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I recently discovered my little step-brother as a game-klepto problem. My pokemon games went missing about a year ago and I have been searching everywhere for them, sometimes turning my room upside-down, all in vain. I finally found my firered version in my stepbrother's gameboy with the tag torn off. In my fury, I searched his room and came up with one more gameboy game and my wireless adapters. I'm still missing 2 other games that I didn't unearth in his room. I tried to get his dad to talk to him about it (he won't listen to me or my mom) but I'm not quite sure anything took place.

Ergg!! This kid is enfuriating me! First he deletes my *important* saves off of my playstation games, trashes the gameroom, and now he's a theif!! (he also stole some school supplies and my silver harmonica) He doesn't get punished for anything because he's a spoiled little brat.
I really don't know what to do!

That really sucks. I would not be able to contain myself if someone was going in my room taking my things. You should just get a huge box with locks on it.
And you should probably sit down and have a serious talk with your mom.

Well, since I have NO patience, I would have beat the s**t out of that snot nosed little punk! stressed

simple.... hide them, set traps to tell if someone has been in your room or not. That way not only can you tell instantaniously if your space has been invaded wile you where away, but you will know to check the hideing spaces for your valued games.

Traps to tell if your room has been invaded;

A small piece of paper at the bace of your door in the crack. Place it upright to be held so between the door and the wall, so it will fall when someone opens the door. Remember to prop it up before you leave.

Or a bit of lead in the top hinge in your door, it will crack if someone opens it. Just remember to take it out before you go in, and put it back before you leave.

Hideing spaces I would suggest;

Your underwear drawer. If any boy in his right mind, especialy a stepbrother, raids that I think you have sufficient grounds to tell your parents and get him grounded.... SEROIUSLY GROUNDED!

Best of luck to you against future raids!

this happened to a friend of mine.. expect it did progess into him stealing her money and stuff... he would borrow her games, then lend them to friends and never get them back.. or he would find her money (in her underwear drawer) and take it... so now she hides all her important stuff in her mom's underwear drawer.. she told her mom, who doesn't care, and the brother would never look there...

Brothers are trouble at all ages. My older brother basically lost all faith he had with me a few years ago (he's now 24) because he has almost no respect for things in the house, especially things that aren't 'communal' and belong very specifically to me. I haven't noticed theft, but if I did I'd definitely snitch him out to my parents and hopefully they'd take me seriously. You have a unique case where he's a step-child, so it's possible they're light on punishment because of the emotional things the boy's been through and the fact he's younger. Parents tend to be a little easier on the younger kids. You can't precisely do a lot about this except stress it might escalate into him stealing other things, from other family members and possibly stores and people outside the home.

I'd advocate against mechanisms to tell if people have been in your room unless you're positive your parents won't enter your room for a random reason. My mother occasionally borrows my shoes or needs a pen and can't find one elsewhere so she'll come to my desk, making that method useless in my case.

Locking your door might be smart, especially if you do provide your parents with a key if they need it under the condition it doesn't get left around the house somewhere for the brother to find it, and they won't let the brother in 'real quick' for any reason. Do not get a locking door that has just a round hole--make sure you have an actual key. A five-year-old can figure out how to pick the hole-locks if they want in badly enough. The ideas mentioned in a previous post are smart--but do mention one of your reasons is to keep your brother out, not necessarily everyone. Saying you want everyone out might raise suspicion.

Hiding things doesn't do any good, because with enough time and daring, and they'll look anywhere they can think of to find what they want. Underwear drawers are well-known as being hiding places, so even if it's wrong he'd probably still find the games eventually. If you can't lock the door and your parents don't take the theft seriously, finding a locking case or box might be your best bet. When you aren't using things that are specifically yours, lock them up.

As someone said, do try to strike a little fear into him. Try to catch him in the act. If your parents won't punish him, don't take it upon yourself to dish out any actual punishment. Dead silence and a pissed look will earn you more of a scary reputation than yelling and screaming, though hauling him out of the room by his ear might get him to understand what he's doing is wrong.

Good luck!

God... I would love to catch someone like that rumageing through my underwear drawer, especialy since he is a stepbrother and male... I can picture it now:

Me: :: takes picture of him with camera phone::
Him: O.O..... how long have you been standing there?
Me: Long enough to take this... Can't wait to see the look on ::insert step parent's name here:: when he/she sees this!
Him: NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God that would be so funny! xd