Trash or Treasure? Retro Game Treasures October 2020 Unboxing

In this video, we unbox and check out our first box from Retro Game Treasures.

With COVID-19 cancelling all gaming conventions here in 2020, getting good game pickups has been harder than it has been in years. To fill that gap, I've been looking for additional solutions for awesome pickups. This is where many mail services look to fill the need and gap that has been left by the lack of conventions for those who don't have quality retro game stores in their areas. The latest service we've checked out is Retro Game Treasures, and they offer a slightly different philosophy than other grab bag services out there.

Retro Game Treasures has a flat monthly fee, $34.99 a month, and for that price they'll send you 3-5 games randomly per-month. Some months you might get 3 games, some 4, some 5. In this way, they are different than other services out there which offer different tiers based on how many games they'll send you. The one different approach they have is different tiers based on whether you want to commit to a different length of subscription. If you pre-pay for 3-months for example, you'll save $2/month. A 6 month commitment saves you $3/month, and a 12-month commitment saves you $60 total or $5/month.

What we got:
Japanese Mega Drive - Naomichi Ozaki Super Masters ($1)
PS2 - F1 Career Challenge CIB ($9)
PS3 - Borderlands 2 Sealed ($8)

Total Value - $18

For a $42 expense, getting $18 in games (Based on Pricecharting and GameEye app values) is really frustrating. I wasn't expecting to get a super-rare-pricey game in the box, but I figured I would at least get my initial investment back. The grab bag format of the service does provide some level of fun, and their shipping boxes surely cost something to print, but getting less than half the value of what I paid for is beyond disappointing.

I reached out to Buck from Retro Game Treasures and asked for some clarification, and he was more than gracious in his answers. I asked him:

I realize it's a crap shoot, but I also expected to get roughly the same value, or within a few dollars, of what the subscription cost. If this is the norm and not the exception I am not long for your service. Paying $42 shipped for $18 worth of games, I hope you understand that the value just is not there.

And his response:
Hi Gary, thanks so much for the feedback!! Retro games pricing is all over the place in terms of value. Online guides crawl sites like ebay and bargain pricing in their algorithms to find the value of games (ie bad condition, not working, bulk buys with lots of duplicates… they don’t guarantee anything). Look at a site like dkoldies, they’re a little high in terms of prices, but you’ll see more the retail pricing on these games which is closer to where we base our prices. We are constantly tweaking these pricings, and while we try to be fair, we still provide a premium service that hand selects your box based on very specific settings you get to setup, while avoiding games you already own. If you’re looking strictly for a smoking deal on games with a service like ours, you’ll probably find yourself coming up short most months. We understand our service isn’t for everyone, and we’re a great way to expand your collection on a budget. If you’re looking for just pricey games and mostly RPG’s and if you’re lucky enough to have a great retro store close to you, we always promote supporting small businesses like ourselves! Sorry for the long email, hope that helps!

In the end, we'll give it one more month, but we may not be long-term subscribers to this service.

#RetroGameTreasures #Unboxing #GrabBag

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