TCG Card Shop Simulator review – Gotta sell ’em all

As the title suggests, you’re in charge of a shop that sells trading cards, with the focus being the Pokémon-inspired Tetramon card game (though there are a handful of other non-playable games). You build your shop up from nothing to a thriving business that gobbles up your regulars’ disposable income.

And I do mean regulars: unlike some retail sims such as Supermarket Simulator, the same customers come back again and again. You can’t talk directly to them, instead receiving their feedback via your shop’s online reviews. But you’ll absolutely recognise Green Hoodie Guy, Temu Walter White and their pals, whether they’re loading up on merchandise or battling one another at your TCG tables.

It adds a sense of community to the game, though not so much that you’ll feel guilty about selling them a $2,000 card pulled from a pack that cost you $2.50. But judging them on their purchases is half the fun, certainly early on when you’re still manning the checkouts yourself. Even when you’re making enough to employ a cashier or two, you’ll still take a cheeky peek.

The more money you make, the more product lines you can sell, and the larger your shop can get. But with a corresponding rise in rent, you’ll want to make the most of every square foot. Some of the unlockable items did have me scratching my head, though. Similarly, there are a handful of areas across the game in general that could do with a bit more attention from the developer despite it now being out of early access. I appreciate that developer OPNeon made Tetramon playable, for instance, but some kind of tutorial would have been useful. The odd crash and blurred texture also reared their ugly heads.

There’s still so much to love about TCG Card Shop Simulator, though. It’s packed with cool little touches, like the products you unlock turning up on customers’ tables when they sit down for Tetramon battles. The card art, too, is genuinely special. It’s clearly paying homage to Digimon and Pokémon but the characters aren’t blatant copies of either system’s and, created by human artists, there’s no AI in sight.

But the game’s biggest boon? It’s the dopamine hit you’ll get from ripping open card packs, coupled with the rush of uncovering a super-rare card, which your customers will pay through the nose for. Once I opened a Tetramon pack to discover $900+ worth of cards inside, I was on a high for a good five minutes.

While your customers may sometimes skimp on personal hygiene (hence the need to install automatic deodorant dispensers), they’re happy to spend thousands on a single card. The game’s card grading system cheats and just rolls a dice, so you can send a card away and get it back above or below its ungraded value. But with no shoplifters, I’ve got a $8,000+ pull on display and I know it’s going to sell.

In fact, it’s the whole scalping – er, I mean card opening – mechanic that helps push TCG Card Shop Simulator through its plateaus. When you’ve got two employees manning the registers and a third refilling the shelves and card rack, all that’s left is to wander around, occasionally re-ordering stock, until you level up your shop or hit the $3000 you need to unlock the next Tetramon range.

It can get a tad tedious, but then you remember you’ve got a pack-opening machine in the back and you order a big box of cards, fling them in, and wait eagerly while the Scalp-o-Matic goes about its business. Dr Dopamine is back and he’s making house calls!

You don’t need to live, sleep and breathe trading card games to get a kick out of TCG Card Shop Simulator, though a love of (virtual) profit absolutely helps. From its engaging and rewarding (if occasionally slow) retail routine through to the thrill of uncovering rare cards and the challenge of its game-within-a-game, TCG Card Shop Simulator is a must-play for management fans.