Great shop! In from out of town. Dropped in based on our waiter's recommendation. Great selection,reasonable prices and a welcoming atmosphere. Trish was a pleasure to do business with. Will stop here every time I'm in town. read more

My fiancé and I came here from February 2025-2026 for weekly Magic the Gathering events and prereleases. I thought the owner was strict and treated people so harshly to protect players, but she just lacks any emotional regulation. For the smallest reasons, she'll start raising her voice and be aggressive, demeaning, and insulting. Those on the receiving end have to sit through a temper tantrum or snide remarks as they're effectively called stupid or accused of being malicious over misunderstandings. Everyone else has to awkwardly wait it out and be uncomfortable the rest of the event. This has happened every time, and kids are often playing Pokémon in the background so are subjected to her rants. She refuses to sell new or limited product to anyone but her regulars. We came here for a year and weren't close enough to buy the Lorwyn Eclipsed decks. Nobody asked her to hold them back, she was just in case they wanted them. She mentioned Wizards of the Coast has pride events leading up to pride month in 2025, but with a stink face said, "We don't do that kind of thing here." Combined with a Yelp reviewer saying she confronted them for asking about gay romance manga and a Google reviewer claiming trans discrimination, it seems likely that she just hates the LGBT community. She encourages players to not be nice and target the threat at the table. Being part of the game, it happens to everyone. It sucks, but most recognize why they were targeted. Yet when it happens to her, she becomes hostile. Being the owner, everyone has to back off or risk being kicked out. She's won before by pulling rank like this because we didn't want to be screamed at again and just stopped attacking her. It's incredibly hypocritical, and abusive to verbally attack people over a casual card game. It's not acceptable in any way. Also problematic is her playing in the first place. She's the owner. She's running the events, entering results, doing pairings for prereleases, acting as a judge, forcing everyone to wait if she needs to help a customer up front, knocking paying customers out of prizing and keeping any prize she 'wins' to herself. This is predatory and a clear conflict of interest. She refused to own up to any of this when I brought it up. I was calm and clear in my wording being that I didn't like being mistreated or seeing others mistreated, and wanted the store to have a more fun, welcoming environment. She responded to that constructive feedback by blocking me on Facebook and banning us both. This is why I've never seen anyone defend themselves in the store. She makes a big show of being Christian, yet discriminates against the LGBT community and treats people in general terribly. Then her response to someone pointing it out and asking her to improve is to block and ban them. No accountability, just hate. It's a shame, because they have plenty of product at fair prices. She just makes the store unbearable to be in. read more

AVOID THIS STORE AT ALL COSTS!!! I was there today and witnessed 2 men walk in to attend a tournament. It was scheduled to begin at noon but the owner changed the time the day before without notifying anyone. Apparently the owner has her own set of quirky rules which people that have dealt with her before know but those new to this shop learn the hard way; it seems you are supposed to know to check the store's FB page frequently right up to the time of a scheduled event to make sure it hasn't changed. (Important to note that the official notification from Bandai that was sent out the night before still showed it starting at noon)These 2 poor guys said they drove 90 minutes to get here & would've been early...but the previously posted time was moved up & they had no idea. The lady that owns the store immediately started yelling at these men for being late. Actually Yelling at them! The way she spoke to them was like nothing I've ever seen a shop owner do before. They stood there, kinda shocked..and asked why they weren't notified of the time change. It is also important to note here that they were both respectful & professional in the way they asked but the owner just lost it! It seems NO ONE is allowed to question her. She told them to get out of her store that they weren't welcome back there) Unbelievable! The younger guy just said "ok' and turned to walk out. Thats it..just 'ok we will leave'. They sure were much nicer than I would've been! I felt so bad for them. Anyhow this mentally unstable shop owner then started yelling at them FOR WALKING AWAY!! Apparently she wanted them to stay there while she kept insulting them & yelling. She started yelling that they could not leave until she was done saying what she wanted (which meant berating them loudly & in front of the whole store). They just walked out shaking their heads. To add insult to injury, a couple of hours later she sent a message to EVERYONE that was at the tournament complaining about these guys & saying that THEY were rude. I'm sorry but that is simply Not true. She also stated in the message that they were forever banned from her store & she would get them banned from all future stores & tournaments! Who does something like this??? Her behavior was disgraceful. This goes beyond unprofessional; She is unstable. I have never seen anything like this before. Do yourself a favor & Stay far far away from this place!!! read more

