Thief takes game store’s valuable Pokémon cards

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A business owner on the city’s south side on Friday morning reported a theft, saying a person stole thousands of dollars’ worth of Pokémon cards from his store.

Security footage captured the suspect breaking into Grandmaster Games and targeting valuable card collections.

The thief gained entry by breaking through a window and immediately went to a display case containing high-value cards.

The suspect bypassed six other display cases, making a direct route to the owner’s private collection, which included a One Piece card alone worth approximately $12,000. Other stolen cards are valued between $5,000 and $6,000 each.

Alex Bradshaw, owner of Grandmaster Games, said many people underestimate the value of such collectibles. “People think ‘cardboard,’ not really worth a lot. Except for these instances where a bunch of stuff gets taken. You can see the suspect trying to break into the display case, but couldn’t get it open.”

Bradshaw described the suspect’s actions inside the store. “He came over here to where our Pokémon cases are, and he smashed one of our cases that had our ungraded cards. Took the top row of those and moved on to graded cards.”

Approximately 60 Pokémon cards were stolen during the break-in, with their total value estimated to be between $10,000 and $15,000. The suspect was inside the store for only about five or six minutes.

Bradshaw thinks the suspect had prior knowledge of the store’s layout due to the targeted nature of the theft. “Because if you aren’t familiar with my store, you wouldn’t necessarily know to go to this display case because this has stuff of value.”

Grandmaster Games has been in business for about a decade, and it’s the first break-in the store has experienced.

Following the theft, Bradshaw is reconsidering how he displays his valuable collection. “I don’t know if I’m going to completely take this display down because there’s a lot of cool nostalgic stuff from the last 20 years — especially the Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! items. But the manga collection is definitely going into the safe. I realize having this stuff out makes me a target.”

With the PopCon Indy convention underway during the weekend at the downtown Indiana Convention Center, Bradshaw was concerned the stolen cards could easily be sold or concealed among other merchandise.

Despite the significant loss, Bradshaw has expressed a desire not to press charges. He attributes the theft to potential desperation and indicated he would rather offer assistance than punishment. “Nobody steals because they want to. They steal because they need to. Most of the time, people are at the end of the rope. They want something easy, which you can’t blame them for wanting something easy. If you need some help, most of us are willing to help one way or another.”

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department encouraged anyone with information regarding the theft to contact them.

Bradshaw said he simply wants his cards returned.