FuncoLand Training Video (Part 1)

Part 1 of FuncoLand (now called GameStop) Training Video circa 1998. Reveals the G.A.M.E.S. sales process and why you were offered a cleaning kit with every purchase.

[@ShortFingeredShreder]

I miss FuncoLand, it was a unique store. When I was a kid, someone murdered 2 people in my local FuncoLand. Oh, the memories.

[@yaywhewclips242]

+ShortFingeredShreder never heard of Funcoland

[@ShortFingeredShreder]

***** Yep. My local Funcoland was in Roxbury, NJ. One night, a teenager entered the store and murdered 2 people in it. Just search "FuncoLand murders" in Google, and you should find some articles about it. I believe it was in 2002.

[@InJonWeTrust]

and I live somewhat close to Roxbury, never heard of that. gonna look it up

[@eldendrove]

Same FuncoLand in Roseville, MN was my second home Snes, Nes and Playstation the good days when owning a console made sense.

[@vaddix9980]

Omar Thomas waas innocent!

[@vejymonsta3006]

idk what's creepier. The big guy in the high chair laughing like a robotic santa or the fact that this is a training video.

[@unexploredtexas5497]

I think John Wayne GAY-cy here takes the cake

[@Gameboy-Unboxings]

@@unexploredtexas5497 😆😆 wtf

[@EDGar-wi6np]

I worked at a funcoland in east side San Jose California in 99. So much crazy shit would go on in that place. Games would fly off shelves when nobody was in the store, the gaming tv’s would turn on and off and the volumes would go up and down by their selves, the bathroom door in the back office would open and shut loudly. One of the girls I worked with quit cause she told our manger she seen a shadowy figure standing in the doorway of the bathroom After closing hours.

[@shadowops258]

The one by Eastridge mall? I used to go there all the time when I was younger, and they had the pizza place, haircut place, and supermarket store. Loved that Funcoland

[@EnigmaticJay]

Funcoland will always have a special place in my heart, it's the establishment where I played the original PlayStation & Soul Blade for the very first time. I remember when I would go there during weekends just to play.

[@oldbrokenhands]

Best acid trip ever.

[@andreww1212]

All of these corporate training videos are the same. Steps, procedures and acronyms that don't meant anything in real life. Seems to be degrading to both the customers and employees. No wonder why retail is dying. No one wants to deal with this bullshit.

[@cadelfowl7724]

After recently working in a dying retail store, this video wants to make me kill myself. All of this stupid bullshit about acronyms & etc that, as you said, don't apply to real life. These videos are often produced by out of touch corporate executive committee boards that haven't spent a day of their life behind a register or working in a retail store, so to them, a customer in the store is a guaranteed sale unless an employee "does something wrong". The best salesman to a customer is the customer itself.

[@migueldeltoral7301]

Thaaaaaats capitalism for ya! Creating meaningless, soulless, degrading, monotonous, pointless jobs that make people miserable just to rake in profit that those workers will never see in the entire time they work there....then when the workers naturally (and eventually) lose morale and happiness are called lazy and are told by management to be "thankful" to even have their job, what a system eh?

[@aaro1268]

That's most minimum-wage low skill jobs. You're just there to go through motions to ensure that money is not lost. Corporate expects you to follow programming unless you eventually get into a white-collar position where you have some autonomy. I like to call it wage-slavery because you're there to patronize and offer services. People often get trapped in it if they can't get a degree or promotion to better roles they can leverage when applying at new companies.

[@jonnda]

Miguel Del Toral Well, to be fair, if it was communism... The state would have to artificially create a meaningless soulless degrading jobs, just to make sure every citizen has a job. Heck, you might even get reassigned to a different job against your will. A bank teller before the revolution, might be forced to work as a farmer after communism, because someone thought it was a good idea to shoot all the successful wealthy farmers or exile them to Siberia.

[@8ight8ight12]

@@jonnda Agreed. Blaming capitalism is a lazy deflection. If you're stuck in a shit retail job it's your own damned fault.

[@foch41]

if a salesman came at me like that I would leave and never come back

[@corsaircarl9582]

Love how these companies had a hard-on for those cleaning kits, those were USELESS. Just some light cleaning spray and a q-tip cleans the cartridges and contacts on the system easily.