I went to go buy my friend some one piece boxes since I was in town, and the store owner didn't let me buy 3 .. even though I told her these were for my friend and I wanted one for myself. I tried explaining that to her as to Why I wanted to buy three, and she didn't really care to hear and was not budging to let me purchase 1 more for myself.... Anyways, I still ended up buying the stuff for my friend (2 one piece boxes) 1 op15 and 1 op16 and a few pokemon tins, and she also ripped the seals to the boxes. She kept saying that she needs to keep stuff "for her players" and she cant sell 3 boxes to a customer , and she also kept talking about scalpers this scalpers that kind of making me feel like she thinks im trying to scalp or something....then She says she sells (6) boxes to the players since they play..... and that her players come first, and this and that. I'm guessing she wants long term customers. Some people work on weekends so not everyone can Play. I've also came 2 times before and she sold me 1 op15 box before and we had a good encounter at that time , and i told her I've been here before and she didn't even recognize selling to me before even though we talked for a few minutes. Players shouldn't get special treatment and she shouldn't try pushing everyone to play. Some of us are just fans and like the art , anyways cool, I respected her decision for not wanting to sell 3 boxes to me. Op16 isn't that sought out for and theres not big margins in scalping 1 box even if I was to do so, but I wasn't doing that and she really made me feel like she thinks I'm trying to resell these boxes and I wasn't really feeling that at all. and even after I bought my friend his product She said I can come next week and buy a few more if I wanted to for myself. Next day my buddy messaged me and she told him that she doesnt want me to come to the store anymore. I saw my friend there playing one piece on sunday so she saw me talking to him. Texting someone that knows me to tell them about our encounter is extremely weird and unprofessional. She happily accepted my transaction of payment though and fake smiled and told me to come next week. This lady is flat out fake and two faced & doesn't care about the community in reality, she also kept talking to me about scalpers as if I was one or insinuating to me scalping or whatever. Very weird and judgy person she is! I understood though but to text my friend to tell them I am not welcomed again is flat out not cool and super weird, he has nothing to do with it and after the fact she told me to come next week if I wanted some more boxes. Makes me feel like she is all about the money and doesn't want my business anymore because she has enough or something. I don't know but she has issues for sure. At the end of the day these are just cards and its all for fun! Not everyone is a scalper. I will gladly take my business elsewhere! I rather go to GeekWorld and pay MSRP than to deal with that fake lady ever again. This happened on the 14th of June read more

Don't let your kids or anyone go here more than once. I'm visiting from across state for family and I went with a friend a day ago and got a pokémon pin collection box, the next day I went with my little brother and they wouldn't sell me anything because of the day before, it's crazy how they will not let anyone buy again on another day and ruin my little brothers experience. This is how you ruin a kids fun and now I gotta go back home tonight, WAY TO GO CASTLE! read more

TLDR Unpleasant, unwelcoming and overbearing owner. I Would NEVER recommend this shop. They definitely have a weird attitude towards non regulars / new customers you will see this is a common theme in other reviews. Much better shops in the area! I came for the MTG pre-release from the second I walked into this store it was weird and unwelcoming. The owner or whoever she is has an off-putting personality. I've been told this by other people but never had a bad experience myself till today. Well they were right... From the second I walked in "no outside drinks" ok fine i get it, then i sit down and "take your backpack off the table, no bags on the table" seriously? Almost just left at that point but whatever. Never in all my years has a game store owner or anyone for that matter said this to me and her excuse was germs. Really? DO you make these nerds wash their hands too? Seriously, grow up. The cherry on top was, they ran out of prerelease kits in the colors I was interested in but actually there was one left unfortunately for me the OWNER wanted to play it in her own store event! Idk where to even start with why that is so bad for your business... I could have stayed and played one of the other decks but everything combined I value my time too much to give these people any money. PUT your players first YOU'RE the host! read more

