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PODCAST

The Manaverse Podcast

The Manaverse Podcast is a podcast created for you, the gamer with aspirations of building your own local game store (LGS), the entrepreneur running an LGS who wants to grow their business, and the player who wants a behind the scenes look into their favourite hobby. If you’re looking for inspiration, new ideas, and interesting perspectives then Tom Traplin has you covered. Learn the business of selling some of the best games in the world including MTG, Warhammer, Pokémon, Dungeons and Dragons,

business marketing

All Episodes

36:46

MVP142: Part 4 - The Deck Box: Pros and Cons of...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2024/01/19

In Part 4 of my interview, Joshua Pyle-Carter digs into the future plans for The Deck Box, with their 10-year anniversary quickly approaching this summer. Josh talks about the balance between online and in-store sales, stressing that each requires a vastly different approach and business model, and why he favours the local first approach for his community. Book a 30 minute strategy session with us to get your game store digital marketing plan created for free. It's yours to keep either way so you

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34:54

MVP142: Part 3 - Innovative Inventory and Pricing...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2024/01/18

This is Part 3 of my interview with Joshua Pyle-Carter from The Deck Box, Halifax's Premier local games store. We delve into inventory management, pricing strategies, and how Josh empowers his staff to make good decisions without requiring his input as the owner. Joshua talks about balancing pricing for different card rarities, adapting to market changes, and setting prices appropriate for the local market, and why he doesn't use platforms like TCGPlayer to set his prices. This one is real crunchy

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26:17

MVP142: Part 2 - Unlocking Retail Success With...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2024/01/17

This is Part 2 of my interview with Joshua Pyle-Carter from The Deck Box where we focus on personalized client service as a key factor in his success. Understanding individual customer preferences, especially in complex games like Magic: The Gathering, is crucial and so is guiding customers based on their interests and experience levels, rather than pushing sales. He discusses the benefits of carrying a wide range of products to meet diverse needs and the significance of building trust with

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35:15

MVP142: Part 1 - Joshua Pyle-Carter on The Deck Box,...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2024/01/16

This is part 1 of a 4 part interview I did with Josh Pyle-Carter. He’s the owner of The Deck Box, a massively successful and tremendously cool tabletop game store in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In this part of our interview, Josh tells the story of starting his first game store in PEI on a shoestring budget and how being profitable from day 1 was basically his and his partner Rachel’s only option. We talk about the importance of stocking a wide range of magic singles to meet customer needs, the evolution

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41:53

MVP141: Altered - The Game Aiming To Change the TCG...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2024/01/04

This episode of the Manaverse Podcast features Eric Dieulangard, the CMO of Equinox. Today we're discussing "Altered," a new trading card game scheduled for release in the summer of 2024, and diving into how the game's innovations fit into the business model of your friendly local game store. Eric elaborates on Altered's unique features, including its integration of digital elements with traditional card gameplay, and the innovative use of QR codes to merge physical and digital collections. He

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50:14

MVP140: He's Doing $500k/Year In Online Sales, So Why...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/12/05

Welcome to another episode of the Manaverse podcast! I’m your host, Tom Traplin, and today, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Tyler Brotton, an ambitious entrepreneur charting a unique path in the gaming industry. From starting as an online card trader during the COVID-19 pandemic to his current venture of setting up a brick-and-mortar game store, Tyler shares the ups and downs of his journey, offering a treasure trove of insights for aspiring entrepreneurs.Tyler's journey is a testament to

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01:12:33

MVP139: Brendan Carrion on Lorcana Reprints,...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/11/08

The launch of Lorcana has been a roller coaster for game stores. The absurdly high demand combined with a very limited supply of product has created a perfect storm for game store owners looking to sell, as well as consumers and collectors looking to buy. Online communities of players/speculators have accused game store owners of scalping and gouging if anything is priced above MSRP, with game store owners justifiably pushing back and defending the market price as the only viable option given the

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50:25

MVP138: 2ndHandGeek.com - The Marketplace That...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/10/30

Alan Blakeborough, Founder and CEO of 2ndHandGeek.com, talks about the new online marketplace that supports friendly local game stores. Alan and his team are creating a new competitor to the $9 billion marketplace of eBay, where the fees are competitive and 1% of each transaction gets paid back to the friendly local game store associated with a user's account. We also talk about what he learned along the way as an owner of multiple game stores over the last couple of decades, and how 2ndHandGeek

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44:03

MVP137: How To Create Video Content and Why It's One...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/10/08

Frank Rossi and Jordan Shankman are the featured guests for today's episode of the podcast. Frank and Jordan are the owners of Petrichor Productions in the Greater Atlanta area and they specialize in video production and helping businesses bring their brand story to vibrant life. The Petrichor team recently worked with Jason Mastowski, the owner of Peach State Games in Woodstock, GA, to create a video telling the story of his shop and the amazing community that has formed around Jason's passion and

