Are game stores going away?

[Philotomy Jurament]

Little Wars of Houston (the game store closest to me) went out of business last month. Today I went by the next closest one (Fat Ogre) and browsed around. They seem to be doing well. They've doubled the size of their store in the last couple of years, added a Plasma-screen "movie room" and have a bunch of 6x4 tables set up for miniatures gaming, and some other tables set up for RPGs and card games. There were people playing Magic: The Gathering, and some guys talking about Warhammer 40K (but not playing, at the time). One of the store guys said the tables had been completely full over the weekend. The RPG section is pretty small (two tall bookcases), and not really anything I was interested in.

I ended up buying the Flames of War starter kit. Also talked to the Warhammer 40k guys. They were trying to convince me to get into that, but I told them I'm not really interested in the genre. (And I'm really not enthusiastic about getting into a game with a major supplement and edition treadmill you have to get on to "keep up.") One of them told me to stop by on their game nights and somebody would have an extra army I could play.

[forestwolf42]

Sorry, didn't mean to go off on a rant like that.

Reminds me of my sister, she hates going to comic book stores, although she doesn't get hit on, she does get stared at suspiciously by the regular costumers as well as the employees who stare at her chest with a 'Is this a female here? Is she lost?' type of expression.

On the actual topic though, I haven't really seen any game stores here in Utah, and the ones I've stopped by seem to mostly stock obscure novelty games and puzzles as well as Magic the Gathering.

[KesselZero]

Nashville has three, as far as I can tell, none of which are actually in the city. They're all about twenty minutes out in various directions. Next Level Games is huge, with row upon row of tables for MtG players. That seems to be their main stock in trade although they had a pretty full selection of 4e D&D stuff. Roll the Dice is the newest and has the huge distinction of a bookshelf of games that anybody can walk in off the street and play. That's where my fiancee taught me to play Dominion when we first moved down. Sadly it's a bit too far from me. My place is the Game Keep, which is dark, cramped, dusty, and a bit weird-smelling, i.e., just how I like it. I play there every Tuesday and Saturday. The guy keeps impressive hours-- open til 9 every night except Sunday, which is 12-6-- and there's one group or another there every day playing something. My ongoing campaign just switched to Tuesdays and we share the back room with some wargamers who are always going on about English longbowmen and whatnot, which is pretty cool.

The Keep stocks some 3e and 2e D&D stuff, though I think it may be that it just never sold the first time around and has sat on the shelves since the 90's. He also carries some weird 3rd-party modules though I don't think I've ever seen an actual OSRIC, LL, etc. book there or I would have jumped on it. I expect he'll be doing pre-orders for the AD&D re-release but won't get any for the shelves.

[Philotomy Jurament]

...we share the back room with some wargamers who are always going on about English longbowmen and whatnot, which is pretty cool.

Are they arguing about whether English longbowmen are too effective in the game ("...overrated, just like the katana...modern tests have shown...", or not effective enough ("...bodkin points punch right through the armor...and remember it's not just the knight, but also his horse that's a target...")?

[Matthew]

Heh, heh.

[francisca]

Are they arguing about whether English longbowmen are too effective in the game ("...overrated, just like the katana...modern tests have shown...", or not effective enough ("...bodkin points punch right through the armor...and remember it's not just the knight, but also his horse that's a target...")?

LOL!

Another classic, this is why grognards can't have nice things argument: "Mass of Russian T-34s vs. a smaller number of German Tigers/Panthers"

[Mythmere]

Are they arguing about whether English longbowmen are too effective in the game ("...overrated, just like the katana...modern tests have shown...", or not effective enough ("...bodkin points punch right through the armor...and remember it's not just the knight, but also his horse that's a target...")?

LOL!

Another classic, this is why grognards can't have nice things argument: "Mass of Russian T-34s vs. a smaller number of German Tigers/Panthers"

Which Panther? Totally hinges on that, duh.

[Juju EyeBall]

It's a wasted trip, baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers

[TRP]

It's a wasted trip, baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers

Best. War movie. Ever. Even better than The Dirty Dozen.

[Juju EyeBall]

It's a wasted trip, baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers

Best. War movie. Ever. Even better than The Dirty Dozen.

I watch it very often.

Oddball occasionally becomes my avatar.

[PatW]

I love the sound effect they play whenever they see the bar of gold...

[Clangador]

It's a wasted trip, baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers

I have always wondered: how did he get away with a beard like that?

[TRP]

It's a wasted trip, baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers

I have always wondered: how did he get away with a beard like that?

Their commanding officer was dead, but they kept him "on the books", so no one took over command.

[simrion]

Here in Rochester, NY there are currently three gae stores I'm aware of and a few comic shops that might stock some RPG stuff. The largest (and closest to my house) is Millennium Games & Hobbies. Sadly they are mostly MtG, Yu-Gi-Oh, Warhammer and 4E driven. They also have a sizeable LAN gaming area. Almost no OOP stuff these days. Used to be the site of Crazy Egors until he moved to Hilton, NY 8+ years ago and more recently (a month or two ago) completely shut his doors due to health concerns The other game shops are Boldo's Armory run by an SCA'er who makes custom armor and sells lots of Warhammer stuff and then there is Pair-a-Dice Games who have some OOP stuff whcih I think comes from the Owner's personal collection - his tore seems to be more of a retirement hobby and intended primarilly as a place to play tabletop war games. They also do some 4E Encounters stuff.

[Clangador]

It's a wasted trip, baby. Nobody said nothing about locking horns with no Tigers

I have always wondered: how did he get away with a beard like that?

Their commanding officer was dead, but they kept him "on the books", so no one took over command.

Noted. (It has been years since I've seen that movie)

And does anybody who wants to live want to "lock horns" with a tiger or panther. The Sherman is more on par with a panzer IV.