Troy IL game shop owner says he lost $100k in rare trading cards to bi-state burglar
A Troy businessman says $100,000 worth of collectible trading cards were stolen from his game store as part of what other store owners believe was part of a bi-state crime spree Sunday night.
Sam Bozarth, who co-owns Realms of Gaming with David McGonagall, said the front door of their store at 300 Edwardsville Road was smashed in at around 3 a.m. Monday morning by a lone individual.
Bozarth said the man cleaned out the store’s display cases where valuable cards were kept and snatched other sealed Magic: The Gathering products.
In total, Bozarth said the masked man stole more than $100,000 worth of Magic: The Gathering trading card merchandise.
On Tuesday, Troy Police Chief Brent Shownes said his department is investigating the burglary and have contacted the Illinois State Police Crime Unit for assistance. He said his department has also been in contact with the Crestwood Police Department investigators who are investigating a similar burglary that also took place on Sunday night.
The break-in is one of three that occurred overnight across the St. Louis area. Two other stores were broken into, Yeti Games and Game Nite, both located in St. Louis.
According to posts on both of the shop’s Facebook pages, the front doors of the shops also were broken into and a masked man targeted trading cards, ignoring board games and other tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons.
At Yeti Gaming, the individual who broke into the store smashed several display cases and targeted Pokémon trading card games, which according to a recent article by Vox are seeing a surge in value, with some packs of cards selling for more than $300,000.
In photos posted to the shop’s social media, a man wearing a mask and carrying a large basket can be seen smashing into the store with a hammer, then using the hammer to smash in display cases.
Vince Krekeler, who owns the Crestwood shop, said he and Bozarth agree the man in the footage appears to be the same person who broke into Bozarth and McGonagall’s store.
He added that the theft is the first of its kind at his store’s 11 year run.
“We’re confident it’s an isolated incident,” Krekeler said. “We don’t see it very often in this community and we’re hoping that it is just that. It’s the first time in 11 years we’ve been broken into.”
Thief knew what to look for
Bozarth said the owners of the three shops believe they were hit by the same person and that the suspect knew what to look for once inside. He said the burglar took the most expensive items the store holds.
“They almost certainly knew what they were going for,” Bozarth said. “We’re under pretty strong suspicion it was the same person who hit the other stores.”
Gamers have been playing Magic: The Gathering since 1993 when the game was released. As of 2018, the game had garnered more than 35 million players across 70 countries, according to a Business Insider article on the card game.
Cards are sold new in booster packs and box sets. However, the cards inside them are sometimes worth much, much more.
While a typical booster pack for Magic: The Gathering cards could cost around $5, a card inside it could be worth four times as much depending on its rarity. In some cases, cards have sold for thousands and in one case an extremely rare called “Black Lotus” sold for $511,100, according to a Polygon article.
Bozarth said the shop’s display case, where its collection of high-valued cards were kept, was completely cleared out by the burglar.
Card games rising in value
Consumer demand for trading card games has been climbing for years and the COVID-19 pandemic caused a surge in demand.
The New York Times reported in May in-store sales of Pokémon Trading Card Game packs were becoming so popular, Target had to ban the sale of the cards in its stores in an effort to dissuade scalpers who were camping outside the store for new merchandise that would be turned around and resold on the internet.
With demand and value for rarer cards increasing, so are thefts. In February, MLive, a newspaper in Michigan, reported a man was charged with two felonies for allegedly stealing $3,000 worth of Magic: The Gathering cards and attempting to sell them. In March, a Pokémon card theft ring was broken up by police in North Carolina, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
Bozarth said in the hours since the burglaries were announced, members of the St. Louis gaming community have come out in force offering support to each of the stores that were broken into. He said he hopes the person who stole the cards is caught, but for now just wants to get the store back up and running.
Krekeler said thefts against small family stores like his and the other two stores only hurt the owners and the gaming communities who enjoy them.
“We work so hard to make this a good place for the community and to have somebody like this try to take us out disheartens you but we’re going to survive,” he said.
This story was originally published October 12, 2021 at 9:10 AM.