Reduced Price Game Guides: Thread Nine

Status
Not open for further replies.
IAmTheCheapestGamer

IAmTheCheapestGamer

Banned
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(KEEP ALL TRADE REQUESTS HERE OR IN PM'S)
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(KEEP ALL DISCUSSION NOT RELATED TO GUIDE DROPS HERE!!!)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169252

Guide Lists(master drop lists and recent drops):

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

Recent Guide Drops(by date,also check the second post in this thread):
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
Guide Eight:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167157

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
Barnes&Noble
BestBuy
BookPool
CircuitCity
Gamestop
Overstock
StrategyGuides.net
ToysRUs

Thanks to floormat, Guinavere and anyone else who has created and maintained the guide thread before, as well as to all of those who find out either advance information on drops or provide a list of which ones dropped when we do have a drop.

The post below this one contains a list going back at LEAST six months of the more current guide drops, which stores they occured at and which ones dropped. Note that sometimes(Oblivion guide, Quake Wars: Enemy Territory)there are multiple versions of a guide, be it that there are Prima versions, Brady versions and the occasional Nintendo and Doublejump guides.

Please specify WHICH version has dropped when mentioning possible guide drops. Thank you.


 
Last edited by a moderator:
Upvote 0 Downvote
[quote name='Caliburn']Stopped by one CC and scored the following multiple guides as still in-system...

Yoshi's Island DS
Tomb Raider Anniversary

Passed on Madden 08. Splinter Cell: Double Agent rang up as sell with system/bundle max, and the clerk wouldn't budge (nor did I care much for them), and Army of Two rang up as Not in System... didn't care much for that, but I'm happy for what I got.[/quote]

Ok, if it does not ring up and it is a Prima guide, use PRI and the 13 digits of the ISBN barcode. Not the UPC.
 
[quote name='KABUKISTAR']Its Monday, and Im going to BB today. What guides should I check?[/quote]

The favorites to penny out are:

Army of Two
Orange Box
Mass Effect
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (tan hardcover)
Pirates of the Burning Sea
Assassin's Creed
Final Fantasy XII
Crysis

There might be a few more.
 
[quote name='GuardianE']The favorites to penny out are:

Army of Two
Orange Box
Mass Effect
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (tan hardcover)
Pirates of the Burning Sea
Assassin's Creed
Final Fantasy XII
Crysis

There might be a few more.[/quote]
Assassin's Creed, Crysis, FFXII, Mass Effect, and Orange Box are all still on the BB website, so those are probably a no-go. Same with Fire Emblem.
 
[quote name='KABUKISTAR']Assassin's Creed, Crysis, FFXII, Mass Effect, and Orange Box are all still on the BB website, so those are probably a no-go. Same with Fire Emblem.[/quote]


We've had instances though where penny guides were still listed online but simply "Sold Out Online" like Orange Box is now. And the Assassin's Creed limited edition is not listed online, so we don't know when that one will drop.

Thanks for checking, guys. I was really hoping for some drops today.
 
Everything at my CC worked, except for ARmy of Two.

Wouldnt scan for some reason, and there was a huge line behind me.

Girlfriend picked up a viva pinata, super papaer mario, and something else. She was happy.
 
I stopped in FYE earlier while out to mail a guide out and I checked 3 older guides(Copyright on the back cover is usually a decent indicator IF the guide may be pennied, these were all 2006).

Resistance: Fall Of Man-full price
Splinter Cell: Double Agent-full price
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom- one penny

However, the manager(who worked prior at a Gamestop in the same mall)said he 'couldn't sell it to me'. I didn't press the issue. I told them I found out that stores 'clearance' guides from 'the net'. He told me that I 'heard wrong'.

The only other guides I've ever heard of pennying from FYE are:

GTA Double Pack(PS2 version)- covers GTA III and Vice City
Psi-Ops(PS2/Xbox)-picked this one up personally in NY someplace a LOOOOONG time ago

Although, I will say that it's a safe bet that any guide older than a year or two old SHOULD be .01. Don't quote me on that though. Do we have anyone who works for FYE/Transworld on CAG, so we might have a source?

