What's in a name? I hear people mispronounce the store's name all the time as Adventure Quarters/Adventurers Quarters as if my singular store was a plural entity. It's not a huge deal, but perhaps the name leaves some confusion to be had. What the hell is an Adventurer's Quarter anyway?
In reality (well, fiction, but it's where we got the idea): it's a district in the fictional town of Waterdeep (better known in D&D, and nowadays in Lords of Waterdeep the board game). It's where the Adventurers go to get their magic items, meet other adventurers and generally feel less like members of the city and more like members of a group that knows what adventure feels like. Why name a store after something like that? Probably because that's what I would always hope a game store could be for people: to meet other like minded adventurers in the world of gaming. It's cheesy, but nerds always need other nerds to play games with and having a place they can meet up is essential. At its' core a game store is that district for modern day gamers.
To play a video game nowadays you just load up the game and bam-you're on an adventure on your own. It's self-contained. To get into a table-top game's adventure you need a party. Be it in D&D, a board game or a Magic tournament. At the end of the day you need to gather your fellow adventurers and prepare to quest towards a singular goal. Be it stopping the pandemic, saving the princess/dragon, or taking out that X-wing before it kills your pilot.
So while some stores in Denver and around the world go for the more generic: Blah Games, Science-Jargon Gaming, etc. I like to think that using a more evocative style of game store name gets to the heart of what a store can be about. You might not see rolling some dice or playing Ticket to Ride with your family over the holidays as an adventure, but it is just that: a quest for fun.
Hopefully 2015 is filled with plenty of Adventure for you and your party.
Game store theory crafting
Friday, December 19, 2014
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Community Involvement and the Magic of Gaming
Learning new games can be difficult, since board games take learning the rules outright before you play and RPGs take commitment to a setting and a system to understand. Finding the easiest games to learn is essential in my line of work and nowadays Magic: The Gathering is strangely the easiest thing out there. There's free video games to learn the basics, intro decks to understand how to play in person, and even though there's years of cards to learn; typically the Standard set of Magic makes rules interactions the easiest. I know I've spoken a lot about how Magic integrates with the store, but this may be the post that explains why I keep doing it.
Magic is a gateway game. The second someone knows how to play Magic, they're going to make a friend across the table who they learn to play games with immediately. As they make more friends and get better there's going to be more and more complexity to their gaming experience. In my mind, that means that eventually they'll have 4-5 friends that want to play something that lasts longer than the typical 40 minute Magic game. So naturally this means that the more people feel comfortable with Magic, the more likely they are to play board games and break into a world that is built for cooperative/competitive play with many moving parts. It is because of this progression of actions that I'm always on the lookout for new players so that I can eventually get them into the world of table-top gaming on a larger scale.
It is for this reason that I'm going to attend a PTQ run by another local game store called Black Gold. A friend and I have been learning to build decks competitively and want to participate in their smaller all-day-tournaments so that we can 1. Win some cool prizes, 2. Meet some competitive players that we don't normally play, and 3. Show that local game stores can compete casually for the benefit of growing the hobby as a whole. Initially I was concerned about the perceived impact my playing in a tournament would have; namely "Why is a competing store playing in an event, taking packs, winning with their 'inside knowledge'?" but I think there's value to be had in making a showing with an AQ playmat and meeting people. By participating in a big tournament I can learn how to be a better player, which will ultimately help my store grow. I can also show support for the growing tournament scene, support another local store by showing up, and grow the hobby into a greater friendlier experience for all involved.
Camaraderie with local game stores is hard to come by. Most players think we're all competing with each other to put another out of business and it is in their benefit to get the most out of one store over another price-wise until one disappears and another rises in its' place. Since I've been here in Arvada I've tried to be a friendly store always looking out for where players can get what I don't have. There's always a game you don't carry or don't have a community for, so I direct players all the time to stores nearby that can better serve their needs. Only through working together do smaller stores survive, so showing support for another local store seems like a way to find the players that can't get all the way South to the guys running the tournament and capture players that might live closer to my shoppe and not have heard of me yet.
