Reduced Price Game Guides: Thread XI

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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 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.


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 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

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. Please, whenever possible, use RED font to make the drop info stand out. Thanks again.

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 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/...ighlight=guide
Guide Four:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/....php?p=1496376
Guide Five:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...ad.php?t=85976
Guide Six:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=116918
Guide Seven:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=131717
Guide Seven and a half:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=142400
Guide Eight:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=167157
Guide Nine:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=187222
Guide Ten:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219547

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
Gamestop
Overstock
Strategyguides.net
ToysRUs

Thanks to floormat, Guinaevere 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.

Common Guide Drop Related Questions(FAQ):

FAQ - If you are new (or a vet with a few questions) look here SECOND! (After reading the above!)

Q: What Are Penny Guides?
A: 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.

Q: Do all guides from all stores drop at the same time?
A: No. While most chains have nationwide drops within their own store (as in every BB will have the same drops coast to coast), not every different chain drops at the same time (what drops at BB is NOT necessarily dropped at GS). When in doubt, check post TWO for drop info.

Q: I found a penny guide and a clerk denied me! I'ma report 'em!
A: Whoa, hold your horses there, pardner! First of all, not a question. Second, just because something is on the shelf, the clerk does NOT have to sell you that item. Most stores are PRIVATE property and as such can deny you just about anything they want - including a sale. The best advice is to not be rude, not be arrogant, and just try hard to get them to have pity on you.

Q: Why don't the clerks want to sell me their penny guides? Aren't they just throwing them away?
A: As stated above, the stores are ordered by the publisher to trash the guides, and are then given credit for those guides. If they don't do this, the publisher won't give them the credit - it's like losing a sale. On the employee level, selling a penny guide can sometimes get them in trouble (or even fired!) I know it seems silly, but this is their job we're talking about! Respect the man (or woman) behind the counter and you'll get a lot more guides than otherwise!

Q: Should I just ask if the store has penny guides then?
A: No, since that denotes that you have some insider information as to the runnings of these businesses.

Q: What if the clerk wants to know how I know so much about guide drops?
A: If asked where you got your info about guides that pennied, simply say either 'the internet' or 'a friend of mine told me they're on clearance'.

Q: But clerks will know what a penny guide is, right? I can talk to them like anyone else here...
A: Never use the word pennied to ANY store clerks unless you have built up a good rapport with them. Even then, it may seem a little fishy if you know more about their shop than they do.

Q: Are guides labeled as a penny on the shelf?
A: Sometimes. Most times, no. GS seems to label everything that gets a price drop, so often times guides will be stickered. But even so, they most likely won't sell them to you. A sticker does not mean 'have to sell'.

Q: I tried to buy a guide that this thread said was pennied and it didn't ring up as such! What gives?
A: Either 1) Our source was wrong (this rarely happens and is usually verified a FEW times within maybe an hour of posting), or 2) The clerk changed the price. It's usually number 2.

Q: What's the easiest way to get penny guides? This sounds like TONS of work!
A: Best Buy is probably the best place to get guides, followed by GameStop, GameCrazy, Toys R Us and then Blockbuster. From what I've seen though, probably 95% of guides that people get are snagged at BB - the rest come from the other stores. But it never hurts to try!

Q: Has there been a drop recently?
A: If you are asking this question you didn't fully understand the OP - go back and read it once more. When a drop happens, it will be posted, and then placed in the second post - trust us.

Q: How do you guys know so much about penny guides?
A: We sometimes have inside sources with the information from the stores themselves; other times, fellow CAGS just like you or me simply take suspected guides to the register and ask them to ring them up, to check their prices. Feel free to do this yourself, and help give back to the community by telling us what you find! However, DON'T ask "Has anyone checked XXX lately?", unless you are in the right thread (discussion area).

Thanks to GrilledWitOnions for creating the above FAQ, which should eliminate the need for such questions popping up in the thread from this point on out.
 