Just like Circuit City, getting guides from FYE is an EXTREME YMMV, especially if a manager is the one price checking them for you.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I stopped in FYE earlier while out to mail a guide out and I checked 3 older guides(Copyright on the back cover is usually a decent indicator IF the guide may be pennied, these were all 2006).

Resistance: Fall Of Man-full price
Splinter Cell: Double Agent-full price
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom- one penny

However, the manager(who worked prior at a Gamestop in the same mall)said he 'couldn't sell it to me'. I didn't press the issue. I told them I found out that stores 'clearance' guides from 'the net'. He told me that I 'heard wrong'.

The only other guides I've ever heard of pennying from FYE are:

GTA Double Pack(PS2 version)- covers GTA III and Vice City
Psi-Ops(PS2/Xbox)-picked this one up personally in NY someplace a LOOOOONG time ago

Although, I will say that it's a safe bet that any guide older than a year or two old SHOULD be .01. Don't quote me on that though. Do we have anyone who works for FYE/Transworld on CAG, so we might have a source?

Just like Circuit City, getting guides from FYE is an EXTREME YMMV, especially if a manager is the one price checking them for you.[/quote] Does Transworld sell games? I thought it was a DVD store and never looked inside. There's one like a few miles away.
 
Of the FYE's here, one closed up shop and at the other an employee told me they discontinued their games section as of 08/01/08.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
OK, my last last pickup for this drop:

New Super Mario Bros
Rogue Galaxy! :D

Rogue wouldn't scan and didn't come up in their system so on my receipt they listed it as "Service Labor."
 
[quote name='darkslime']Does Transworld sell games? I thought it was a DVD store and never looked inside. There's one like a few miles away.[/quote]

It depends, some of them stopped selling games, while others still sell them. If you get lucky, you can find harder to find games at their chains that Gamestop gouges on, like I found Futurama for Xbox for $15 at the one store here. They want twice that($29.99) @ Gamestop.

Of the local ones, one stopped selling games altogether, while the other two still sell/buy them. I believe there was a thread about which stores were discontinuing their game sections a while ago on here.
 
Totally got blocked at CC today. Cashier was going to let me, then this other cashier slacking off in customer service got wicked nosy at the 6 guides (one of each I saw) on the counter and started asking questions about the price. She did everything in her power to stop it. She called the manager, who refused to leave the break room or respond, and she took it upon herself to go to the other side of the store to complain. She came back and said they had to be marked to the price on the back cover. I pointed out that they were being discounted anyways with a sticker price. She didn't really even wanna give me the guides for that price. After 20 minutes of stupid games and arguing, I just told her I didn't want them. She got all pissed at me and said "then why bring them up if you don't wanna pay full price?" I just told her, "I was prepared to pay the discounted price they were stickered (some were marked $11 instead of 19.99), but if they're really coming up as a penny in the system then I'm not gonna get ripped off because you personally feel like I should pay more." I just bought the other stuff I was getting and left. They're only penny guides, but I'm just pissed at how she was...

It's the only time I've been stopped from getting guides. Complete 180 from my experience with BB and GS.
 
[quote name='Antic']Totally got blocked at CC today. Cashier was going to let me, then this other cashier slacking off in customer service got wicked nosy at the 6 guides (one of each I saw) on the counter and started asking questions about the price. She did everything in her power to stop it. She called the manager, who refused to leave the break room or respond, and she took it upon herself to go to the other side of the store to complain. She came back and said they had to be marked to the price on the back cover. I pointed out that they were being discounted anyways with a sticker price. She didn't really even wanna give me the guides for that price. After 20 minutes of stupid games and arguing, I just told her I didn't want them. She got all pissed at me and said "then why bring them up if you don't wanna pay full price?" I just told her, "I was prepared to pay the discounted price they were stickered (some were marked $11 instead of 19.99), but if they're really coming up as a penny in the system then I'm not gonna get ripped off because you personally feel like I should pay more." I just bought the other stuff I was getting and left. They're only penny guides, but I'm just pissed at how she was...

It's the only time I've been stopped from getting guides. Complete 180 from my experience with BB and GS.[/quote]

Sorry to hear that. I've had nothing but good with CC and BB with guides so far, mostly because the front lane cashiers dont care about the price, I just tell them "Its on clearence" and they buy it. They're more confused than suspicious. It seems like this employee just had it out for you, more likely that not they might end up back on the shelf, might wanna try again later when she's not around.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']
Although, I will say that it's a safe bet that any guide older than a year or two old SHOULD be .01. Don't quote me on that though. Do we have anyone who works for FYE/Transworld on CAG, so we might have a source?