The experience of building decks with friends is an exercise in statistics and social interaction. There's a whole world of experience in tournament settings that influences overall prices of cards and value of cards in particular over another. Every time I build a deck with a friend of mine we learn a little something new about how to counter each other's concepts, which we've arguably only learned by playing and discussing strategies with another over the table. We've played RPGs together and find synergy within our class-concepts all the time to build party cohesion, so the experience in Magic is very similar. Through one table-top game we progress our expertise in another as understanding systems is essential to any games we play.
I hope to learn something valuable from playing in a tournament on a larger scale than ones I run all the time and at the very least can thank local players for being as good as they are for informing the meta and growth of the hobby towards something competitive and powerful for building communities. We'll see if I lose like a fool or win by some stroke of luck, but hopefully I can find new players interested in participating in the larger community of table-top gaming and better represent my store as something bigger than itself. As something concerned with the success of all local stores and the development of something as simple as a hobby into something as important as a community.
Magic is a gateway game. The second someone knows how to play Magic, they're going to make a friend across the table who they learn to play games with immediately. As they make more friends and get better there's going to be more and more complexity to their gaming experience. In my mind, that means that eventually they'll have 4-5 friends that want to play something that lasts longer than the typical 40 minute Magic game. So naturally this means that the more people feel comfortable with Magic, the more likely they are to play board games and break into a world that is built for cooperative/competitive play with many moving parts. It is because of this progression of actions that I'm always on the lookout for new players so that I can eventually get them into the world of table-top gaming on a larger scale.
It is for this reason that I'm going to attend a PTQ run by another local game store called Black Gold. A friend and I have been learning to build decks competitively and want to participate in their smaller all-day-tournaments so that we can 1. Win some cool prizes, 2. Meet some competitive players that we don't normally play, and 3. Show that local game stores can compete casually for the benefit of growing the hobby as a whole. Initially I was concerned about the perceived impact my playing in a tournament would have; namely "Why is a competing store playing in an event, taking packs, winning with their 'inside knowledge'?" but I think there's value to be had in making a showing with an AQ playmat and meeting people. By participating in a big tournament I can learn how to be a better player, which will ultimately help my store grow. I can also show support for the growing tournament scene, support another local store by showing up, and grow the hobby into a greater friendlier experience for all involved.
Camaraderie with local game stores is hard to come by. Most players think we're all competing with each other to put another out of business and it is in their benefit to get the most out of one store over another price-wise until one disappears and another rises in its' place. Since I've been here in Arvada I've tried to be a friendly store always looking out for where players can get what I don't have. There's always a game you don't carry or don't have a community for, so I direct players all the time to stores nearby that can better serve their needs. Only through working together do smaller stores survive, so showing support for another local store seems like a way to find the players that can't get all the way South to the guys running the tournament and capture players that might live closer to my shoppe and not have heard of me yet.
The experience of building decks with friends is an exercise in statistics and social interaction. There's a whole world of experience in tournament settings that influences overall prices of cards and value of cards in particular over another. Every time I build a deck with a friend of mine we learn a little something new about how to counter each other's concepts, which we've arguably only learned by playing and discussing strategies with another over the table. We've played RPGs together and find synergy within our class-concepts all the time to build party cohesion, so the experience in Magic is very similar. Through one table-top game we progress our expertise in another as understanding systems is essential to any games we play.
I hope to learn something valuable from playing in a tournament on a larger scale than ones I run all the time and at the very least can thank local players for being as good as they are for informing the meta and growth of the hobby towards something competitive and powerful for building communities. We'll see if I lose like a fool or win by some stroke of luck, but hopefully I can find new players interested in participating in the larger community of table-top gaming and better represent my store as something bigger than itself. As something concerned with the success of all local stores and the development of something as simple as a hobby into something as important as a community.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
In-Store Trade and Inventory Success
Khans of Tarkir, the most recent Magic: The Gathering set, is a problem for my small shoppe. If you buy a full box of packs and open them all you tend to get your money back in spades. Judging by last week's draft, had we opened it instead of drafting: 6 Fetch Lands (60-75$), 1 foil Fetc ($45), 1 Sorin Planeswalker ($20) comprised part of the box, which is $120 minimum, not counting all the other rares that may have been a buck or more. Arguably, that was a great box of cards, but typically just coming in and buying 3 packs, there's pretty good odds of getting $14 and getting 2 more packs, thus beginning the cycle of trades over again as we give out half credit for cards.
