Bummer. There are a few other good deals scattered around, though.

As some of you know Kmart has a ton of VG Credit offers when buying select games going on. One of them is for Epic Mickey. Buy the "pre-order*" for $5 and you get a $15 VG credit towards another purchase during a select timeframe.

Anyway, I bought it today and it kicked out an additional $10 credit valid 10/3-10/16. So $25 in credit for $5. YMMV on that one, but since the credit is valid starting tomorrow, my guess is that goes away today. Pure guess though.

Also it comes in a Wii case if you are in need of a spare.

*they don't do pre-orders, so you are essentially buying a coupon.

Man, that Kmart thread on CAG is a treasure trove of deals.

For this week at K-mart:
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow $20 Gaming Coupon
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West $25 Gaming Coupon
NBA Jam $15 gaming coupon
NBA 2k11 $20 Gaming Coupon

Blows Amazon out of the water on all of those.

So these are release week deals, correct? Not pre-order deals?

I've never had to worry about Kmart because of Amazon, but Amazon's dropping the ball lately on it's bonus bucks. I wasn't thinking about Enslaved right away but with the $25 coupon and 2K11 coming out the same day that certainly seems like the way to go. Can I turn around and use the coupons on the same day?

Correct. Release week deal, no pre-order needed.

I'm unsure of the same day question. I bought Epic Mickey (is a pre-order deal, above) and Plants vs. Zombies over the weekend and the coupons those spit out have specific 'valid' dates on them. You might check CAG for more info.

the Kmart gaming coupon is for a future purchase, correct?

Future purchase. Yes.

thanks jd.

The question is where to do this now since TRU is having the B1G1 next week as well.

For example @ Kmart:

Enslaved $60
NBA2K11 $35 ($60 - $25)
Castlevania $40 ($60 - $20)

= $135 + tax (w/ a $20 future coupon)


@ TRU (or if your BB matches, preferably)

= $120 + tax (and I think you'd earn a $5 RZ coupon at BB w/ a match)


The problem with TRU is always whether or not they'll actually have the titles you want in stock. With KMart you're limited to those new releases. If my BB matches again, they've also been very good about swapping out titles later... which would mean I could pickup Fallout New Vegas instead of say God of Vania.

There is a delay in the coupon being activated, so you won't be able to use the coupons until next week, after these sales are over, and are good for either 30 or 45 days. The good news is that there are a ton of sales coming up, next week is MOH and Lucha Libre with 25 coupons and Super Scribblenauts with a 15. Take a look at the upcoming sales and make sure there's something you want before the coupon expires before you buy. For instance, Fallout New Vegas will also come with a $20 coupon.

The warning with this is that while the SHC guys (who post on CAG) are doing a great job with the promotions and follow up, you'll still be going into a Kmart. More than half that thread on CAG is about bad customer experiences trying to give Kmart money for games (the rest are usually posts from people who haven't read the original post carefully, and thus ask the same questions over and over).

Ugh. That kind of takes the fun out of it. I didn't want to make more trips to Kmart than necessary.

Are these credits only available for in-store usage or can you do everything online?

Our K-Mart was one of the locations closed during that mass-closings spree a few years back.

I have two Kmarts near me. One is a complete disaster (visually) and the other is a pile of shit. Luckily the disaster store hasn't treated me bad yet and once the TRU deal ends, Kmart will still be giving away these credits.

Looks like online works as well. The CAG thread suggests that the coupon code will be emailed to you.

I hope TRU plans on having Castlevania and Halo: Reach in stock next week. The last time they had a B2G1 I wound up settling on a game I wasn't entirely sold on and it wound up going to waste (Infamous).

And the Kmarts around me make me wonder, time and time again, how they were ever a "big" store. Most poorly run POS I've ever seen.

That's my concern. I have two I want, Enslaved and Castlevania and not a third. At least with the K-mart credit you can just use it on Live/Wii/PSN point cards if you can't find a game.

I could do any three of FIFA11, NBA2K11, Enslaved and Castlevania. I could also use a place holder for Fallout.

At the same time I could just settle for NBA and Enslaved.

I wonder how placeholders are going to work this year at the TRU sale... I didn't do it last year after nearly getting rejected the year before.

^^ Not sure, but won't Walmart take games back w/out a receipt? I know, not entirely ethical...

Is it partially ethical?

Sure. They get a game back and you get some credit. Win/win

I have much better luck with swapping out future releases by matching at BB. I just ask upfront if they do the match (mine always says yes) and then I ask how best to exchange one of the three for a future release. YMMV, of course. But if you haven't had this conversation with your BB, I encourage you to do so. They're almost always more reasonable than TRU.

I never thought I'd say this, but Kmart has been getting all my business over the last 6-8 weeks - these coupons rock. I'd do the TRU sale, but the closest one is like an hour away, so it's not worth it. I have $75 in coupons to use on Enslaved, NBA Jam, and NBA 2K11. That will net me another $60 for the next round of games.

I have a $100 Amazon credit coming (great place to trade in games, btw...got more than I paid for for some used ones) and I'm really hoping they do a B2G1 to match. Halo Reach, Dead Rising 2 and Enslaved would be great.

When does the TRU thing start?