Just like Circuit City, getting guides from FYE is an EXTREME YMMV, especially if a manager is the one price checking them for you.[/QUOTE]

Have you tried scanning the UPC from the guide on the CD listening station? I use that to check prices on games at FYE. If it works for guides, it would be easier then asking for price checks.
 
[quote name='Antic']Totally got blocked at CC today. Cashier was going to let me, then this other cashier slacking off in customer service got wicked nosy at the 6 guides (one of each I saw) on the counter and started asking questions about the price. She did everything in her power to stop it. She called the manager, who refused to leave the break room or respond, and she took it upon herself to go to the other side of the store to complain. She came back and said they had to be marked to the price on the back cover. I pointed out that they were being discounted anyways with a sticker price. She didn't really even wanna give me the guides for that price. After 20 minutes of stupid games and arguing, I just told her I didn't want them. She got all pissed at me and said "then why bring them up if you don't wanna pay full price?" I just told her, "I was prepared to pay the discounted price they were stickered (some were marked $11 instead of 19.99), but if they're really coming up as a penny in the system then I'm not gonna get ripped off because you personally feel like I should pay more." I just bought the other stuff I was getting and left. They're only penny guides, but I'm just pissed at how she was...

It's the only time I've been stopped from getting guides. Complete 180 from my experience with BB and GS.[/quote]

That's when I would've left the rest of my purchases at the register and walked out with nothing. Sure, it may be a pain in the ass for whoever has to put back the other stuff, but it shows that you will not put up with them making up rules as they go along.

[quote name='YoshiFan1']Have you tried scanning the UPC from the guide on the CD listening station? I use that to check prices on games at FYE. If it works for guides, it would be easier then asking for price checks.[/quote]

I tried that before going up there. Unfortunately each guide came up as 'not in the system' on those CD listening station scanners. I definitely made a major mistake by trying it when the manager was standing at the next register station over from the clerk I had do the price checks, since the clerk asked the manager and that's when I got the usual 'we can't sell them once they drop to that price'.

I probably should've tried following up with 'well, I'll buy something and then you can just give me the guide', which works about 50% of the time at other stores.
 
[quote name='Link927']Sorry to hear that. I've had nothing but good with CC and BB with guides so far, mostly because the front lane cashiers dont care about the price, I just tell them "Its on clearence" and they buy it. They're more confused than suspicious. It seems like this employee just had it out for you, more likely that not they might end up back on the shelf, might wanna try again later when she's not around.[/quote]

The cashier I had was laughing at the price, and was more than willing to sell them like that. She even went the extra distance to go question the manager after the other lady came over and ruined it. I tried explaining that's not it's unusual or wrong that it's in the system for a penny. I told her that I had "accidentally" found a guide at BB that happened to be pennied, and they were more than happy to sell it. I probably won't try it again, since it's so far away. The nearest CC is like 30 minutes from my house. I was just in the area because I wanted to use the 35% off GBA/DS/Gamecube/Wii games at a GS there.

[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']That's when I would've left the rest of my purchases at the register and walked out with nothing. Sure, it may be a pain in the ass for whoever has to put back the other stuff, but it shows that you will not put up with them making up rules as they go along. [/quote]

I would have done it, but I didn't wanna pass up Bleach and Dragon Quest for the Wii. I also found some cd's I wanted that were marked down 40%, so I couldn't really make such a statement. Even if I did, I'm sure it wouldn't matter.
 
Hit CC and got:

Paper mario, brute force, metroid prime?, yoshi's island DS, a couple of pokemon guides, rainbow six vegas, tomb raider. Army of 2 would not ring up with either upc and shows 'not is system'.

