When I was seven, I tore up a Winged Dragon of Ra Yu-Gi-Oh! card. I was moping at the top of the stairs, upset with my brother about something. When his back was turned I ripped the card in half, treating the now-unplayable Egyptian God card as recompense for whatever slight he’d bestowed upon me. I remember this story all these years later because it fills me with regret, and while we have another Winged Dragon of Ra we play with today, I often wonder how much that un-ripped card is worth. Steam’s newest simulation hit, TCG Card Shop Simulator, answers that exact question by letting you run a store yourself – and it’s exploding on Steam.
Living vicariously through the lens of a simulation game is one of PC gaming’s simplest delights. Whether you’re driving a truck, coaching a soccer team, operating a train, or even managing a supermarket with friends, the humdrum beats of life are suddenly much more engaging in videogame form. TCG Card Shop Simulator understands this on a molecular level, and Steam players are reacting accordingly.
Developed by OPNeon Games, you need to order booster packs, stock shelves, host tournaments, and even find the time to expand your own budding card collection. The better your corner store does, the more real estate you can purchase. This means even more customers, bigger tournaments, and many more shelves brimming with cards. By all accounts, it’s a simple loop, but the prospect of owning your own local TCG store is clearly a wish of many.
“A great game that satisfies my dream of owning a hobby shop that turned me into a cardpack-ripping goblin in the corner of the store,” one player writes on Steam. “I think my favorite part of the game is the fact that you’ll see your players emote in the corner after clearly losing a game and then will stand up and rip $150 on packs,” another adds.
Just a week after launch, TCG Card Shop Simulator has amassed nearly 40,000 concurrent Steam players. The game even has 2,700 reviews at ‘overwhelmingly positive,’ putting it in the coveted 95% rating and above club. Considering you can drop hundreds of free virtual dollars on cards and fill out binders without spending any actual real-world money, I can see why people enjoy TCG Card Shop Simulator so much. Magic the Gathering Bloomburrow is already threatening to set me back more than one entire mortgage payment, so this is the next best thing.
If you’ve seen a lot of the creatures in TCG Shop Sim’s Tetramon game before, you’re not alone. OPNeon Games used them in a mobile version of the simulator, and they’ve now reappeared in this Steam version too.
You can even dive into a free prologue of the game before you buy it, if you fancy saving even more.
We’ve also got all the best management games and single-player games available on PC, if you’re looking for something a little different than running a bustling store.
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