Four Million Players Later, TCG Card Shop Simulator Finally Lets You Play Tetramon

Two years after a single developer launched a fake card shop on Steam, TCG Card Shop Simulator has exited Early Access, with a 1.0 build now available for PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5, Switch, and Switch 2. Ding Shen Sia of OPNeon Games began the project after burning out on mobile work in 2023, expecting that Steam Trading Cards would be enough of an incentive to ship. The store sold 100,000 copies in three days and eventually surpassed four million players.

You’re starting with a basic cash register and shelf. Boxes of Tetramon booster packs continue to arrive, and you grab them, setting a daily price on your phone, and clients begin to come in. Scanning the packs and throwing out change provides a pleasant click that keeps the game going. Some people simply grab two packs and leave, while others try to undercut you for a discount, and then there are those who stroll in with a stinky cloud over their heads, so you must clean up after them or they will frighten away all the other customers.

Profits continue to flow in, allowing you to expand with additional floor space, extra shelves, a few play tables, some fun plush toys to sell, sleeves and dice, and, eventually, a staff to help you manage all the chaos as you crack open those boxes yourself. As your shop expands, you’ll notice more customer comments, card exchanges, new slabs and scanners, and, of course, tournaments. Your sellable products have more than doubled, increasing from 77 to 111, and you now have 43 different types of furniture and decorations, not to mention all of the community posters on the walls (273 decorations and 55 contest posters).

Opening those boxes is, of course, the second half of the job. You can save those rare and holographic Tetramon cards in a binder, grade them and sell them for a profit, or simply restock the shelves. Values fluctuate, but that’s what keeps it all exciting, right? People stay for hours after the shop has been able to function because they adore searching for those perfect sets and locating that elusive foil. When you release the Ascension expansion, you gain 1,452 new cards with cool full-illustrated backgrounds, increasing the total to 4,436 cards.

When your shop reaches level 7, you can finally set up a tiny workstation, grab a rulebook, and do what everyone has been waiting for: play Tetramon. Your match lasts approximately 3-5 minutes against a customer at a table, while your shop continues to operate in the background. You build a 50-card deck with a four-copy limit, draw five cards, take one mulligan, and begin with 500 Tamer Points.

The four elemental zones sit on the table: Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind. The top four cards of your deck are face down as a Guardian Area until you take damage, and play effects begin to fire when your Tetramons strike the board, ranging from extra draws to stat increases that last a turn. If you like, you can simply duplicate your deck list and share it with a friend, select a cool playmat and deck box, and if you’re feeling up to it, you can host a tournament and even keep the prize money if your team does well. Unfortunately, multiplayer is still not available for the time being, but at least your old saves from version 0.70 will be carried over.