Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Retro Game Store Visit: Game On - Winston-Salem, NC

One of the best things about traveling for work is being able to get out and explore in different cities. Recently I found another game store on Facebook and it wasn't too far from where I was at the time so I decided to make the short trip to check them out. Game On is located off of Robinhood Rd. in Winston-Salem, NC.


Game On was in a small strip mall and I almost missed it from the road. Thankfully I saw their sign by the road and was able to make it into the small parking lot. I was greeted immediately as I walked into the small shop. He was quick to show me where everything was located. The store was small, but it was well stocked. The best thing is that most of the games were priced below what most game stores would sell them for. It appears they focus more on the current generation of games, but they did have a decent selection of retro games. From older Facebook posts, it appears that the old stuff like NES games go quick when they do walk into the store.


I ended up buying a few cheap PSP games and a PSP movie of Dawn of the Dead for a buck. Upon checking out I noticed one lone boxed Genesis game in his glass case/counter...Thunder Force II. I asked to see it and to my surprise it was in pretty good shape...and complete. $25 seemed like a fair price and I always see the game ranked pretty high or in someone's top 10 post for Genesis shmups.


I made a little small talk w/ the guy in the store and it turns out that he was the owner. He told me that Game On was the first video game store to open in the state of North Carolina. They were originally known as Player's Choice that day. I was familiar with that name as I remember trading in my whole TurboGrafx collection for a few new Nintendo 64 games at the time. Stupid me!

I would encourage anyone that is in the area to check out Game On and give them your support. Its always nice to find alternatives to the big boy dealers like GameStop.