[@rojman123]

They sure ask a lot for a minimum wage job

[@HerecomestheCalavera]

Yep and no matter how much you do it is never enough. He could have sold 100 cleaning kits in a day and the boss would have just said "Well if you'd try harder you could have sold 200"

[@williamgatesenson]

most of them do

[@JerryTerrifying]

The more you're paid the less you do. I have tremendous respect for anyone doing minimum wage work because they're working their asses most of the time.

[@piscesdreams1023]

Upsell like your soul means nothing. That's what I learned from this video.

[@KiloByte69]

Please, Adam, no whining.

[@Alyks_the_Emerald_Sage]

You sure you're not talking about Gamestop?

[@GJones712]

This is fucking amazing. Citizen Kane level cinematography.

[@thornage2333]

The cost to make this video and pay the actors is 10$

[@piscesdreams1023]

And that is 2015 dollars. Adjusting for inflation, this costed about $6.76 in 1997.

[@GeeksByTheCreek]

Former Gamestop manager here. The bizarre dude is actually Chuck Simmons. He was eventually the sales director and wore many hats. I don't know if he would have gotten paid extra for this. Maybe not even $10 dollars. He was with the company from jump, I believe. He'd call stores that had bad numbers for cleaner and Game Informer sub sales and most of the time offer incentives like cash or pizza for the store or top sales. This was very much a real thing.

[@Graymenn]

those cleaning kits were garbage... they damaged the frikn disc

[@whynotanyting]

I can't believe Adam forgot the FuncoLand 90 warranty, a FuncoLand fundamental.

[@freakyfornash]

I love the Nintendo 64 style graphics in the videogame world part of the video too! That sure brings back memories of that era, when Funcoland stores were the places to be, along with when the N64/PS1, & Dreamcast consoles ruled. Pretty fun time period that was for gaming, and life in general also.

[@whiteshadowsaga]

I used to make some good commission on selling those cleaners and GI subscriptions back in the day at FuncoLand. Miss working there.

[@GeeksByTheCreek]

Same! You could really impact your check if you were good. And the spiffs on some games and accessories too! And as a manager, bonuses for numbers were also nice.

[@stephtennis]

I worked at Funco and they were still using this video many many years after it was already out of date.

[@lemixlemon]

is that golddust

[@GROZNAYA]

Looks even gayer than the Dust

[@MyPhobo]

"Hey are you studying your big ass bible of corporate bullshit?" "no fuck this shit."

[@Darkschool6]

Wow! This brings back soooo many memeories. Chuck Simmons was my regional manager. I worked there in college and hated the place. Mostly because my manager was the biggest jag that ever walked the earth. That was 20 years ago and yet when I walk into a gamestop today I still hear employees bitching about the same stuff that we went through. The job was nothing like I thought is was going to be. In the end it's your typical retail gig. If you don't sell, you're gonna get fired.

[@ZzzZzz-db6gm]

I would be too scared to work there.

[@el_wilder8860]

Damn I just saw the game Rush in the background... I used to play that game religiously on N64 back in the day, and Golden Eye.

[@ColdWerdz]

I would have quit as soon as i saw the first 15 secs

[@kylo4ever693]

lmao

[@trevorschatzlein2214]

I see you're looking at Cruisin' U.S.A... Do you have an N 64?

[@fantastopotomus]

suny123boy1 "Cruisiiïiiiiiiin yeah!"

[@HerecomestheCalavera]

Nah I'm looking for the Colecovision version.

[@HliasPsinakis]

It got horrible reviews back in the day d-dog. Gamepro gave it like a 2.0/5.

[@freakyfornash]

Jeez. These training videos really would often make the employees in it look bad a lot of the times. Seems like nothing they did was ever good enough for the managers/companies they worked for, who couldn't point out their simple mistakes enough, no matter how hard they tried. The Blockbuster training video is a perfect example of this too.

[@NormenBatez]

FuncoLand is Game Stop's father.

[@yermongo]

This is like every show Adult Swim has come out with in the last two years.

[@Knowurconception]

They got me to buy the cleaning kit and magazine subscription. I miss those days.

