Enter at own risk! Serious warning after a terrifying experience. I've gone to Triple Play for Magic cards for a while. One employee, a large pale man with dark circles under his eyes, has always been unnerving and creepy. He'd always stare at me as soon as I entered the store and follow me uncomfortably close. When visiting the store with friends, they confirmed seeing the behaviour, but hadn't themselves experienced this degree of scrutiny, nor did they see this directed towards most other customers. The only visual difference between myself and my friends, and the customers he didn't leer at, as much as it pains me to say, seems to be that I have dark skin, and they do not. Recently, I visited Triple Play because a friend wanted to buy a card for me. I removed the card from a binder and held it carefully in one hand. I bent over to look at some other merchandise and suddenly, the creepy employee asked me, in front of everyone in the store and quite loudly, if I had stolen something. I said no, then he demanded that I show him my pockets. I thought maybe my phone looked suspicious, so I took that out and he just demanded that I show him my pockets again. I removed the contents of my pocket and he repeated himself, so I awkwardly held everything in my hand while trying to expose the actual pocket. He wanted me to do the same with the other pocket; due to my hands being full and trying to fulfil his request, I accidentally dropped everything on to the floor. I managed to gather my items, show him my other pocket, and handed him the contents and the card my friend was going to buy (the one from my hand). The whole time, I was terrified. The last time I'd been accused of stealing was in the United States, which resulted in a hospital stay after the police got involved (even though they admitted I didn't steal anything afterwards). After that experience, all I wanted to do was get out of the store safely; I didn't dare to try and risk explaining anything to him, as I know what can happen if you try and speak up. Smugly, he said that two of the cards had Triple Play's price stickers on them and asked me to leave the store. It's obvious that the card my friend was going to buy for me had a price sticker on it; I was holding it to buy. My friend had given the other card to me after trading earlier in the day. It was an inexpensive card still in the original sleeve because she hadn't used it after buying a while ago. So, Triple Play essentially stole what she bought from them. It's also worth mentioning that there was a white couple in the store at the same time as me going through dozens of cards, taking them out of binders, holding them, sorting, stacking them, and the creepy employee never leered at them or hovered, just with me. My friend was extremely confused during the encounter and says she saw the card that she was going to buy for me in my hand while the employee was accusing me (she was in the best position to see it). She just didn't know that he was accusing me of taking that specific card until later. It's awful having people judge you because of your appearance. I thought it was a good idea to buy local whenever possible, even though Magic products online are much cheaper, and all it got me was the ire of a bigoted employee. Shame on me for trying to support local businesses, I guess. Initially, I wasn't going to say anything about my experience, as I was too scared to make an issue out of the situation; it was at my friends' urging that I do so. I'm sure many 5-star reviews around the web for this store are genuine, but that'd make sense considering that most customers are white, in combination with the other employees, who seem to be decent. However, I suggest finding somewhere else to shop, like the other game store in the city. I like to believe most people wouldn't support a store that hires employees who take pleasure in hurting others. But, if that's something you agree with, then you've certainly found the right place to shop. read more

Triple Play - Store front - Tabletop Games Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

This was a great find. Smallish game store, but it is packed full of options. When you walk in, there are two full rows of games to the left, a bit of models for gaming, and a small area to the right for sports memorabilia and collectibles. In the back half of the store there were tables set up for people to come in and game. In fact, there were a couple of people there when we came in. The gentleman behind the counter was very friendly and happy to look up games for us. Prices were reasonable and felt like they were comparable to other games stores I've been to. This is the only game store I went to in Victoria, so I can't compare with other shops, but this one was a good one. read more

Triple Play - Front entrance - Tabletop Games Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

