Indy police trace $300K in stolen gaming cards from Gen Con to New York City
Update: Indianapolis detectives found and recovered the gaming cards in New York City on Friday, Aug. 25, with help from New York State Police, IMPD announced Tuesday. The cards are being returned to Indianapolis, where they will be held as evidence. Charges have not yet been filed in the case.
There’s a mystery afoot at North America’s largest tabletop and role-playing gaming convention, involving a heist of up to $300,000 worth of gaming cards.
It’s not part of the games and pop culture-related events that 70,000 people are expected to take part in this weekend, though.
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Thieves took off with a pallet of gaming cards Aug. 2, just ahead of the opening of the 2023 Gen Con gaming conference at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis.
The thieves used a pallet jack to remove the cards, Indianapolis Metro Police said. Vendors had been setting up their displays at various times.
IMPD detectives are asking for help.
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Anyone with information about what happened or the location of the stolen property should contact Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477(TIPS) to remain anonymous.
This year marks Gen Con’s 20th anniversary in Indy.
Grainy images may show Magic, Pokemon, Disney Lorcana packaging, gaming store manager says
Attendees of the convention, which started Thursday and runs through Sunday, are gathering for board games, card games, a film festival, entertainment, and other activities catering to gamers and pop-culture fans.
Craig Casares, assistant manager at Good Games, a board game store at 111 S. Meridian St. in Indianapolis figures the $300,000 amount IMPD quoted would be what the cards would sell for at retailers.
He's among those that have seen images posted by IMPD of people removing a pallet of cards.
Cesares said the grainy images of the pallet show packaging resembling those of “Magic: The Gathering,” the Pokemon Trading Card Game and the Disney Lorcana trading card game, all with hyped releases, and all among exhibitors at Gen Con.
Gen Con is the site of the Disney Lorcana pre-release, with fans lining up for more than 16 hours to be among the first to buy the cards. The game will be released to local game stores on Aug. 18, then have its general release on Sept. 1.
The game’s publisher had said it would limit the number of packs and decks each fan could buy at Gen Con. A new promotional card is also being given out to those buying products at the booth and attending Lorcana tickets events at the con. Some promo cards offered at prior events quickly sold for tens of thousands online.
Taking entire pallet 'pretty brazen'
There have been other high-profile game card thefts, Casares said, including a robbery in Europe of several binders containing cards that were each worth $300 to $1,000, for a total haul worth up to $10,000.
And operators of a Texas card store in April 2023 revealed that in 2021 someone tried to sell them large quantities of rare, recently released Pokemon Trading Card Game cards that had been stolen and worked with The Pokemon Co. to return the merchandise.
But taking an entire pallet from a Gen Con setup area is pretty brazen, Casares said.
“It’s more common to have theft of decks or collections and attempting to sell those than it would be to steal a pallet,” he said. “The amount of either courage or bluffing skills that someone would have to have to just walk into Gen Con and take a pallet and no one stops them … I don’t think anybody I know would have the nerve to go in and do that.”
The local gaming card theft is one of a series of revelations this week that highlight how high-stakes the gaming and collectable cards industry is, including rapper Post Malone’s acquisition of a rare, one-of-one "Lord of the Rings" collectible card from the tabletop game “Magic: The Gathering,” valued at more than $2 million, and sports trading card company Panini America’s Aug. 3 lawsuit against rival platform Fanatics, accusing the new player of trying to unlawfully dominate the market through anticompetitive business practices including exclusive long-term deals with professional sports leagues.
Saturday is International Trading Card Day, when collectors at participating hobby stores can get a free special five-card pack of Topps trading cards.
The free card pack includes sets from the Major League Baseball, UEFA Champions League, Formula 1, Bowman U Football, an Athletes Unlimited mix of other sport, and the Garbage Pail Kids.
Previously: Gen Con is back this week in Indianapolis. Here's everything you need to know
Contact IndyStar reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at cheryl.jackson@indystar.com or 317-444-6264. Follow her on Twitter: @cherylvjackson.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Stolen gaming cards traced from Gen Con to New York City
