TCG Card Shop Simulator Review

TCG Card Shop Simulator is still in Game Preview/Early Access with an extensive roadmap with more to come. The score for this review is reflective of what is available now.

TCG Card Shop Simulator recently dropped onto Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S under the Game Preview umbrella. It’s important to note that when games are released as game previews on the Xbox family of consoles, the experience isn’t always complete. There has been significant hype surrounding this game since its early access launch on PC in 2024. The game is still very much in the early access phase with a very transparent roadmap of what the development team are hoping to achieve in the near future. This hasn’t prevented the game from accumulating over thirty thousand reviews that collectively score it as overwhelmingly positive.

If you have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Premium or PC subscription, then the game is available to download at your convenience. Not only this, the game fully utilises that Xbox Play Anywhere functionality, so if you choose to purchase it as well, then you can play across any of your devices that can access your Xbox library, including handhelds.

A Simple Gameplay Loop That Reels You In Fast

TCG Card Shop Simulator is a very simple premise that sucks you into an extremely addictive gameplay loop. You start by naming your store whatever you fancy, with a nearly empty building. Every business has started from the bottom and grown, and that is exactly what you’ll do here. Order stock from suppliers, unpack the deliveries, stock the shelves, decide the pricing, and check out customers. Driving profits from sales will get you slowly off the ground to gradually expand the floor space in your shop and start hiring staff to do some of the work for you.

There were several occasions where I booted the game up with the intention of doing a quick half hour, only to still be going four hours down the line. A second addiction draws in from opening packs of cards and building your personal collection. You can choose to sell the most lucrative cards by displaying them in your store. Cards can even be sent off to be graded to potentially be worth more in the long run, but this can be a lengthy process at the start

Trade Cards, Level Up Your Shop & Deal With Stinking Customers

Running a business isn’t just about selling products. It’s also about other opportunities to make money. During your opening hours, you’ll have customers approaching you to flog you cards from their personal collection and also potentially trade. Some haggling will get you some great deals to make huge profits, whereas some will be stubborn and won’t budge on price.

Part of the daily operation of running the store is keeping an eye on the pricing structure. The market value of packs of cards, individual cards and other stock prices will fluctuate daily. There is also a handy feature to box all the low-value cards into boxes to flog on, so you don’t accumulate too much in your personal binders.

As you level up the store, you’ll unlock more stock, furniture and decorative items to purchase for the shop. Staff will be able to be hired as well to help stock, serve and sort your cards. You’ll want to stock plenty of deodorant, as you’ll encounter many issues with body odour, which can be quite overwhelming at times. There are dispensers that you can place strategically in the store to combat the pong.

A Promising Roadmap Of More To Come

With the game being very much in Early Access territory, there is more on the way. Loading the game up has a handy roadmap checklist on the main screen. This includes more shop product types, more TCG types and even the ability to play with the cards. Ambitious work for an already well-grounded experience that will only enhance the game’s replayability and longevity, and I’m all for it.

Functional Presentation That Gets the Job Done

For my playtime on Xbox Series X, which is well over the thirty-hour mark now, I have had no issues whatsoever. Load times are almost instant, framerate is stable, and I experienced no crashes. Game functionality is as you’d expect from a simulator-style title. Whilst it isn’t as vast as something like Supermarket Simulator, the ambitions to keep expanding the game are clear with their roadmap.

I was surprisingly impressed with the Tetramon fictional card designs. There is clear inspiration taken from real-life trading card games. Having a unique card set that looks very Pokémon-esque, that you can collect yourself and browse the card designs at your own leisure, is a lovely touch. NPCs that visit your shop are very robotic, and you’ll see the same faces quite often. Running a trading card shop is full on, though, and you’ll be too busy to notice. Shop customisation is decent, but it does have some limitations. You can position all your furnishings however you like, expand and decorate, but I would like to see more options to make your shop your very own. I believe this is pencilled in on the developer’s roadmap for a future update.

Final Thoughts

TCG Card Shop Simulator has its hooks in me, and it’s a game I just can’t put down. The blend of operating a fully fledged business whilst building your own card collection is truly addictive. Hours feel like minutes when playing this, and if you have played games like Supermarket Simulator, you’ll see some similarities in how it plays.

If you’re someone who loves trading card games or simply the logistics of managing and building your own business, then you’ll love the endless hours you can have here. Players on Xbox have the convenience of being able to play it as part of an Xbox Game Pass subscription. Honestly, though, if I had picked up this game with my own money, I wouldn’t have regretted my purchase. You can pick up a copy for the Xbox family of consoles HERE.