[@stenobabe1976]

If i saw this in training, that would be my last day.

[@CBsays_]

Used to love going into funcoland in 1999 to buy nes cartridges. They had an entire price list printed out.

[@GGRC]

The gay master? That had to be a popular nickname in the 90's.

[@MrNateenochs]

Had to check the comments as soon as I heard it.

[@ChristheShrinerdawg]

I used to go to the Funcoland in my hometown of Federal Way, WA! Miss that place!

[@glitchgames5221]

The golden juggalo

[@ElRealPetChicken]

Give this man the 10,000 dollars. 😂

[@boscopit]

HAHHA

[@bonesjohnsonn]

the audio mixing alone is a trip

[@jacobrichardson1952]

As an old soul person for 1998, I always wanted to visit FuncoLand.

[@uTubeNoITube]

Main point of my post: "FuncoLand KICKED ASS, and FUCK GameStop". When I was a kid (circa 1995ish) I remember going in there and being so excited, I remember their little price guiide they used to come out with every month that lited EVERY game and what they sell it for! I wish I could find one of those lists somewhere .... And now I am sad that the greedy fuck GameStop corp cornered the market and bought up ALL these places and converted them into an ugly monopoly on the retro-games :(

[@IxionForte]

You're looking at it through rose tinted glasses. It's the same fucking store, the name is changed but it's no different.

[@uTubeNoITube]

Forte Sasser You obviously never set foot inside a Funco-land. The reason I know? Even though I was a child (no older than age 12) last time I set foot in a Funco-land? BECAUSE MY DAD IS POOR AND CHEAP AS FUCK and he would go there ALL the time to buy used games, accessories, etc etc etc. I remember them actually HAVING previously owned accessories for game systems (back in those days only things we had to get accessories/games for however was Nintendo, Game Boy, Sega Genesis and Sega Game Gear). I think in the mid-to-late 90s I paid $50~ for a Game Gear complete with the signature officially licensed Game Gear carrying case with it's plastic insert, AC pack, ac adapter, and even a few games. Which at that time, was a STEAL. Fast-forward that to modern day, within the last 1-2 years, each of the maybe 3-4 times I've set foot in a GameStop (different locations each time, ranging from East Coast to West Coast), they were ALL alike. A big, fat ass, giant conglomerate of EXTREMELY OVERPRICED shit (even used non-boxed PSP games were 2x the price of e-bay or any other secondhand store I'd been in). The selection was shit for almost everything but Nintendo, seems someone at the head office got their cock sucked by a Nintenedo exec. And guess what? I never saw ANY previously owned accessories, only brand-new, factory sealed, WAYYYYYYYYYYY overpriced accessories of shit quality that you could get on ebay for 1/10th the cost. So again I say, FUNCOLAND KICKED ASS, GAME GEAR SUCKS COCK AND NEEDS TO BURN IN A LAKE OF INCINERATING FIRE!!!!!

[@uTubeNoITube]

John Ryan Dunno what you even wrote, too much incoherent rambling but have fun with that!

[@Innocuils]

Wow...the memories that flood back from this video. Who knew I kept memories like this under lock and key. Thanks for share this...mindblowing.

[@ChristopherCChandler]

This video has been lost, but now it has been found. Congrats to everyone for keeping their IPT up above 2.0, and for those high Cleaning Kit, and Subscription percentages!

[@buckscash1]

Wow see,FuncoLand let you take acid trips while gamestop doesn't,FuncoLand will always be the best.

[@andreww1212]

Funcoland was incredible. They had tons of accessories (new and used) for just about every console made and an incredible selection of games. That place was such a joy to walk into back in the day. Now whenever I see a Gamestop I keep a distance of at least 200ft.

[@mustbejames1]

Franklin mills funcoland will never be forgotten.

[@Thegamingking89]

1:13 “Creepy Funcoland Manager: so Adam you decided join us!” LOL hahaha that’s to funny

[@corsaircarl9582]

God, this is so 90's it has Pogs, Michael Jordan, Grunge rock, and torn-knee jeans written all over it!

[@DarkReapersGrim]

3:37 I remember that San Francisco Rush game. That was so fun. And I loved in San Francisco!