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If anyone wants to maintain a reduced price guide list and I'll just link to it in the second post or something, by all means please do so, but I think I'm going to stick to ONLY listing guides that have pennied at BB/GS for now.
 
[quote name='iKilledChewbacca']picked up some hoes at my bestbuy and it only cost me $0.11 ;)[/QUOTE]

Hoes at BB for that cheap? Oh shit!
Any prostitutes?
 
[quote name='elrobo8']I don't remember seeing this mentioned yet (and it's been at least two or three weeks since this drop happened), but Toys R Us has marked a few of their older guides down to $2.00. It's not pennied, but it's still a great price for 'em. The only ones I can recall off the top of my head are:

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

I hope they start doing this for all of their guides, because my store has plenty of guides I'd gladly pay two bucks for.[/QUOTE]

I can confirm Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn for $2 at TRU. It seems like TRU is back in the discounted guide game, if not the .01 guide game.
 
[quote name='neocisco']I can confirm Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn for $2 at TRU. It seems like TRU is back in the discounted guide game, if not the .01 guide game.[/QUOTE]$2 is less than you'd buy it from another CAG, even at $0.01 + shipping costs, so that's well worth the pick up if you need that guide.
 
[quote name='iKilledChewbacca']picked up some hoes at my bestbuy and it only cost me $0.11 ;)[/QUOTE]

How much were they each? Is it a B2G1 free on hos? $0.05 each + Cali tax = $0.11 for 2
 
Found a good chunk more of guides at some Ohio Best Buys.

But maybe the most interesting find was Metroid Trilogy for 39.99 at Best Buy. Not sure if its common to see those sitting on the BB shelf but they had 3 at the one BB I went to. Happened to notice it while walking by. COnsidering its still OOP that I know of its a good price if you missed out at Sears/Tru.
 
[quote name='xDerekRx']Found a good chunk more of guides at some Ohio Best Buys.

But maybe the most interesting find was Metroid Trilogy for 39.99 at Best Buy. Not sure if its common to see those sitting on the BB shelf but they had 3 at the one BB I went to. Happened to notice it while walking by. COnsidering its still OOP that I know of its a good price if you missed out at Sears/Tru.[/QUOTE]
What part of ohio were you marauding in? :p
 
[quote name='dabamus']What part of ohio were you marauding in? :p[/QUOTE]

I like to stay mostly in my Upstate/West NY area but twice a year I like to venture the Cleveland/Akron/Erie area for a day long trip.

So I did that area. Found lots of nice stuff. :) I can look up the location of Metroid Trilogy if you wanted one.
 
[quote name='xDerekRx']I like to stay mostly in my Upstate/West NY area but twice a year I like to venture the Cleveland/Akron/Erie area for a day long trip.

So I did that area. Found lots of nice stuff. :) I can look up the location of Metroid Trilogy if you wanted one.[/QUOTE]
Damn. That means I missed some stuff at a NEOH BB.

Which one did you find the guides at? (Steelyard Commons?)
 
[quote name='dabamus']Damn. That means I missed some stuff at a NEOH BB.

Which one did you find the guides at? (Steelyard Commons?)[/QUOTE]

I stopped at least 6-8BB and 6-8TRU etc. Figured I drove all that way might as well keep touring.

I found mostly sloppy scattered pulls. No store had 40-50, but almost every BB had a few scattered. Id say you missed a bunch but like I said in this thread before. You could clean out a Best Buy then all of sudden go back and find 10 more. I found guides at all 6-8 BB I went to in Cleveland area. But mostly I found 2-3 here, 4-5 there.

I cant remember if Steelyard Commons had any but the Target there had some cool 4.98 stuff I grabbed like Wii Racing game with wheel and some DS games. Off topic but there was a Toys R Us... Parma maybe that had a ton of really cheap stuff like $4 360 3 packs, some other much older drops. I think I had my best finds there of the whole trip

The best find I had was about 15 guides at.... it was the Elyria one right before it closed since its the furthest from me. Found a few Hardcovers like Zelda and Creed (was happy to find a creed). The one that has the Metroids was Strongville. I grabbed 2 since I had coupons and store credit. One left for whoever.

