Oskii uses the term game store operating system to mean the single system of record a store runs on: it holds the stock count, and customer search, pickup requests, staff picking and imports all read that one count instead of keeping their own copies.
Last updated
What does game store operating system mean?
Oskii uses the term for a way of running a shop, and the software that makes it possible. The apps on a phone share one set of contacts and one camera roll, and nobody retypes their contacts into each app. A game store operating system gives a shop's tools the same arrangement: one count of what is on the shelf, and every other job reads it.
The test is simple. Take the shared count away. If every other tool carries on with its own copy, you have a bundle of apps, not an operating system. A bundle drifts apart on a busy Friday night, because each copy needs a person to keep it honest.
Oskii aims it at an independent shop that sells trading card singles, sealed product and games across a counter.
- On hand
- 3
- Held
- 2
- Available
- 1
What does a game store operating system include?
Five jobs, all reading one count. A system that does some of them from a separate copy is one more spreadsheet.
- Stock: every copy tracked by printing, finish, condition and language, with the bin, binder or case it lives in.
- Customer search: shoppers see what is on the shelf right now, on a counter kiosk, and cards that have sold are already gone.
- Requests and holds: when a customer asks for a card, the exact copy is held. Available stock is on hand minus held, worked out each time and never stored.
- Picking: staff get a pick list on their phone with the bin on every line, and mark each card found or not found.
- Imports: stock comes in from a ManaBox export or a CSV file, with a dry run first, and a held card is never dropped.
What a game store operating system is not
It is not automatically a point of sale. The term describes where the count lives and who reads it, not who takes the payment. Oskii does not take payments and does not replace a register. When staff finish a request it hands back the total and the list of SKUs to key into the register you already use.
It is not a marketplace tool either. A marketplace tool is built around listing cards to buyers online and shipping orders. A game store operating system is built around the people standing in your shop and the cards on your shelves.
Is a TCG operating system the same thing?
No. The phrase TCG operating system points at three different things, and only the last one is about a store's stock count.
First, TCG is also the abbreviation of the Trusted Computing Group, a not-for-profit standards organization whose work covers computer security built on hardware, the Trusted Platform Module among it. That is computer security, and it has nothing to do with cards.
Second, TCG OS is a separate product. Its own site describes an app that tracks what cards are worth and handles buying, selling and trading, for collectors, vendors and game stores. Oskii is a different product with a different job.
Third, TCG can simply stand for trading card game. A game store operating system for a trading card store is the stock count described above, and Oskii is TCG inventory software for local game stores that sell Magic: The Gathering singles.
How is it different from a spreadsheet, a point of sale or a marketplace tool?
They are built around different jobs, so ask each one the question that matters for yours.
| Tool | Built around | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet | One file kept up to date by hand | Who changes the number when two people sell the same card? |
| Point of sale | Taking payment and printing receipts | Ask whether it holds a card for a customer and shows the bin on each line, and what it does about a card that is promised twice. |
| Marketplace tool | Listing cards to online buyers and shipping orders | Ask how a customer standing in your shop finds out what is on your shelves, and how fresh that answer is. |
| Game store operating system | One count that every job reads | Whether it covers the games you stock, and whether you keep your own register. |
Who needs a game store operating system?
A one-person shop can run on memory and a spreadsheet, and that is fine. The count starts to drift when a second person touches stock, when a customer asks for an exact printing, or when one card can be promised in two places at once.
It is a poorer fit for a shop that sells mostly online, or one that wants payments, events and stock in a single product. Oskii is built for brick-and-mortar stores that sell Magic singles over a counter, and it is onboarding stores by invitation from a waitlist.
What Oskii does not do
- Take payments or replace a point of sale
- Buy cards from customers
- Cover games other than Magic: The Gathering today
Questions shop owners ask
- What is a game store operating system?
- Oskii uses the term to mean the single system of record a game store runs on. It holds the stock count, and customer search, pickup requests, staff picking and imports all read that one count instead of keeping their own copies.
- Is a game store operating system the same as a point of sale?
- No. A point of sale takes payment. A game store operating system owns the stock count and the jobs built on it. Some products do both. Oskii does not take payments and works beside your register.
- Is a TCG operating system the same thing?
- No. TCG is also the Trusted Computing Group, a not-for-profit standards organization for computer security, and TCG OS is a separate product for valuing, buying and selling cards. A game store operating system is the stock count a shop runs on.
- Does Oskii replace my register?
- No. When staff finish a request, Oskii hands back the total and the list of SKUs to key into the register you already run.
- Which games does a game store operating system cover?
- That depends on the product. Oskii covers Magic: The Gathering only today, with card data and daily market estimates from Scryfall.