Gen Con Card 2023 heist: Thieves steal $300,000 worth gaming cards from show floor

San Francisco: Thieves have stolen up to $300,000 worth of gaming cards at Gen Con 2023 - the largest gaming convention in North America.

Just before the start of the 2023 Gen Con gaming conference at the Indiana Convention Centre and Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis, thieves fled with a pallet of gaming cards on August 2, reports IndyStar.

According to Indianapolis Metro Police, the thieves used a pallet jack to remove the cards.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) on X shared pictures asking for help from the public to identify two people caught on surveillance video taking the pallet, and wrote: "IMPD detectives are seeking the public’s help in identifying two people of interest possibly involved in a theft of upwards to $300,000 worth of gaming cards."

According to Craig Casares, assistant manager at Good Games, a board game store at 111 S. Meridian St. in Indianapolis, taking an entire pallet from a Gen Con setup area is pretty brazen.

“It’s more common to have theft of decks or collections and attempting to sell those than it would be to steal a pallet,” Casares said.

“The amount of either courage or bluffing skills that someone would have to have to just walk into Gen Con and take a pallet and no one stops them... I don’t think anybody I know would have the nerve to go in and do that,” he added.

Gen Con 2023 convention took place from Aug 3 to 6.

This is not the only card game theft in the Indianapolis area.

In May, local media reported that a thief broke into a gaming store in Brownsburg and stole about $15,000 worth of Magic: the Gathering cards.