by Thomas Traplin | Jun 13, 2025 | Podcasts
Mikah, the founder of SortSwift and MTech Cave, comes onto the Manaverse Podcast to talk about his journey from running a phone repair shop to building cutting-edge tools for the collectible card game industry. Mikah shares how his business evolved from selling Magic:... 
by Thomas Traplin | Jun 7, 2025 | Podcasts
In this episode of the Manaverse Podcast, Douglas Johnson (DJ) and I discuss the recent turmoil surrounding TCG Player and eBay. TCG Player recently announced the closure of it's Syracuse authentication center and the firing of 220 employees, right as the union was... 
by Thomas Traplin | Jun 4, 2025 | Podcasts
In this episode of the Manaverse podcast, we explore a variety of low-cost yet highly effective marketing strategies to help you increase the visibility and customer base of your friendly local game store. Inspired by a question from the Opening a Table Game Store... 
by Thomas Traplin | Apr 29, 2025 | Podcasts
In this episode of the Manaverse Podcast, we sit down with Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases and expert in small business PR, to dive deep into how local game stores can harness the power of press releases and media outreach to grow their customer base and boost... 
by Thomas Traplin | Apr 8, 2025 | Podcasts
In this episode of the Manaverse Podcast, I’m joined once again by Kylie Prymus, the owner of Games Unlimited in Pittsburgh — one of the oldest game stores in the U.S. We dig into the current state of the board game industry, the tension between CCGs and board games,... 
by Thomas Traplin | Mar 7, 2025 | Articles, Marketing
Love it or hate it, sending emails for your game store is a great way to stay connected to your customers and drive sales in store and online. Even if you think email is dead and you’re someone who unsubscribes from every email newsletter that finds it’s... 
by Thomas Traplin | Mar 4, 2025 | Articles, Marketing
As a tabletop game retailer, you’re in the business of selling storytelling and shared experiences. You are a purveyor of good times. A connoisseur of fun with friends and family. A dispenser of quests and epic adventures. You’re selling products that I would argue... 
by Thomas Traplin | Oct 28, 2024 | Marketing
“There are 3 kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” -Mark Twain When you’re running a game store, it’s easy to zero in on specific metrics or products. You see a particular board game sitting on the shelf for months, and your instinct is to... 
by Thomas Traplin | Oct 1, 2024 | Community
It’s been a while since I’ve seen this much controversy in the Magic community. Wizards of the Coast recently announced that they would be taking over the duties of the Commander Rules Committee after the ban update from last week resulted in a backlash... 
by Thomas Traplin | Sep 20, 2024 | Podcasts
In this special update episode of the Manaverse Podcast, host Tom Traplin sits down with Blake Hawkey, one of the co-founders of 2nd Hand Geek. Together, they discuss the evolution of the platform since its inception, the exciting new features available, and how the...