Sacred Symbols+, Episode 500 | Running A Retro Game Store: The Coolest Job Ever?
Added 2026-01-31 17:00:19 +0000 UTCBack in July of 2024, Dustin invited Evan Miranda to Sacred Symbols+ for a discussion about his brand new retro game shop in Dustin's hometown of Butler, Pennsylvania. (That's episode #393, and you should go listen to it and watch it now!) But -- for whatever reason -- I (Colin) was unable to make that recording. Ever since, I've wanted to pick Evan's brain about his thriving business, and ask him about the mechanics and realities of running Main Level Games. While Dustin asked him a salvo of awesome questions in '24, I had so much more I wanted to inquire about: The ups and downs of pricing, margins and capital, tracking purchases and sales, buying new stock now to sell later, dealing in more obscure and foreign hardware and software, the risk of being duped and ripped off, and so much more. We had a great conversation; you're gonna love it. Just hit play!
Comments
I was inspired by this episode to visit my local retro game store and sell most of my SNES games, and buy Metroid NES and eventually Super Metroid when they get one.
Brenbird
2026-02-11 03:10:59 +0000 UTCWe threw away our NES and SNES boxes because our parents said it was trash
Glen Yelenovic
2026-02-04 18:55:28 +0000 UTCGreat episode, fascinating stuff. I realized I live about 90 minutes from Butler PA. I should do a roadtrip sometime this year
Captain Falcon
2026-02-02 14:59:59 +0000 UTCThe PS3 full of porn reminds me of when I sold a PS3 to a customer with porn in mind, as a joke. Been working electronics retail for 20+ years. A man & woman are looking at PlayStations & I quickly learn it's brother sister combo. He jokes she watches so much porn. I lean into it & tell her about the red God Of War PlayStation 3 for it's bigger hard drive to store more porn and I brought up the sex mini game in God Of War. She got the bundle.
Robert Friemering
2026-02-02 14:10:50 +0000 UTCReally interesting discussion this episode, and a welcome change of pace. I'm a longtime collector with a fairly well built collection who has been slowing down in that aspect of the hobby due to the current prices, and concerns about physical media's viability over time (e.g., degradation of physical media, etc).. This was an interesting glimpse behind the curtain, and gives me a bit of motivation to collect some of my final grail-like items.
Lunar Tear
2026-02-02 13:51:00 +0000 UTCMy goodness, what a great episode
Zenith Ultima
2026-02-02 03:42:01 +0000 UTCIdk if it’s just me but the way the guest speaks sounds a lot like Dagen
Subeg
2026-02-02 00:22:14 +0000 UTCGreat episode! If Dustin and Evan ever make videos, make sure to broadcast on SS or elsewhere as I'd easily be a subscriber!
MnTwinsfan92
2026-02-02 00:10:13 +0000 UTCI absolutely loved this episode! I am seriously thinking about making a trip to Butler all the way from Idaho just to visit Evan's store
The gremlin in Dustin's thumb
2026-02-01 22:56:51 +0000 UTCThe Pokemon TCG discussion was is so real! I stopped collecting the cards in 2004, but with the 2020 climb I caught a video of a rare card that I knew I had. Luckily, my dad secretly swore to himself that selling any of my Pokemon/Yugioh cards and he’d given them to me earlier that year. That was when I realized I had a collection full of first edition Neo (Gen 2) cards, E-Readers, and Base-Jungle cards valued over $10k. I had been playing the games every year after taking a break from 2004-2012, but covid really did get me back into the TCG. Since then I started buying, selling, and grading cards while building up a personally collection valued over $100k.. after selling $32k worth of cards in 2025 alone. I love the hobby and grading and selling extras helps pay for me to do my hobby for ‘free’. The hobby is in the gutter in some ways, because of assholes around the sealed products, but it’s also never been a better time to collect. Value, sure, but the art has literally never been better.
Zachary Abell
2026-02-01 19:39:24 +0000 UTCGame collector here. This episode was fantastic
TreyDogg
2026-02-01 19:29:00 +0000 UTCThis was great. Love hearing how other retailers do things different or similarly to us. I’m jealous of a more focused store than ours, that can process their inventory that quickly too.
Kenneth Koepnick
2026-02-01 16:00:03 +0000 UTCAwesome episode! Such a good guest and great insight!
Ryan Taylor
2026-02-01 02:53:51 +0000 UTCAwesome Plus Episode - awesome dude
Big Devin Energy
2026-01-31 21:37:29 +0000 UTCThis is a great, great episode. One of the best I’ve listened to. Evan is a great guest.
Kris Kristofferson
2026-01-31 18:21:34 +0000 UTCI remember Dustin mentioning this shop before 🤔, good to get more insight on the business 👍🏼
Henry3K
2026-01-31 17:54:40 +0000 UTCI’ve been waiting for him to come back on, this is awesome
Joshua
2026-01-31 17:07:49 +0000 UTC
