The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

As a gamer and a college student, I often find myself a little short on cash when I go out shopping for games. Fortunately, I have a job (though it doesn’t pay much), but that job happens to be at a big-box retailer - Target. I’ve been working there long enough to find out exactly how to get the best deals on games you could ask for. So, I put together this handy guide to help you find some sweet deals.

SALE ITEMS

• Stuff goes on sale, enough said. The best way to find out what’s on sale is to check the Sunday ad. You’ll probably get this in the mail or in the Sunday newspapers.
• However, the Sunday ad is also available in the store a day early. If you come by Target on a Saturday night, you can usually find someone posting the ad near the doors at the entrance. This is handy if you want to know what’ll be on sale so you can get there early before they’re snatched up. Also, if you’re looking for hard-to-get items, you should definitely check out the ad on Saturday because if it’s in the ad we have to have at least one. So, if you’re looking for a Wii or a Wii Fit, check it out.
• Sometimes stuff goes on sale, but you can’t afford to get it right now. Unfortunately, sales only last until the next ad comes out, so you might think you need to buy it before the end of the week. Wrong. All you need to do is ask for a RAIN CHECK on the item.
• Note that this doesn’t always work (such as on temporary price cut items), but if you see something on sale that you just can’t afford to get right now, ask for a rain check. It’ll be valid for a few months after and will get you the same price on the game even if the sale isn’t there.
• All you need to do to is go to Guest Services and ask them to print you out a rain check for the game. It helps if you can tell them the DPCI number, which is a 9 digit number on the bottom of all of the tags on the shelf, under the barcode on the bottom right. They usually look like this = XXX-XX-XXXX. (If guest service is crowded, you can try and get a cashier to do it. If they don’t know how to do it, tell them to type in the numbers 9801, followed by the DPCI number.)

CLEARANCE

• Clearance is the holy grail of getting good deals on games. The reason that big-box retailers have stuff hit the clearance rack a lot is because there is limited shelf space. We can’t afford to have Devil May Cry 4 sitting on the shelf for $59.99 five months after release, they need to clear space for new games.
• Clearance games are easy to spot, as they have tiny orange stickers on them. They tell you the original price on the left, the new price on the right, and the DPCI number on the top.
• Clearance games are also not where you might expect them to be, as they are often moved off the shelves and out of the cases to be put on Clearance sections. They usually contain more than just games, and might also have toys and other junk. You can spot a clearance section by the big red and white sign that says CLEARANCE. In my store, the clearance games usually end up down on the endcaps (end of the isle) near the toys.
  
• When games start getting clearanced, they usually go down in price by about 25%-30%.
• Prices for clearanced items usually end in an 8 - such as $19.98, $9.98, $4.98, etc. Having an 8 in the price means that the price will continue to drop. If the item ends in a 4, however, the price will not drop, and this is the cheapest you’re going to get it.
• Games are usually clearanced out every Monday, and updates to already clearanced items are also done on Monday. So, if you see a game on clearance but it’s still a bit too pricy, come back again the following Monday and see what the new price is.
• Clearance games are a mixed bag, however. They may not all be the games you were looking for (Who the fuck wants Clive Barker's Jericho even if it is $13.98?), and they don't usually last long (if you can tell it's a good deal, you're not the only one). So, if you're shopping clearance you've got to be vigilant,

And so, as proof to you that this all works (and to do some bragging), I’m going to tell you just a few of the deals I’ve managed to get at Target because of being a cheap-ass. Speaking of cheap-ass, I’d invite all of you to head over to Cheap Ass Gamer - a great site for finding deals on games and more (and not just at Target).

MY DEALS - They're real!
Devil May Cry 4 - $14.98 (MSRP $59.99)
Dead Space -$30.00 (MSRP $59.99)
Viva Pinata - $4.98 (MSRP $29.99)
Guitar Hero Aerosmith w/ Wireless Guitar (360) - $24.98 (MSRP $99.99)
Blast Works: Build Trade Destory - $4.98 (MSRP $39.99)
Bully Scholarship Edition (Wii) - $12.98 (MSRP $29.99)

Total Money Saved - $227.04