Not sure if this is new or really old: toys r us "xbox 360 handbook: the official user's guide" $0.01 Prima

 
does anyone know the sku's for bb for:

twilight princess: wii version (i'm assuming it is the white one)
oblivion with sticker over upc (it was the brown one)

i tried getting oblivion but it still rang up 20 dollars? and twilight princess didn't have a barcode on it so they looked it up manually and it came up 20 dollars.

i wanted both of those too to keep :(
 
You know what I just picked up at CC, among other things? Battalion Wars. Not the new one, but the first one, for GameCube. It didn't even ring up as OOS. My CC had about 5 five them, along with a lot of other old guides, like Rainbow Six 3, NCAA Football '07, and Driver: Parallel Lines. There were several more that I don't remember (mostly PS2/Xbox shooters), but they all rang up as needing to be bundled with games.
 
Epic CC guide pickup. Went to one that's like 30 minutes away because my dad works around there.

There was no customers in the store except for me, my dad, and some guy that was buying a phone at the verizon stand, so all of the cashiers, the security guard, and even the manager were circled around me shitting themselves at the fact that they're all a penny. I let all of the employees get whatever guides they wanted and then left with these: (some, like pokemon D/P rang up OOS and the manager was new and didn't know how to override it, so I didn't get those)

Super Paper Mario x5
Yoshi's Island DS x3
Devil May Cry 4 x4
Army Of Two x4
LOTR online Shadows Of Angmar x2
Madden '08 x7
Rainbow 6 Vegas x2
Tomb Raider Anniversary
Hellgate London
Pokemon Ranger
Pokemon Battle Revolution x3
The Ultamite National Pokedex
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red/Blue x2
You And Wii

The guides I didn't see on the list are DMC4 and Hellgate London

Epic win!
 
DMC4!!! DAMNIT! I need that too, and mine had tons. Sure hope they are still there the next time I'm in the area, though I'm afraid that after pretty much clearing them out the other day they may have looked into it and taken the rest down :(
 
I've been too afraid to bring up the DMC4 guides, or anything else that is OOS for that matter, at the same time as ones I know should ring for a penny. I always seem to find something I really want, and don't want to risk a d-bag manager coming over and overriding my penny guides when he/she tries gets asked to price something that's OOS. This has happened to me twice already #-o

At least now I've gotten everything I want that I can find at CC and I can try a DMC4 or Army of Two next trip back.
 
fuck it, if DMC4 is pennied, I'm gonna grab the rest of the guides for the hell of it and see what else may ring up. Anyone try a Mario Galaxy? I know my CC had some... (fingers crossed, but not too hopeful).
 
I got a ton of guides from the Tukwilla (AKA Southcenter Mall) Circuit City on Monday. There were many, many still there, too. So if anyone is in the Seattle area, I would recommend it. I don't feel like listing them now.
 
[quote name='Antic']Totally got blocked at CC today. Cashier was going to let me, then this other cashier slacking off in customer service got wicked nosy at the 6 guides (one of each I saw) on the counter and started asking questions about the price. She did everything in her power to stop it. She called the manager, who refused to leave the break room or respond, and she took it upon herself to go to the other side of the store to complain. She came back and said they had to be marked to the price on the back cover. I pointed out that they were being discounted anyways with a sticker price. She didn't really even wanna give me the guides for that price. After 20 minutes of stupid games and arguing, I just told her I didn't want them. She got all pissed at me and said "then why bring them up if you don't wanna pay full price?" I just told her, "I was prepared to pay the discounted price they were stickered (some were marked $11 instead of 19.99), but if they're really coming up as a penny in the system then I'm not gonna get ripped off because you personally feel like I should pay more." I just bought the other stuff I was getting and left. They're only penny guides, but I'm just pissed at how she was...

It's the only time I've been stopped from getting guides. Complete 180 from my experience with BB and GS.[/quote]

In all seriousness, thats why you dont buy a huge stack at once, get two and come back later or something... its VERY OBVIOUS if someone higher-up walks by and notices 6 guides on the counter at once.. and all ringing up a penny....
 
I have seen stacks of Mario Galaxy and Mass Effect being traded in at Bookman's, but completely forgot to check them at CC.

I believe there is some store out there we never even think about pennying guides, because I see stacks of the same random guides that are either too new to be pennied/really old at the bookman's trade counter alot lately.
We need to think about this. >_>
What other store does no one check that sells guides?
When was the last time someone checked Blockbuster? Maybe they changed the policy...
 