[@therealjharris]

Funcoland, Software Etc, and Electronics Boutique were my go-to places every time I was in the mall. Love the 90s!

[@greattoyreviewer]

way better acting in this than in "the room"

[@cadelfowl7724]

YOU'RE TEARING ME APART, FUNCOLAND GOD!

[@mavoelker]

Boy, do I love chicken strips. Sometimes, when I’m home alone, I’ll take some chicken strips fresh out of the oven and rub them in my scalp. It doesn’t do much for my hair health, but I like the way they feel running through my strands of hair. The flakey coating, smooth white meat, and warmth. Yum

[@DarkReapersGrim]

These kids don't know about Funcoland! They had these black and white newspapers with the prices of all of the games for every system that they were selling.

[@theetick]

Just to clarify the mis information in this thread Funcoland was never gamestop or babbages. I worked there as a manager for almost 4 years. We were growing every year and had record profits. Many stores were massive busy and didn't really have the time to get on the floor and implement the training in this video. In my case, I usually did. The real reason they sold is the owner sold the company to have a secure financial future and to take care of his ailing father who had alzheimers.

[@dread4ak]

Like all retail training videos, the employee/customer conversation was far from reality.

[@davidguinn8880]

DAMMIT ADAM, IF YOU HAD JUST REMEMBERED TO SELL THE CLEANING KITS I COULD STILL SHOP AT FUNCOLAND!!!

[@mlkohs]

I used to work at a Best Buy. The number 1 customer complaint is "no one helped me." So our managers were always on our ass to engage EVERY customer

[@Wolfman12395]

Ahhhh Funcoland, the days where I used to always get excited to see the new Sega Saturn games that were out. MAN I miss my childhood....

[@andreww1212]

Holy shit, I really miss the 90's. Such a wholesome era.

[@bennetfox]

If you guys have ever wondered what an acid trip looks like? This video.

[@Obswalq]

Game Gear with case, magnifying glass, mastergear converter, gear-to-gear cable, powerback, battery pack, external power cable, and 10 games for $50? Fuck yes, bring back Funcoland.

[@thefatman69dude]

1:14 When the acid finally drops

[@JamandTheHolograms]

There are many games that come out that don't have demo's,don't get reviewed, and don't get as much press. Going into a shop and asking the clerk to try a game out and then deciding to purchase it or not is a big help. You find some real gems that way instead of wasting 40-50 bucks on a dud. Then again who needs to play a game for themselves to see if they like it? Let some company or well known reviewer tell you it's good, then buy it, and try to convince yourself to enjoy it when you don't.

[@lookitskazzy]

If this guy tried to spend days talking to me as soon as I walked in, I would just walk out

[@johnryan9362]

Wow I'd imagine those employees had to get incredibly high to deal with those types of videos for training. I never remember the Funcoland staff being annoying like this guy. Nowadays GameStop is pretty brutal once you checkout with them asking you to sign up for crap. I'd imagine GameStop's training is pretty awful, I feel bad for their employees... having to ask people for stuff they don't need over and over and over... and over. I would be a terrible GameStop employee, even when I called the store the other day I had to listen to a 15 second pitch before the employee asked me how he could "help" me!

[@chadwickmacarthur4760]

Oh man this did not age well :(

[@whi99017]

@DigitalChaosSC Funcoland and Gamestop were always the same thing. At the time, what we know now as GameStop was split in two parts: Funcoland and Babbages. Eventually the two were merged and became GameStop. Funcoland was never "bought out"; it just evolved into the monster it is today.

[@raedabdulrahman6556]

This video is like a CD-i. game, hahaha. I miss funcoland

[@RAA12586]

I used to get their monthly gaming newspaper that listed all their games in stock when they were around.

[@miatoon]

Let's get this out of the way. Chadtronic anybody?

[@TheBlueGreens64]

yes

[@deniskenn]

i miss this store so badly

[@scubasteve7439]

you might wanna check out game informer, its our monthly magazine!...wow when game stop bought this franchise, they REALLY became the same store with a different name

[@bungus2012]

This video has the exact same vibe as an old AVGN episode

[@nikosvelazquez4717]

i would walk in singing with my sister FUNCOLAAAAND FUNCOLAAAND FUNCOLAAAAND no idea why it was just the best thing ever in history

[@1uhot426]

Funcoland actually still exists. I just found out there is one 20 minutes from me (I live 40 minutes from D.C).

