I’m living in the southwestern corn desert area of Illinois, close to Springfield, and I’m looking for recommendations on where to shop for retro games. I know eBay is a go-to, but I’m curious about other good online stores or platforms you folks use. Also, if you know any cool local shops around Springfield or nearby, that’d be great too! It’s just that online options would be more accessible for me overall.
5 Answers
For online shopping beyond eBay, I’d recommend checking out dedicated gaming marketplaces. There are sites focused solely on retro games with curated collections and seller guarantees. That helps avoid sketchy stuff and gives you peace of mind compared to random listings.
There’s also some neat online forums and sales groups where folks post game listings regularly. It can be more work to scroll through, but sometimes you score really good deals and rare finds if you’re patient.
If you have some local stores nearby, hitting those up is always great since you can check the condition of games yourself. I usually shop at my hometown’s game store and also keep an eye on pawn shops — they sometimes have hidden gems! But yeah, it all depends on how many shops your area supports.
Around where I live, I’m lucky to have like ten awesome retro gaming stores within a 25-minute drive, so I rarely have to buy online. That convenience of seeing the actual product before buying is a game changer. But I get that in more rural areas, you might not have that many options.
I second checking pawn shops and local game stores when you can! But for online options, aside from eBay, try some retro-specific retailers — they often have better selection and condition grading than bigger general sites.