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31:44

MVP136: The Commander Nexus

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/09/12

Commander players are the ultimate casual Magic player for game stores. Having a thriving and vibrant Commander community is a huge asset since Commander players often spend the most money on the hobby and buy all sorts of cards that conventional Standard or Modern players wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, and are happy paying for them!The more Commander players you can create and attract the better, but there are some barriers to organizing events for this particular community of Magic

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53:25

MVP135: The Mind Behind Mindtaker Miniatures

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/06/16

Robyn Lowy, the owner of Mindtaker Miniatures in Vancouver, Washington, talks about how she built a truly unique take on the friendly local game store. Find out how Robyn started by buying and selling miniatures online and expanded the business into a fully fledged miniature powerhouse. If you've ever thought about carrying miniature games in your store the business model (pun intended) that Robyn has built is one you should 100% be paying attention to.Links

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01:08:45

MVP134: Brendan Carrion on Athoria Games and...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/06/08

Brendan Carrion, email marketer/game designer/podcaster with Athoria Games in Arizona, is on the podcast to talk about the nuts and bolts of marketing a game store and getting new customers, what makes Athoria Games tick, and discuss the state of the gaming industry as a whole.Good times. Don't forget to connect with Brendan here.Links Mentionedhttps://www.athoriagames.com/https://www.thecarrion.com/

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01:11:01

MVP133: Jamison Sacks On 10 Years At Common Ground Games

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/05/06

We've got Jamison Sacks on the podcast today. Jamison is the owner of Common Ground Games in Dallas. Founded in 2013 by Jamison Sacks & DR Hanson, Common Ground Games brings a premiere retail and gaming space for all of D/FW to enjoy and has well over a thousand five star reviews on Facebook and Google.Links

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43:37

MVP132: 95 Game Center and Growing The Business Into...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/04/21

We've got Michael McKinney on the podcast today. Michael is the logistics manager of 95 MTG and 95 Game Center in Wilmington and we dig into some really interesting aspects of the way 95 Game Center runs and how it built up the singles side of the business. We talk about the differences between the pay-to-play model versus a free game space, how 95 MTG grew into a Magic singles powerhouse with their own custom built software, how to keep things fresh and interesting for customers, tapping into what

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01:35:17

MVP131: Is Wizards of the Coast Killing The Golden...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/04/11

Daniel Vander Kooy comes onto the Manaverse Podcast and talks about the OGL, whether Wizards of the Coast is killing the golden goose, what's happening in the hobby industry, and how game store owners can prepare. Get a customized digital marketing strategy for your game store by booking a free 45 minute strategy session with us. We will do a deep dive on the six main areas of digital marketing for your game store and identify what's working and what can be improved on, create a customized strategy

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01:00:01

MVP130: The Return of Erik Bigglestone, Website...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/04/03

Erik Bigglestone makes his return debut on the Manaverse Podcast to share his experience dealing with an ADA lawsuit last year and talk about ways for game stores to protect their businesses from predatory actors. We discuss how Games of Berkeley was targeted last year for an Accessibility claim out of New York, the pattern of certain plaintiffs and lawyers in serving businesses in the local game store community, why making your website accessible needs to be a high priority for every game store

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34:42

MVP129: The First 100 Days

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/03/29

Hypothesis: Customer Lifetime Value highly correlates to a high number of positive interactions within the first 100 days, and the likelihood of those interactions is highly correlated to to the quality of the experience in the first 100 seconds.Your game store may not be selling gym memberships, but games and hobbies are still part of your customer's lifestyles so that puts your store in a similar space. Find out what you can learn from a successful Crossfit gym and how the first 100 days of a

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51:19

MVP128: Cosmic Games and the Art of Selling Singles...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/03/29

We've got Adam Scholtz on the podcast. Adam is the owner of Cosmic Games in Bellingham. Cosmic Games is Bellingham's premier source for Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon Trading Card Game, Video Games and more.Links Mentioned for Cosmic Gameshttps://www.cosmicbham.com/https://www.facebook.com/cosmicbhamhttps://www.instagram.com/cosmicgamesbham/https://discord.gg/3aAVJj6tWnFriendly Local Game Store (affiliate link)Enrollment is officially open for the April 2023 Digital Marketing Bootcamp!We're taking

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53:21

MVP127: The Game Chest Is Raising The Bar On The...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/03/21

We've got Maryam Al-Hammami on the podcast. Maryam is the co-owner of The Game Chest, a four location local game store business in California. Maryam and I discuss what it takes for a game store to grow into a multi-location business, how making the in-store experience welcoming and diversifying your inventory can change everything, why hiring a great team is crucial to long term success, the merits of having your store inside a mall, and more.This is a great conversation for anyone that wants to

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01:13:11

MVP126: How David Finn Is Building A Giga Empire -...

The Manaverse Podcast ·

2023/03/08

We've got David Finn on the podcast. David is the owner of Giga-Bites Cafe in Marietta, near Atlanta. Giga-Bites Café was founded by David Finn 14 years ago and is the host for a gaming community of thousands, and is Atlanta's best stocked tabletop retail space. David is also the owner of Bridge Distribution specializing in a huge variety of hobby products. Links

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