I'm willing to share my personal experience here. The owner is straight up intellectually dishonest and I personally recommend that nobody does business with her. I'm in the Pokémon Trading Card game community and I play at a highly competitive level for some context. I was actually banned from this store for some very ridiculous reasons. First one being that she falsely accused me of trying to make cash transactions with other players in her store, despite knowing I don't keep cash on me, and threatened to call the cops on me while I was negotiating a trade with another player. Secondly she accused me of having an "attitude problem" and that I was trying to force other players to play certain cards in their decks. For context I'm one of the better players in the area and my skill and humility have earned me respect in my community. I had suggested to another player to put a card in their deck to help them draw more cards, this player told me she prefers not to play it and I left it at that, I did not push it any further. Third, she completely disregards anything she doesn't like or agree with. She has a policy against players conceding in games before the game naturally concludes. I'm not too sure how frequently this policy is enforced but in any trading card game any player may concede at any point during any game or match for whatever reason and her policy blatantly disregards that right that we have as players in our respective communities. She also doesn't allow any formats to be played that aren't the official tournament standards. I had offered to play a fun format and teach it to another player but before he could answer she said she wouldn't allow the format in her store because it's not the official tournament rules. It shouldn't matter how people want to play the game as long as they are there and having fun but this woman wants to dictate how people have fun in her store. I've also heard many bad things about her from other players in my community. The store has a strict policy against profanity and I've heard rumors that the owner has yelled at players for saying the word "dang" in her store, not "damn" but "dang." She also makes a rule that she has to be there when players are discussing trades to ensure that the deals are fair for both parties. She said this policy only applies to trade deals involving minors but has also butted in to trade deals between me and adult players as well. She acts like we don't have our own personal cell phones and can't look up card prices ourselves. This next part happened at a tournament in the store. It was my first event at that specific store and I was excited to meet players in the community. The first round I'm playing against an inexperienced player who had her husband build her deck for her. I'm being extremely polite and helping her learn while still trying to win the game fairly. The owner walked up to the table and accused me of rushing my opponent when it was my turn and I was playing the game at a normal pace and even offered to let my opponent read what my cards did in order to ensure fair game play. I ended up winning the entire tournament but the behavior of the store owner detracted from the fun of getting to play the game and meet new people. Now that I'm writing everything out I feel this store owner just genuinely had it out for me and I'm honestly glad I'm banned from there. I also found out the owner genuinely has no human decency. So one of my friends in the area told me that the store owner banned his 4 year old daughter from the store because she accused the child of being in possession of alcoholic beverages when it was just a water bottle. I'm sorry but what kind of person would give a child alcohol, that allegation is just dishonest and for all I know she probably traumatized that child. Now if you've managed to read this all the way to the end, thank you for sticking with this. In short the owner is intellectually dishonest and is pretty much a dictator. I highly recommend that if you're ever in Tyler to avoid this store at all costs. I had moved to Tyler to attend college while being able to enjoy my hobby and this is the single worst store I've ever been to. I appreciate anyone who took the time to read this and I hope that those of you who did have a blessed day. read more

Always have a great time here. Never have to worry about price scalping and the Owner is always helpful and friendly. If you are into collecting or just want to find something you wouldn't typically find at other stores give this place a try. read more

This lady is amazingly patriotic to all Gamers and Military who are just passing through. Her prices are more than fair and she really knows her products! Thank you for a great experience in a small town . read more

The Castle - Japanese soda! - Hobby Shops Near Me - Tyler, Texas

Super friendly and helpful people. Was greeted when I entered and the employees helped me find everything I needed plus more. Super cool environment and lovely and lively people. Complementary gift wrapping for any purchase as well!!! Highly recommend read more

There are not many places in East Texas that cater to fans of anime and manga, so discovering a store like this was really cool! A large selection of merchandise, as well as Magic: The Gathering items to be had here. The owner is friendly, and they have tournaments in the backroom. You can come in with no experience in the game, as I did, and they will help teach you to play. Only real problem was locating the business at night, there is no light up sign indicating where they were. read more