This is just how Magic works though, it isn't inherently bad for my store, as it turns what was once a 20% margin off the pack into a 50% margin off the cards, so perhaps closer to 35% after the wash of transactions occur. It's an interesting issue though, as all MTG stores survive off singles as far as I can tell, but to maintain a level of singles necessary to stay open you need a shitload of packs in the store.
Strangely AQ survives off a little bit of everything, so to order in a bunch of packs/boxes of Magic cards requires me to not get in preorders for folks that pop in once a month. It requires giving up money in the future for money every day. No matter the weather, or slowness of events we run, Magic will continuously sell every single day without fail. So we walk the line, carry a little bit, but not too much. The second we're off the ground running, it'll be obvious to regulars; as we'll have every Standard block of packs in stock, as well as a booster box on hand for those who want it, not to mention a full wall of sleeves and deck boxes to compliment them.
I've recently been watching Derium's CCG channel, which is both entertaining and elucidating in its' store's daily operations. It's fun to see the little things a store like my own does during the day and how much volume they must move. They've got a constant web presence from their #Cardshoplife videos and more, but it's especially necessary because of their reliance on eBay and TCGPlayer to have an impressive web presence. AQ does well on TCGPlayer, but ultimately until we have more packs to just open and sell, it'll never quite be at its peak. A store like Derium's appears to open a few cases (6 Booster Boxes per case, 36 packs per box) every week, which is ideally where I'd like to be. It just takes that little extra a month to maintain that level of stock. I think AQ will get there, but in the meantime, learning from the best seems like the way to go at the moment.
So what does all this mean? When times are slow we latch onto Magic as lifeblood to survive because it's volatile yet consistent in its' results. To maintain board games in the shoppe we need board gamers to buy more, or at least preorder more; but that isn't easy either. Board gaming companies are notorious for changing street dates, delivering only a few copies per store, and simply being unreliable. Who would want to preorder the next big thing in board games if it wasn't guaranteed to be at a certain date? Magic and D&D have hard street dates that typically never breaks, so when you preorder a box you know the exact date you'll get it and preordering that is doable because of confidence. In the meantime, I'll continue to take in cards for games, for packs and for more of the same because it's a way to get over the bumps in the road that the industry has put up.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
D&D is Friendship
The new Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is exceedingly popular this year as Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) finally figured out exactly what players want in an RPG. It was called D&D Next, is casually known as Fifth Edition, but the official title given by WOTC is just "Dungeons and Dragons." And with good reason, as it isn't trying to stand out as a "new" edition of D&D, so much as it is rebranding itself as nothing-like-previous-editions.
New D&D has simplified combat systems with advantage dice akin to the Edge of the Empire (Fantasy Flight) system which take away a lot of the math involved in previous editions and get down to just rolling the dice for solutions. It's about the dice rolls and ultimately it should be. Most of the proficiency bonuses are low and similar to Pathfinder (Paizo) so that anyone can add as they go and figure out how well they're hitting. The class styles for each class are like a combined version of Prestige Classes mixed with thematic heroic choices. If you're a bard, maybe you focus on lore and know all about history; whereas maybe if you're a combat bard you just need ways to keep your friends alive. There are straightforward ways to level into any theme that works for you.
Edition wars are a mainstay of the D&D culture, with many older players from 2nd edition never wanting anything but that system because "It's what they grew up with." Most 3rd edition converts had books for almost a decade to choose from and enjoy the heavy tables and min-maxing so that they can be powerful. They don't convert to new systems because the complexity is the point. There are the rare 4th edition players, which were undersupported by WOTC and hated by most other RPG players. They just want to play a game that is straightforward and fun.