[@silverwings21]

Just because customers complain that "No one helped me", that doesn't mean they weren't engaged by the clerks. ; )

[@Thegamingking89]

0:01 he’s playing, “Castlevania The Adventure” for the “Nintendo Game Boy”

[@Doc141]

Post-Ocarina of Time video game training video is amazing

[@Texasmilitarydepartmentvid9654]

Funcoland was the gaming store of the 80tys before Game Stop bought them out in the late 90ty's.

[@PoppieXL]

I use to work at a Funco land way back in the days, had a blast there.

[@Azriel21321]

nothing wrong with playing a game before buying it. but the beauty of the internet is you don't need to anymore. its not about being a sheep, you buy many things before trying it. simple as that.

[@Thegamingking89]

“So Adam you decide to join us!”

[@Zwei4815]

Come back Funcoland! You are missed!

[@JoeCnNd]

god, Alex jones looks so young here as the supervisor.

[@mileracer1128]

I use to LOVE those price sheets with all of the games...I still own and the use the Disc Cleaner it shows...Cleans PSX and Sega Saturn games..lol

[@xxhitttmanxx]

we used to hit funcoland alot back in the days when snes and sega were still popular

[@lazermission5690]

John Wayne Gamesy.

[@PLBIV]

i love that this is from "circa 1998"... yet it SCREEEEAAAMMMS 1985

[@rubbertls]

where's my weed..

[@Darkl0ud_Productions]

just burned...

[@morningrise]

I remember having to watch this awhile back when I first started working there. My manager at the time just sat in the back room with me and we just made fun of how cheesy it was.... I really miss that store...

[@DocFunky]

God, this whole GAMES thing is why I can't stand going to specialty stores like Gamestop. I just want to get in there, buy my stuff, and get out. I don't need to be hassled about every little thing, which is why I always go to Best Buy. The only thing anyone ever says to me is "find everything okay?", to which the answer is always YES.

[@waterwoodguitars6871]

This is the most bizarre acid trip ever 💀

[@Throckmorton723]

I worked at the Brooklyn, NY store in 1991

[@themegaman91965]

I was reading through your comments, and you do have a good point regarding the demos. I, too along with many others have wasted quite a bit of money on games we don't truly like, and I haven't even tried a demo of the games I bought in almost ten years. Thinking about the number of games I bought and liked after playing the demo versus games I bought on a whim has quite a contrast. Most of the games I end up liking and keeping were games I actually tried out at a store for at least 10 minutes.

[@imakuni67]

This looks like someone made an Are You Afraid of the Dark episode for $100

[@creekboie3277]

I remember funcoland and how it always smelt like stinky socks

[@isobellizzie3801]

how funny oh my gosh. i remember this place but i work at gamestop now i just thought i'd google it for the hell of it and found this randomly.. oh my god. never delete this form the internet.

[@RobertKramer17]

I swear, the beginning sequence is like he just got walked in on pounding off or something

[@viewmaster617]

Funcoland was a better gaming shopping experience than gamestop back then at least they were upfront about what they sold and didn't have to use shady practices to get sales not like gamestop

[@brutaldomcom]

If not for the 1998-era consoles and games they were selling I would have thought this video was much older.

[@richardson.1424]

@ 2:27 did The Gamemaster say "incurrent" instead of "incorrect"????

[@jerryadams2064]

This is not FuncoLand. This was an IRS training video.

[@HerecomestheCalavera]

The first 50 seconds of the video makes perfect sense. Hey Adam, you teen who knows everything about video games. Who plays the newest systems and the newest releases, can you tell me what our corporate policy regarding games is?

[@NickDAwsome]

Does it matter where you shop as long as you get what you want and what price you want it?

[@greyfox37]

Castlevania Adventure 1 in the beginning, Battle of the Holy. Love it

[@SpykeZ0129]

FUNCOLAND!!! Anyone here remember those little newspapers they had that listed like all the games for nes, snes sega gamboy gamegear and listed all the prices, that was my holy bible after I got done mowing the lawn!