Love visiting great board game stores

Last week I was traveling for work and decided to take advantage of some of the evening time visiting a couple game stores along the way.

 

Fair Game

My first stop was at Fair Game in Downers Grove, IL.

Fair Game is only about a 15-minute drive from the headquarters of the company I work for. But even with it that close, I hadn’t made it inside the game store until this past week!

When I made my first trip to HQ a few years ago, I checked to see if there were any game stores in the area and came across Fair Game. I ventured out the first evening (Monday) and to my dismay discovered the store was closed on Mondays. (It’s now open on Mondays.)

So unfortunately I could only do a bit of window-shopping from the street that night. And even more unfortunate for me, I didn’t make my way back on subsequent trips.

“Unfortunate” because Fair Game is a fantastic game store!

Upon entering, I was immediately greeted by the friendly store manager, Eric. Even though he was helping someone at the counter, he looked up and gave me a warm welcome.

As soon as he was able, he came out from behind the counter and asked how he could help me.

Since one of the great benefits of playing board games and card games is the personal interaction, an inviting welcome is a hallmark of a great game store. It’s about the people.

In addition to the personal welcome, I also felt very comfortable in the store because of how well lit and clean it was. It may sound like a simple thing to present a clean game store, but I’ve visited a number of game stores that seem to miss those key elements, which make stores inviting and comfortable.

While it may not be a large game store, it uses the space very well. The store has a wide game selection and plenty of space and tables for playing games.

Fair Game is located on Main Street in Downers Grove and has a nice window display of games of various styles and complexity to pique interest.

Inside, the games are arranged in a logical manner – with simpler games up front and more complex games further into the store.

While I was in the store, there were a number of young men as well as kids at the tables having a good time playing games.

I enjoyed chatting with Eric and finding out more about the store. A couple of the things that stood out to me are; the game library of demo games for visitors to play and the game rental program they’ve established.

For only 10% of the cost of a game, customers can take a game home to play for a few days. When they return the game, they can get that cost deducted from a new copy of that game purchased that day.

I love the game rental program because it’s a great way to get a better feel for a game and see if your family and friends like it too.

Eric and I both agree that many people are wary to learn a new game by reading a rulebook. They’d much prefer to be taught a game by someone who already knows how to play.

So another thing they do regularly at Fair Game is have a game demo day where they break out a bunch of games and simply teach those games to visitors. They dedicate the first Saturday of every month to this activity and folks can either reserve a spot for a particular game or simply come and join in open games.

Too bad my business trips to the area don’t included weekends. Otherwise I’d totally get in on that action – either learning a new game myself or offering to help teach some.

Since I had a great visit, I made sure to buy a game while I was there. I picked up a copy of Piña Pirata that I think my family will enjoy (and I’d be able to fit in my luggage for the trip home).

I’m glad I stopped by Fair Game last week and look forward to my next trip to Downers Grove – because I’m definitely going back for some game time.

 

Fantasy Flight Games

After a few days in Illinois, my trip called for a quick visit to Minneapolis. I’d fly in Thursday evening and head home Friday afternoon. So I wouldn’t have much time.

But I definitely knew where I wanted to go Thursday evening – the Fantasy Flight Games Center.

There are a bunch of games stores in Minneapolis, but the size of the Fantasy Flight Games Center takes the cake.

I was able to visit the FFG Games Center a couple years ago when I traveled to Minneapolis and wrote about it afterward. When I stopped by in 2013, they told me they were moving the center to a new location that would be bigger.

It was already a big space. So to hear the new one would even be bigger sounded pretty cool.

When given the chance to travel to the area again, I knew I’d be back.

So of course when I found out I’d have a chance for another business trip to Minneapolis, I made sure to book my flight from Chicago to Minneapolis with enough time to get an evening at the FFG Games Center.

Unfortunately, the weather and air traffic control didn’t accommodate those plans very nicely.

It’s not that the rain in Chicago was very bad that day. But apparently it was in other areas and our plane was stuck in Cincinnati because of weather – which caused a 3 ½ hour delay to our flight.

So instead of getting in around 6:00 pm, our flight landed around 9:30 pm.

But luckily for me, the FFG Games Center was open until midnight. So off I went!

And sure enough, the FFG Games Center is huge!

It has two large areas with a ton of tables for playing as well as a few tables in other areas. The website says they can comfortably sit 150 gamers!

One of the areas with a few tables is near the entrance and café. Yep – that’s right. They have a good selection of food available for gamers to fill their bellies.

I was looking forward to getting something to eat there. But because of my flight delay, I didn’t get to the games center until after 10:00 pm and the café was closed. Bummer.

Another thing I was hoping for that night was to meet some of the folks from Fantasy Flight Games that I’ve worked with before.

Our family has been lucky enough to participate in some game beta testing for Fantasy Flight games (Descent, Ra, Battlelore Command) and I was hoping to get a chance to meet some of those folks in person.

Unfortunately, our main contact, Zach, had a commitment that night and wasn’t able to be there to meet. But with my flight delay, I’m glad neither he nor others on the Descent team adjusted their schedules to meet. I would have felt terrible for them to give up their night waiting hours for me to arrive.

Nonetheless, I was still happily greeted as I arrived and asked by the people behind the counter if they could help direct me to anything in particular.

Although most of the action for the night had ended, there were still about 30 people in the Games Center in various areas playing or looking at merchandise.

My late arrival meant I was out of luck to sit down and play a game. But I had a good time just wandering about checking it all out.

I first headed to the large open gaming areas and checked out the back room where they hold special events. The tables were all draped with black tablecloths and it was pretty devoid of players. But I’m sure it would be super cool to be a part of when full.

I then looked over their game library where visitors can simply choose a game and sit down to play. It doesn’t just include Fantasy Flight Games games. It’s loaded with games from other publishers as well.

The same can be said for the games they have for sale.

Sure there’s loads of Fantasy Flight Games games and accessories available to purchase. But they also have a wall of games from other publishers for sale. They have a great selection.

Of course, I made sure to check out the shelves of Descent game expansions as well as the wall of Star Wars games and accessories. There are plenty!

One thing I was very bummed about is that from 6 – 7 that night they had a release day signing event by the designers of Star Wars: Rebellion!

I saw it on the Events calendar before starting my trip and it would have been cool to be there for it. “Between 6:00pm and 7:00pm, Rebellion designers Corey Konieczka and Steve Kimball will be in the store to chat, answer questions, and sign copies of your Star Wars: Rebellion board game.”

Had my flight been on time, I would have been able to be there before it ended at 7:00. Arrrrgghh!

But that’s probably ok because hauling that big box of a game around with my luggage might have been a challenge.

Though I think it would have been a great advertisement for board games to have it with me in the airports.

Since I didn’t have much space to carry a new game home with me, I just bought a few sets of games sleeves.

I typically don’t like to sleeve our card games, but there are a few games where having a marked card can decrease the fun of hidden information during a game – like Love Letter: Batman. The fun of the game is guessing which card the other players are holding. So if there are any visible nicks, it becomes quite obvious what they have and the fun is gone.

The game I had in mind for these card sleeves was 7 Wonders: Duel. Since in each Age (round) of 7 Wonders: Duel some of the cards are placed face down, not knowing which cards those are is part of the tension. With these Fantasy Flight Games card sleeves, we won’t have to worry about that being spoiled.

Even though my evening didn’t go as planned, I was still very glad I was able to stop by the FFG Games Center for a bit.

If you live in the area, count yourself very lucky.

If you don’t live in the area, make sure to put Fantasy Flight Games Center on your “to-do list” for when you find yourself in Minneapolis. You won’t be disappointed.