Part of owning a game store is hearing all the opinions of players of all ages and juggling the issue that most RPG players have a near religious adherence to their system of choice. Anything new is toxic and a "cash-grab" (Never mind the fact that 5 editions in 40+ years is probably healthy for any game). Magic has a new set every 3-4 months. Most board games don't go more than 3-5 years before reprinting or revising some rules. For a complex system of world interaction like D&D I'd hope for almost more tweaks so that it is more balanced, but they hold back most of the time.
The trick, and I think this is the biggest thing, is that most old guard D&D players want their system to be the rules backbone, the Bible of their RPG experience, so that there is no question that their rolls and their choices in game are correct. This is a flawed dichotomy, as the whole point of RPGs is that it's an outline, a place to begin, and that all world building and rules decisions are up to "GM-Discretion" for a reason. The point of an RPG is to experience the world in an honest way and the rules simply make it possible, but to have a hard-and-fast "this is how it has to be" is to destroy the integrity of the system. The game is about who you are playing with and why that's fun. The rules should come second, especially since a good game can last years.
The new D&D is making it easier for new players to jump into RPGs, which is great, since the more people that play a game, the more feedback and experience people can get with RPGs. It's a lot like capitalism in that way: The greater the market, the more it fluctuates and the better balanced the internal system operates. Ultimately the new system is great, well received, and will probably exist for years to come to exemplify what D&D is to all players.
The trouble with any old-guard RPGers and the hesitant new ones is that they don't always have a group to play with regularly that they enjoy. The system is all it is for them and that's how they interact. Finding a good group means finding 4-5 great friends you want to explore a magical world with for years to come. It's a commitment, a relationship, that most games only manage to create for 1-3 hours in the world of table-top. D&D is about friendship and the lasting experience of gaming with a group for months, if not years, at a time. A well written system is there to allow that friendship to exist in game, as heroes working together to fight great evil, and to perpetuate the need to return as friends in real life so that together the experience of role-playing will bring the group together for years to come. Dungeons and Dragons is just another way to party with your friends in real life and treating it as such is the way to long-term sustainability within the RPG culture.
New D&D has simplified combat systems with advantage dice akin to the Edge of the Empire (Fantasy Flight) system which take away a lot of the math involved in previous editions and get down to just rolling the dice for solutions. It's about the dice rolls and ultimately it should be. Most of the proficiency bonuses are low and similar to Pathfinder (Paizo) so that anyone can add as they go and figure out how well they're hitting. The class styles for each class are like a combined version of Prestige Classes mixed with thematic heroic choices. If you're a bard, maybe you focus on lore and know all about history; whereas maybe if you're a combat bard you just need ways to keep your friends alive. There are straightforward ways to level into any theme that works for you.
Edition wars are a mainstay of the D&D culture, with many older players from 2nd edition never wanting anything but that system because "It's what they grew up with." Most 3rd edition converts had books for almost a decade to choose from and enjoy the heavy tables and min-maxing so that they can be powerful. They don't convert to new systems because the complexity is the point. There are the rare 4th edition players, which were undersupported by WOTC and hated by most other RPG players. They just want to play a game that is straightforward and fun.
Part of owning a game store is hearing all the opinions of players of all ages and juggling the issue that most RPG players have a near religious adherence to their system of choice. Anything new is toxic and a "cash-grab" (Never mind the fact that 5 editions in 40+ years is probably healthy for any game). Magic has a new set every 3-4 months. Most board games don't go more than 3-5 years before reprinting or revising some rules. For a complex system of world interaction like D&D I'd hope for almost more tweaks so that it is more balanced, but they hold back most of the time.
The trick, and I think this is the biggest thing, is that most old guard D&D players want their system to be the rules backbone, the Bible of their RPG experience, so that there is no question that their rolls and their choices in game are correct. This is a flawed dichotomy, as the whole point of RPGs is that it's an outline, a place to begin, and that all world building and rules decisions are up to "GM-Discretion" for a reason. The point of an RPG is to experience the world in an honest way and the rules simply make it possible, but to have a hard-and-fast "this is how it has to be" is to destroy the integrity of the system. The game is about who you are playing with and why that's fun. The rules should come second, especially since a good game can last years.