Dabamus not sure if youre a local but I must say that Steelyard Commons area is one of the coolest ideas/designs Ive ever seen for a shopping area. First time I shopped there on one of these trips. It was like 6pm, dark out, I was driving through the industrial parks thinking "where the f am I", figuring my GPS led me wrong. Then all of sudden a nice shopping area. Love the way they made all the stores look like warehouses while keeping the same color schemes. Genius design.
 
Yeah, I went to Steelyard Commons for the first time during the last drop. I thoght it was a really cool place architecturally. (sp?)

Elyria was the one store in the Cleveland area that I never got to.

I'm closer to Akron than I am Cleveland.
 
[quote name='dabamus']Yeah, I went to Steelyard Commons for the first time during the last drop. I thoght it was a really cool place architecturally. (sp?)

Elyria was the one store in the Cleveland area that I never got to.

I'm closer to Akron than I am Cleveland.[/QUOTE]

Hehe k, dont worry about me though. I only make this trip once a year. Its a gas hog and tiring. I went mostly just to poke around at Sears, TRU, Targets. Next time Ill go is probbaly next Fall at earliest.

I ran out of time or I wrote down the Akron and Youngstown ones. I was in Akron for the golf tournament last year and there was one Toys R Us there that was a goldmine because they were lazy and didnt mark anything down.
 
[quote name='xDerekRx']Hehe k, dont worry about me though. I only make this trip once a year. Its a gas hog and tiring. I went mostly just to poke around at Sears, TRU, Targets. Next time Ill go is probbaly next Fall at earliest.[/QUOTE]

Ok. :p

I ventured into PA a week or two ago just because I was going over to a soccer game, and figued I'd hit Erie and Cranberry.

Erie had a LoZ CE, a SCC, a Lego Indy 2, and 4 ME2 CEs.

Cranberry showed 3 ME2 CEs in stock, but they weren't on the floor and the nice girl who helped me couldn't find them in the back. :(
 
[quote name='xDerekRx']Hehe k, dont worry about me though. I only make this trip once a year. Its a gas hog and tiring. I went mostly just to poke around at Sears, TRU, Targets. Next time Ill go is probbaly next Fall at earliest.

I ran out of time or I wrote down the Akron and Youngstown ones. I was in Akron for the golf tournament last year and there was one Toys R Us there that was a goldmine because they were lazy and didnt mark anything down.[/QUOTE]

Do you remember which Akron area one that was? Was it the sketchy one down in North Canton off 77? The Chapel Hill store usually has nothing at TRU worthwhile. (at least for me)
 
[quote name='dabamus']Ok. :p

I ventured into PA a week or two ago just because I was going over to a soccer game, and figued I'd hit Erie and Cranberry.

Erie had a LoZ CE, a SCC, a Lego Indy 2, and 4 ME2 CEs.

Cranberry showed 3 ME2 CEs in stock, but they weren't on the floor and the nice girl who helped me couldn't find them in the back. :([/QUOTE]

I actually hit Erie and found quite a few as well. Basically its a good 1.5 hours to Erie from Blo, then another 1.5 just to get to Cleveland.

Again though the guides I found were a nice bonus , was mostly looking for Games at other stores. Did pretty well but again NE Ohio has a crapload of stores compared to the more spread out B-lo, Chesta, Cuse area.
 
[quote name='dabamus']Do you remember which Akron area one that was? Was it the sketchy one down in North Canton off 77? The Chapel Hill store usually has nothing at TRU worthwhile. (at least for me)[/QUOTE]

All I remember is that my Hotel was literally touching the Toys R Us. So basically at dinner I ran over to TRU cause it was like 30 feet away.

I dont wanna say it was sketchy, I suppose it was based on just eyeing up the locals :). It was on the Western end of Akron if that makes sense.