See all

TL,DR: All products marked up from online options, sleazy bathroom, and one very, very bad staff member. Triple play carries a large selection of board games and card singles, but they all could be purchased for far, far less online, even with shipping costs. After my latest experience, I will not be tending to my magic or gaming needs with this business. I begun my visit by making use of their public bathroom. I found it in an abhorrent state for a place that doesn't sell fast food or petrol. The floor was covered in a tacky, sticky film, the composition of which I would prefer not to guess at. But when you've got to go, you've got to go. A quick scan of the small room made me glad that I did not have to change my sanitary feminine product at that time, as the garbage can did not have a bag in it, and as it was positioned right below the paper towel, they likely intended to recycle the contents when emptying it. The wall behind the can, nonetheless had suspicious brown-red spatter on it (gross at best, and a biohazard all the same), and the walls beside and behind the sink were coated in a grayish sludge from water dripping off freshly washed hands. This surely took months to accumulate. After finishing my business, I set about to wash my hands as well as I could. But, between the empty soap pump and having to dig into the dust covered hanging wall dispenser for the last bit of paper towel, I was left feeling unclean. I returned to the storefront to peruse the binders for low-cost cards to purchase whilst my friend browsed their higher cost binders at the counter next to an older but not old couple. I noticed the portly, light haired staff member hovering closely to my friend as he looked for something to purchase. Though the older couple were selecting quite a few cards adding up to a not insignificant value, he watched my friend with a distrustful focus, to the point where he did not notice when I attempted to alert him to the dire state of the restroom. My friends and I had noticed this behaviour from this cashier before, and normally would not visit the store while he was on shift, but there were specific cards in their binders which we had decided to buy after making some card trades with each other earlier in the day. I had promised my friend a set amount of value in cards when he had more trades I was interested in than I had on offer. He had a number of gold bordered cards from my collection, as well as a variety of cards in their original sleeves that I had purchased (but never used) from both triple play and yellow jacket. My friend selected one of the cards from the binder and held it in his palm to prevent damage, and to show me what he had selected. And then, after months of odd and unnerving behaviour from the cashier whenever we would visit, it finally happened. He accused my friend of stealing the card which I could clearly see in his hand. I was mortified; theft of any kind was so far out of character for this friend, who had even returned to restaurants to correct them not charging him for add-ons in the past. It felt like a situation out of the twilight zone, and didn't feel real. I watched confused as the clerk demanded my friend empty his pockets while my friend shook with terror and wound up dropping the cards chosen earlier in trades, as well as everything else in his pocket, from keys, cards, lint, and phone. This, of course revealed the card which he had just selected to be among everything which had been dropped. The clerk took the selected card (and I would later learn also the copy of Portent I had traded him earlier), and stated that as these cards all had "our" price stickers on them (they aren't even the only seller in town who use white price stickers), confiscated, them and demanded my friend leave. I left with my friend at that time, and left behind anything I had intended to purchase. My friend was too upset at the time to discuss with me what had just happened, and asked to be left alone. It wouldn't be until later that I learned that this friend had been the victim of police brutality in the Southern US over a similar incident where the clerk laid false claims of theft, and that he was terrified of it happening again. Which is why what happened next was a great embarrassment in hindsight. I returned apologised to the clerk. I explained that my friend had never engaged in behaviour like that before, that maybe he was in the wrong mind due to grief over recently losing his mother, that it didn't make sense he would do something of the sort when he would insist on driving half an hour back to a restaurant over a bill missing a three dollar glass of juice. Now, though it's written in law that an apology is not an admission of guilt, thinking that my words affirmed the actions of this person, knowing that I gave him confirmation to continue to target black customers in the future leaves a foul aftertaste in my mouth. If you are non-white, don't shop here. read more

Insane cashier here, be careful! Triple Play Games used to be a clean and comfortable place to pick out magic cards, but when I came here with my friend a few days ago to get some stuff, I was shocked at what the cashier (a rather large white man) did. My friend has experienced a lot of racism due to being dark-skinned, but he thought it would be better in Canada. Unfortunately the trashy, obviously racist cashier thought he saw my friend stealing a Magic card, when he was really just scratching his butt. So the cashier kept demanding my friend empty his pockets. My friend took out the items from his pockets and the card he was holding got mixed in with it. The cashier accused him of stealing the cards that were in his pockets, even though my friend had them in his pockets before entering the store, and told him to leave. There was a white couple in the store that he was barely watching and treating very respectfully. Any place that would hire an obvious racist like this guy is a pretty trashy spot, and I don't think my friends and I will be returning to Triple Play in the future. Avoid this place! read more