The new D&D is making it easier for new players to jump into RPGs, which is great, since the more people that play a game, the more feedback and experience people can get with RPGs. It's a lot like capitalism in that way: The greater the market, the more it fluctuates and the better balanced the internal system operates. Ultimately the new system is great, well received, and will probably exist for years to come to exemplify what D&D is to all players.
The trouble with any old-guard RPGers and the hesitant new ones is that they don't always have a group to play with regularly that they enjoy. The system is all it is for them and that's how they interact. Finding a good group means finding 4-5 great friends you want to explore a magical world with for years to come. It's a commitment, a relationship, that most games only manage to create for 1-3 hours in the world of table-top. D&D is about friendship and the lasting experience of gaming with a group for months, if not years, at a time. A well written system is there to allow that friendship to exist in game, as heroes working together to fight great evil, and to perpetuate the need to return as friends in real life so that together the experience of role-playing will bring the group together for years to come. Dungeons and Dragons is just another way to party with your friends in real life and treating it as such is the way to long-term sustainability within the RPG culture.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Bullying and Community
Today I cover something a little less business-sided and a bit more culturally important to the community of gaming overall.
The head designer of Magic: The Gathering Mark Rosewater replied to a question on his blog that was of a more personal than professional nature: "Do you find on your end you hear much regarding the issues of non-male treatment in Magic? Do you feel it's improving?" His response was very inspirational.
Questions of treatment of women in gaming has always been a tricky subject. The fact that women make up 50% of the gaming market means something has to change though. I know plenty of women enter a game store to stares and slack jawed faces and immediately feel out of place. Or they are just browsing for something new when someone in a game across the room tells a party member they just "ran away like a woman." How is that supposed to make her feel like a member of the community when her mere presence is slighted immediately by the "popular opinion" of nerds trying to sound like "big men"?
I think treatment of others isn't limited to just women either, but rather the way the community treat other people. It's not uncommon to hear in video games as well as game stores the cries of slurs like "faggot" or "retard" or "pussy." Even if these phrases are said in jest or as curses; it's not good enough. There's always the possibility of someone in the room who is transgendered, homosexual, mentally challenged or simply a part of an underrepresented group. If you're fighting magical dragons, building far off civilizations on tiles and living in an imaginary world; I'm pretty sure it isn't a stretch to think up a better interjection than a racial or sexual slur. All it does is bring down the overall intelligence of the community you're playing in to let anger destroy the integrity of the game store you play at.
Bullying comes in a wide array of forms and it isn't just in the traditional "jocks vs. nerds" format, but nerd on nerd bullying can come in the form of ignorance or excuses of it being just a joke. When you call your dice "Faggot dice" for not rolling what you want to roll, you continue to both make it okay to use homosexuality as an insult and are under the impression that because you're calling your dice that; it's okay. You're not calling anyone in the room a faggot, right? That makes it okay. Nevermind the fact that someone in the room may take offense to your screams of insults and can't tell you to shut up because it's "just your dice." It's a double-edged sword to call out your friends or people across the table for fear of accusing them of anything. Traditionally gamers are looked at as outcasts and they come to a game store to find community; so to call someone out is to become the accuser and that is a faux pas of extreme variety in a room full of people seeking common ground.
Being mindful of your phrasing and being ready to buoy up your community of fellow gamers is what is important.
Remembering that not everyone is as loud and ready to shout out their opinions like you are is important.
Remember the person across the table from you is a person with their own story and if you want to be remembered as a hero in their story, then don't become a villain by ignorance.
The head designer of Magic: The Gathering Mark Rosewater replied to a question on his blog that was of a more personal than professional nature: "Do you find on your end you hear much regarding the issues of non-male treatment in Magic? Do you feel it's improving?" His response was very inspirational.
Questions of treatment of women in gaming has always been a tricky subject. The fact that women make up 50% of the gaming market means something has to change though. I know plenty of women enter a game store to stares and slack jawed faces and immediately feel out of place. Or they are just browsing for something new when someone in a game across the room tells a party member they just "ran away like a woman." How is that supposed to make her feel like a member of the community when her mere presence is slighted immediately by the "popular opinion" of nerds trying to sound like "big men"?