This is getting off topic though, any other talk about NE Ohio we should probably goto PMs hehe
 
[quote name='neocisco']Derek and dabamus, am I allowed to post in your thread? ;)[/QUOTE]

Gladly. At least until IATCG shows up. :p
 
[quote name='dabamus']Cranberry showed 3 ME2 CEs in stock, but they weren't on the floor...[/QUOTE]This has probably been asked before but how do you check Best Buy using the SKU numbers for these guides since they are removed from the site?
 
[quote name='xDerekRx']Yes then it becomes his thread again.[/QUOTE]

:whistle2:s This thread doesn't belong to any one person. He's just the current one maintaining it.
 
[quote name='neocisco']:whistle2:s This thread doesn't belong to any one person. He's just the current one maintaining it.[/QUOTE]

It was a joke obviously :)
 
A Spirit Tracks LE guide showed up out of nowhere yesterday. I greedily seized upon it, as my BB appeared to pull everything before the last drop.

This was the only one I wanted.

Happy day.
 
[quote name='yazman']How do you find the SKU number for any guide or product for that matter? Is the SKU on the back of the strategy guide next to the UPC code? Please give an example for a particular guide. Thanks.[/QUOTE]
It'll typically be on the yellow price sticker on the front cover of a guide, but unless someone lists the SKU's for dropped guides you're typically SOL.

Why? Because usually those guides are removed from the website weeks/months before the drop occurs.
 
[quote name='rb109972']it looks like best buy has removed halo osdt, and fall out 3 goty softcover from the website.[/QUOTE]

Hm... wonder if anything else dropped from the site. Not noticing any off the top of my head, but I don't really keep track of their site. Maybe I should start.
 
Would be interesting if Best Buy pumped out another Penny Pull so quickly. Making up for a slow summer!

The FO3 and ODST guides are quite abundant and almost every BB Ive been to.
 
[quote name='xDerekRx']Would be interesting if Best Buy pumped out another Penny Pull so quickly. Making up for a slow summer!

The FO3 and ODST guides are quite abundant and almost every BB Ive been to.[/QUOTE]


yeah no doubt, i've bitching all year about the lack of drops from this store and then to quick drops back to back, i'm so down for another one!!
 
[quote name='jarmochin']anyone want to go check? and report back to us CAG's =][/QUOTE]

just checked on a friday afternoon and they're both pennied out. go go go!
 
Fallout 3 GOTY rang up full price for me...

I checked just in case we missed a drop this Monday. Did pick up a spirit tracks and sc: conviction so it wasn't a waste
 
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The guides have not dropped people, they have dropped off the site. In terms of their price in-store it means nothing except they could be in a future drop.

I repeat they have not dropped yet.
 
[quote name='nixmahn']Resident evil 5 is no longer on the site either, any others any noticed?[/QUOTE]

RE5 has been missing from the site for awhile now.

Also would like to post on Black Friday the following guides will be $2.99 at gamestop, not a penny but if you missed them at bestbuy still a good deal.

Splinter Cell Conviction
Crackdown 2
Super Street Fighter IV
Halo ODST
UFC Undisputed 2010
God of War III
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Fable II
 
[quote name='Ultragamer']RE5 has been missing from the site for awhile now.

Also would like to post on Black Friday the following guides will be $2.99 at gamestop, not a penny but if you missed them at bestbuy still a good deal.

Splinter Cell Conviction
Crackdown 2
Super Street Fighter IV
Halo ODST
UFC Undisputed 2010
God of War III
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Fable II[/QUOTE]

Cool, might have to scoop up a GoW3 guide.
 
Found a bunch of pulled guides at my local bb and adapted the "grab dem shitz" mentality and was denied(6 in hand). Went back after a movie almost every thing was pulled. Found a spirit tracks le and Alan wake only grabbed those since they're the only games I owned and wanted and I got them for .2 out the door.
 
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