[quote name='Ice2Dragon']In all seriousness, thats why you dont buy a huge stack at once, get two and come back later or something... its VERY OBVIOUS if someone higher-up walks by and notices 6 guides on the counter at once.. and all ringing up a penny....[/quote] No one has ever cared if I buy stacks of 30+ guides. All of the managers seem to either be really chill, not notice, or approve it reluctantly. Maybe because I'm a kid...
 
Actually it is a bad idea to bring up too many guides because their system really isnt design to ring up this many items. If the computer try to ring up too many items it will take a really really long time and someone could think there is a problem.
 
[quote name='62t']Actually it is a bad idea to bring up too many guides because their system really isnt design to ring up this many items. If the computer try to ring up too many items it will take a really really long time and someone could think there is a problem.[/quote] They do 15 at a time in multiple transactions.
 
OK, so I made an attempt to get another Rogue Galaxy guide from CC today. Of course, it rings up 0.01 but it's "part of a bundle". The girl calls the manager over to me, who then tells her to sell it to me for a penny. He leave & the system wont let her cash it out. So then another guy comes over (not a mgr) and tried looking up the UPC. HE says he finds it for 96 cents. I dont really care because I want a good shape one, so I got out $1. THEN, the douchebag goes & enters "Mistagged Item" into the computer for $10.00 and tells me it will be $10.70. I ask how it went from a penny, to 96 cents to $10. The girl tells me that it was supposed to be bundled with other stuff, so it's $10. Well, I WAS gonna be like "OK, where's the other stuff?", but there were people waiting & I was sick of standing there (15 mins passed), so I just smiled & walked away.
 
[quote name='62t']Actually it is a bad idea to bring up too many guides because their system really isnt design to ring up this many items. If the computer try to ring up too many items it will take a really really long time and someone could think there is a problem.[/quote]

Is this problem only for guides or is it for all items? Is their system that flawed? I wonder what happens on Black Friday.
 
[quote name='Link927']Is this problem only for guides or is it for all items? Is their system that flawed? I wonder what happens on Black Friday.[/quote] This system will only let you ring up 15 of any item, so if you have more than that they'll have to do multiple transactions.
 
[quote name='Segasonic01']OK, so I made an attempt to get another Rogue Galaxy guide from CC today. Of course, it rings up 0.01 but it's "part of a bundle". The girl calls the manager over to me, who then tells her to sell it to me for a penny. He leave & the system wont let her cash it out. So then another guy comes over (not a mgr) and tried looking up the UPC. HE says he finds it for 96 cents. I dont really care because I want a good shape one, so I got out $1. THEN, the douchebag goes & enters "Mistagged Item" into the computer for $10.00 and tells me it will be $10.70. I ask how it went from a penny, to 96 cents to $10. The girl tells me that it was supposed to be bundled with other stuff, so it's $10. Well, I WAS gonna be like "OK, where's the other stuff?", but there were people waiting & I was sick of standing there (15 mins passed), so I just smiled & walked away.[/quote]

Aww, that sucks. You were so close!!

I'll be heading back to my CC to double check DMC4, but like others I was afraid to bring it up (thought it was too new to penny out). If others are having success, then it's definitely worth the shot.

Darkslime, thanks bro! You're definitely a CAG'er! ;)
 
[quote name='neocisco']You don't want to know.

The ticket maxes out at 18 items. After that you just have to start another sale.[/quote]I ran into that issue during the 2004 and 2005 clearance CC sales. Nothing more fun than buying a whole bunch of games and needing to run two transactions. :lol:
 
[quote name='shrike4242']I ran into that issue during the 2004 and 2005 clearance CC sales. Nothing more fun than buying a whole bunch of games and needing to run two transactions. :lol:[/quote]

As did I. I STILL have unopened games from the legendary 7/04 sale.:D
 
went to CC and grabbed Tomb Raider : Anniversary, DMC4, and tried to get Army of Two.

DMC and AoT didnt come up in system, and then when they put them back in inventory aoT rang up $20, but did get DMC.
 
it seems strange to me that some retailers still charge full price. Others charge at 50% off, and others are one penny.
And it sure is clear that they don't really want people buying them in the first place.
If they did, they'd be sure to put the correct price on the guide.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
bread's done
Back
Top