In recent weeks I have begun seeing my local game stores setting aside dedicated gaming space by way of private gaming rooms. At face value, this is not a bad thing and I don’t want this article to come across as asshat-ish. Let me preface the rest of this article with we have five local…
Tag: FLGS
Are Local Gaming Stores Going Extinct?
I wrote the following article nearly three years and while some of my assertions then still hold true, our plethora of local gaming stores are drying up! The latest victim is a combination used bookstore and gaming store. They have done very well for themselves over the last eleven years, but they recently announced they…
Dear Game Store Owner
Dear Game Store Owner, I am trying to understand why you don’t regularly sponsor, support or promote diverse gaming at your establishment. Well, except for magic the Gathering and other card based games. Yes, we the gaming public, understands these games pay the bills and keep the lights on, but to the near exclusion of…
Non-Con Struggles – Local Gamers Fail to Turn Out
This past weekend I attended a little local shindig at one of our many local game stores that goes by the name of Non-Con. It’s run from 7PM to 7AM the following morning and is meant to bring the gaming community together for gaming and obviously to sell games and RPG books. I have not…
The Dilemma – Finding Solutions to Scheduling Local Games
I am moving forward with my plans to help bring my local RPG community out its desperate state of mainstream-ism. In the past I have argued that my local area is an RPG wasteland; to the point that if you are not playing one of the five or six mainstream systems you’re not likely to…
Follow-up to Asmodee North America’s New Retailer Policies
I wanted to take a moment to pass along the press release that Asmodee North America (ANA) just released. This is a follow-up to the In 2016, Asmodee North America Will Change the Face of Boardgame Sales article published 19 Dec 2015. W. Eric Martin published an article titled “Asmodee Clarifies Its Changes for 2016: Online Sales Will…
My Paradigm Shift: Why I Shop Online
The other day on Facebook I posed a question to my local gaming club of some 380+ members regarding a local store. More precisely, I asked: “Boardgame night seems to be taking off at Final Round, does anyone still game at Realms?”, both Final Round and Realms are local stores. The responses I received were…
Small Business Saturday – Get Out There Now!
Today, in the United States, it’s small business Saturday, where consumers are encouraged to visit local small businesses to make their holiday purchases. There are many, many benefits of shopping at a small local business and game shops are no exception. I will be visiting several of my local game shops this afternoon after my…
Building A Local RPG Community – An Analytical Look [Part 3]
In this, the last installment, of my analysis on the building and fostering of a local RPG community panel, we are going to explore what defines a gamer and how to create safe spaces for your local community. I have touched a few of the safe space principles in the first installment, but we’re going…
Building A Local RPG Community – An Analytical Look [Part 2]
In this installment of my analysis of the building and fostering a local RPG community panel, we are going to explore the online avenues that the panelists suggested. The online realm is vast and very diverse, therefore it is ripe for finding locals that may be interested in checking out what it is you are…
Rolling Boxcars 