The Castle - The front of the store. - Hobby Shops Near Me - Tyler, Texas

Extremely unprofessional owner. Was very rude to me, said that independent artists that design their own fanart and merchandise are thieves and hurt businesses like hers, all while having knock off merchandise in her store (mouse pads with obviously stolen art thats poorly scaled and pixelated as well as other items). The other reviews here talking about her prejudice and unprofessionalism are accurate. read more

My family and I went in to check stuff out and she has a pretty good variety of anime novelties and knows a lot about them. My husband had a few questions, she answered them quite well. She has excellent pricing and makes sure all her figurines are legit. Love this place! read more

Really weird place. I remember going here a couple years ago and I doubt I'd be coming back anytime soon. I'm a geek who loves playing Magic: The Gathering, so I decided to give this place a shot while I was in Tyler. I have to say, they do have a lot of merchandise, including a freakin' WALL OF SWORDS. But the staff and the people that local gamers were just... weird. I don't know how to describe it, but it was a very strange vibe. Prices were decent, but every interaction I had was just awkward. My buddy and I were uncomfortable the entire time. read more

There is no way to give this place a negative star on here. Because the owner was completely rude and insulting. She seemed all nice at first but then completely went mental. I warn anyone that is thinking about going to this store to think again. The prices are completely way over the top and the owner isn't someone with customer service standards! read more

the castle was amazing!fun to play in and the owner was very nice.the prices at the shop are more than reasonable,plus thy even have food and drinks.if your looking for a place to go to play a card game or almost any game at all go to the castle.ive been to all the different card shops in town,and the castle is diffently the best one.when I first got into mtg I was taught by the owner who is super nice and even gave my dad and I a free deck when we first got into pokemon.and the players are very friendly as well.plus the shop is super cool. read more

It smell terrible, rude employees, too pricey!!! Some mangas are ripped but they say it's new!!!

I have been going here with my husband for the past 4 years. I was welcomed immediately by the owner Mrs.Trish. She introduced me to the different card games and helped me learn how to play. She always made me feel comfortable while I was there. It is a very family friendly place to visit. I wouldn't bring my kids to other places in town but love bringing them to the Castle! read more

Prices are too high. If you bring up lower pricings online for comparison, you will threatened to be kicked you out and possibly banned from the store. I will never go back in there again. Crappy location on the outskirts of Tyler and its hard to find. Much better suited to go Geek World. read more

You had better have extremely deep pockets if you want to buy anything here. Very cool merchandise however, but with the prices, you would be better off ordering them online. The lady who runs the business can either be very kind, or extremely rude. The only thing this place has going for them is wonderful merchandise. Their selection of anime and Magic cards is simply phenomenal. So if you have money to spare and want to take the risk of somewhat rude service, then go for it! I know that my merchandise was great, just severely overpriced. read more

I'm glad that I finally found this shop on Yelp, as I was unable to when I visited the store back in 2018. If it was possible to leave no stars, I would. I came here when I was first getting into anime and manga. I was very excited to see so much merch, as this was the only place that sold anything anime at the time. Everything seemed grossly overpriced, but the owner seemed nice at first, though her son did constantly watch me like he thought I planned to steal something. However, that quickly changed when I asked about a manga I was looking for--a boy's love story that I had looked all over for. She told me no, she didn't have it. So I thanked her and left when I was done browsing. I got halfway to my car, when she followed me out and said, with a very rude tone and a scowl, "You do realize that is a /yaoi/ right? That is two males together. We don't sell that here." I found it very disrespectful, as she did not act the same way when I asked her about a different, non-male romance, manga series before I left the shop. It was not only unprofessional, but also very rude. I haven't returned since and I do not plan to. read more

Wow this place is awful has no customer service at all! The owners son is always on his phone following you around to make sure you don't steal anything. Doesn't even ask you if you need help with anything just stares at you. They never know the price of anything and always have to look it up in the back which typically takes around 5-10 minutes before you get any info back. This place could have potential if it had new staff. So disappointed!!! read more