered to split my 'stash' with him, he just took an oblivion guide to my surprise.

As I was heading to check out, someone asked me how I found out about this, and why do I need that many guides.... remembering not to disclose my secrets like last time, I simply replied "The internet" to the first question, and to the second I said "Because I like to party"

All in all, a great two day stretch.
 
[quote name='Dave4086']Well, I went back today and to my surprise..... they had MORE guides on display. Some ones I missed yesterday actually appeared overnight I got about 30 guides today, plus my 45 yesterday. Still only got 1 Bluedragon, folklore and H.S.

I actually had a chat with the manager (who was moderately attractive and shared the same taste in games as me, but that is beside the point). She said they were not notified of these price changes. I gladly handed over my printed off list, because she was so cool about the situation. There was a guy playing guitar hero and I offered to split my 'stash' with him, he just took an oblivion guide to my surprise.

As I was heading to check out, someone asked me how I found out about this, and why do I need that many guides.... remembering not to disclose my secrets like last time, I simply replied "The internet" to the first question, and to the second I said "Because I like to party"

All in all, a great two day stretch.[/QUOTE]

So what are you going to do with 75 guides?? I can see 1 for you and 1 or 2 to trade, but 75?? Sucks to be another CAG in your area. They got screwed.
 
[quote name='Ubiiquitous']So what are you going to do with 75 guides?? I can see 1 for you and 1 or 2 to trade, but 75?? Sucks to be another CAG in your area. They got screwed.[/quote]

Hoarding is never looked upon well around here. I think he will learn really quickly that even if he does it, there's little value in it. Most guides are not worth the paper they're printed on. Perhaps taking an extra of a valuable guide may be worth your time. Otherwise, you'll likely figure out that even recycling them will become a chore.

More importantly, as mentioned, you just screwed over any CAGs in that area that may not have yet made it to the store.
 
First of all, I have friends that will gladly take some off my hands.

Second of all.... When I went yesterday I left one of every guide just in case anyone else wanted them.

I went back today, reckoning I had given enough time for anyone else to get what they wanted to find they had put more out there.

I think I was pretty fair about it.
 
[quote name='Dave4086']First of all, I have friends that will gladly take some off my hands.

Second of all.... When I went yesterday I left one of every guide just in case anyone else wanted them.

I went back today, reckoning I had given enough time for anyone else to get what they wanted to find they had put more out there.

I think I was pretty fair about it.[/QUOTE]

Never the less, dragon is 100% correct. For instance, at the Best Buy I went to, there were probably 10 of Manhunt 2 and Madden, and I think a few others. I got 3 of each (1 for me and 2 to trade). Even if the remaining 7 are still there today, I'm still going to leave them be for 2 reasons: 1) there still may be a fellow CAG or gamer who might not catch wind of it for a while, or may not even be familiar with CAG to know. In fact, there there is a fellow CAG on here who frequents the same Best Buy. 2) If I were to take all 10 and wind up with 75 total of everything, they're just going to sit in my closet, wasting space and then I'm going to have a devil of a time getting rid of them.

To me, it's just like going to an all-you-can-eat buffet with someone who gets 5 plates of food from the buffet and winds up eating half a plate. Sure, you can do it, but it's unfair to the other patrons and a waste.
 
It is safe to say that none of them will collect dust... and I think the most of one guide I got was 6. That was because they had 14 of them (Thrillville).

I gave my mom 4 to take to the school she works at to see if any of the teachers kids had the game. I kept two. I'm done defending myself, call me a hoarder I don't care.

Just thought I would share my experience.
 
I went to BB in paramus (rt 17) today and found everything I needed, plus more.

Warhawk
Folklore
Lair
Heavenly Sword
Stranglehold
Spiderman FOF
Manhunt 2
Oblivion

They had plenty of copies of each
 
[quote name='Dave4086']It is safe to say that none of them will collect dust... and I think the most of one guide I got was 6. That was because they had 14 of them (Thrillville).

I gave my mom 4 to take to the school she works at to see if any of the teachers kids had the game. I kept two. I'm done defending myself, call me a hoarder I don't care.

Just thought I would share my experience.[/QUOTE]

How about being really cool and sending me a Ratchet guide? I'll paypal you a few dollars for postage.
 
Honestly? I'd rather see one CAG get them all and distribute them throughout the CAG community than have them pulled or, even worse, destroyed. What a waste.
 
[quote name='Dave4086']...and to the second I said "Because I like to party"[/quote]

LMAO. I can just imagine you snorting coke with loud music blasting in the background as you throw your penny guides in the air. Your riffling through a Final Fantasy guide, screaming, "Chocobos!"

Actually, who needs the drugs when you have penny guides?
penny_guide_anti_drug.png
 
I think I am missing something here. I went to my local BB and they had tons of guides, but they all were for reg price. How do I get one cents guides ?
 
We all learn in time that hoarding guides is pretty ignorant. Nobody will ever want a lot any of these guides. Even Half Price Books only gives about $5 per large box. I used to grab one each of whatever guides they had per store. Now I only get 1 each of the ones I want, and maybe a few extra if it's a good console RPG, LE, or first party Nintendo guide.

And I still have too many guides and a 3-foot stack or semi-undesirables I've been too lazy to take to HPB or the dumpster. :roll:
 
[quote name='Ubiiquitous']Never the less, dragon is 100% correct. For instance, at the Best Buy I went to, there were probably 10 of Manhunt 2 and Madden, and I think a few others. I got 3 of each (1 for me and 2 to trade). Even if the remaining 7 are still there today, I'm still going to leave them be for 2 reasons: 1) there still may be a fellow CAG or gamer who might not catch wind of it for a while, or may not even be familiar with CAG to know. In fact, there there is a fellow CAG on here who frequents the same Best Buy. 2) If I were to take all 10 and wind up with 75 total of everything, they're just going to sit in my closet, wasting space and then I'm going to have a devil of a time getting rid of them.

To me, it's just like going to an all-you-can-eat buffet with someone who gets 5 plates of food from the buffet and winds up eating half a plate. Sure, you can do it, but it's unfair to the other patrons and a waste.[/quote]Speaking of that best buy, did the guy who rang you up think your purchasing guides for pennies was "AWESOME!" Seriously though, did they have any Oblivion guides? I saw ONE at the other BB I was at and when I came back to the bin after browsing other areas I didn't pick it up like a stooge. Would go perfectly with the 9.90 Oblivion CE I snagged at TRU for one of my best friends who's sick and will need a time chewing game to play to pass the time.
 
The girl checking me out today asked if they had any .01 WoW guides. I said I didn't think so (I knew they didn't). She thought it was pretty cool, but not as much as the first day with the young guy who rang me up. His eyes got wider and wider every time .01 rang up on the register.
 
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