GameStop’s annual “Trade Anything Day” has always been a gamble, but this year it turned into a full-blown spectacle. The promotion was simple: bring anything to a GameStop store and get five dollars in store credit. That small incentive was enough to summon a parade of customers carrying objects that ranged from nostalgic to nightmarish. Employees braced for what some jokingly called “the closest thing to a garage sale hosted in a video game store,” and they were not wrong.
What made the event even funnier was the contrast. Earlier in the year, a customer walked into a Texas GameStop with a PSA-graded holographic Pokémon card and walked out with over thirty thousand dollars. So while one lucky collector cashed in enough to pay for a small car, the average Trade Anything participant spent the day trying to turn questionable objects into a five-dollar coupon. The energy was pure chaos, and honestly, kind of beautiful.
Some customers treated the promotion like a clean-out-your-basement challenge. Others saw it as a chance to test the limits of GameStop’s patience. A few treated it like performance art. The end result was a mix of confusion, comedy, and credit-card-machine beeps.
Here are some of the actual items reported to have been offered or accepted during Trade Anything Day:
• A taxidermied bobcat
• A fully stuffed goose
• A collection of creepy porcelain dolls
• A dog portrait
• A bag of vintage Air Jordans
• A broken 20 MPH speed-limit sign
• A Wii Netflix disc
• VHS tapes from no one’s childhood
• Flip phones
• Dusty cartridges from unknown consoles
• A can labeled “whoop-ass”
• Entire boxes of mismatched power cords
• An expired Blockbuster membership card
Walking into a GameStop on Trade Anything Day felt less like retail and more like entering a traveling carnival. Employees reportedly spent the day judging items like an Olympic sport: too hazardous, too smelly, too confusing, or just barely acceptable. Every store had at least one moment that made someone mutter, “I need to lie down after this.”
What kept the event charming is how committed people are to the bit. Five dollars won’t change anyone’s life, but the bragging rights of trading in a stuffed goose for store credit? Priceless. Meanwhile, GameStop gets a flood of social media attention, customers walk away entertained, and employees get a story to tell their friends — whether they wanted one or not.
Trade Anything Day may not had made you rich, but if you’ve ever wanted to turn your junk drawer into a video game discount, this is the closest you’ll get. Just don’t be surprised if the person in line ahead of you is holding something that looks like it belongs in a museum, a landfill, or a police evidence locker. At GameStop, all three are possible.
And can someone please tell me how that bobcat fit in a 20 x 20 x 20 box?
