Approximately $300,000 (£236,000) worth of trading card game cards were allegedly stolen in Indianapolis, as images showed suspects taking a pallet loaded with boxes away.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD), this occurred on August 2, one day before the start of Gen Con 2023, which was hosted in the Indiana Convention Centre. The event is the biggest of its sort in North America and acts as a promotion of the “home of tabletop gaming” in the region.
“The people of interest reportedly acquired a pallet jack, removed one pallet of gaming cards, and moved them to an unknown location,” said the IMPD in its plea for anyone with information on the heist or the identity of the individuals in the images to get in contact.
“The alleged theft took place before the opening of events in the downtown area and while vendors were setting up their displays at various times,” it explained.
Ravensburger responded to Dicebreaker‘s report to confirm that the thieves did not secure any of the Lorcana stock. At Gen Con 2023, fans were waiting for tens of hours to purchase cards for Disney’s new trading card game. Queues for pre-release cards apparently sprawled out of the centre and onto the streets.
Cards such as these are extremely profitable. Earlier this year, a string of burglaries at trading card shops in Tokyo led to 8.5million yen (£52,980) in stock being stolen. On December 31, over 1.5million yen (£9,342) worth of Pokémon cards were lifted in a robbery at a store in Ikebukuro, with the thief completing the act in just 60 seconds.
In other gaming news, the developer of Disney Illusion Island shared that it would certainly continue working with Disney on “loads of ideas” about future collaborations.