I think treatment of others isn't limited to just women either, but rather the way the community treat other people. It's not uncommon to hear in video games as well as game stores the cries of slurs like "faggot" or "retard" or "pussy." Even if these phrases are said in jest or as curses; it's not good enough. There's always the possibility of someone in the room who is transgendered, homosexual, mentally challenged or simply a part of an underrepresented group. If you're fighting magical dragons, building far off civilizations on tiles and living in an imaginary world; I'm pretty sure it isn't a stretch to think up a better interjection than a racial or sexual slur. All it does is bring down the overall intelligence of the community you're playing in to let anger destroy the integrity of the game store you play at.
Bullying comes in a wide array of forms and it isn't just in the traditional "jocks vs. nerds" format, but nerd on nerd bullying can come in the form of ignorance or excuses of it being just a joke. When you call your dice "Faggot dice" for not rolling what you want to roll, you continue to both make it okay to use homosexuality as an insult and are under the impression that because you're calling your dice that; it's okay. You're not calling anyone in the room a faggot, right? That makes it okay. Nevermind the fact that someone in the room may take offense to your screams of insults and can't tell you to shut up because it's "just your dice." It's a double-edged sword to call out your friends or people across the table for fear of accusing them of anything. Traditionally gamers are looked at as outcasts and they come to a game store to find community; so to call someone out is to become the accuser and that is a faux pas of extreme variety in a room full of people seeking common ground.
Being mindful of your phrasing and being ready to buoy up your community of fellow gamers is what is important.
Remembering that not everyone is as loud and ready to shout out their opinions like you are is important.
Remember the person across the table from you is a person with their own story and if you want to be remembered as a hero in their story, then don't become a villain by ignorance.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Counting Chickens, or Branding Them
So I'm knee-deep in forms to secure my beer & wine license and carry bottled/canned beer at my shoppe. It's got me thinking about the future of my store and what it will mean to come to AQ. I made a post on Reddit asking how sustainable my business plan for this license would be, with some success. One of the big questions that popped up at me was: "Will this change the market of gamers who visit your store?"
I think the obvious answer is: Yes.
The big point in bringing people into a game store, especially one they might not have visited before, is what my brand exemplifies. I've spent the past year preaching "Casual gaming, small town feel, play what the community desires." Going forward, I don't think much of that will change, but with beer comes different questions. Will my shoppe be less kid-friendly? Perhaps.
I think if I've learned one thing from living in Colorado this past year and a half it's that families go to bars and breweries all the time. The creation of a bar/game store is the first step in bridging the gap between families only thinking about games as "for kids" and gamers thinking bars are an "after gaming" place. To put the two in the same place is to encourage people to consider that table-top gaming is an adult activity, to be enjoyed with all the benefits of a bar atmosphere and a game store vibe.
As I close in on finishing this process of licensing, I've told folks off the street about my ideas, (in the past, we had the idea, but never planned on when to follow through, so I never bring it up anymore) and the response has been "Huh, that sounds awesome. Never would've thought of that." Which ultimately makes me wonder if I am at the cusp of discovering the one thing Coloradans haven't followed through on yet and what that might mean going forward. I'm hopeful I can get beer off the ground, make it a profitable venture for the success of the store in the next 12 months, and if it is look at remodeling and expanding the idea into a fully fleshed out bar concept.
Obviously I'm counting my chickens before the forms are turned in, but I'm hopeful so far. I think this could be the key to jump starting the store into a venture worth talking about. I won't just be a "game store" in the Denver area anymore. I'll be a new thing; worth seeking out, worth taking the adventure to visit. In the end, that's the brand I'd really want for my livelihood. An adventure.
I think the obvious answer is: Yes.
The big point in bringing people into a game store, especially one they might not have visited before, is what my brand exemplifies. I've spent the past year preaching "Casual gaming, small town feel, play what the community desires." Going forward, I don't think much of that will change, but with beer comes different questions. Will my shoppe be less kid-friendly? Perhaps.
I think if I've learned one thing from living in Colorado this past year and a half it's that families go to bars and breweries all the time. The creation of a bar/game store is the first step in bridging the gap between families only thinking about games as "for kids" and gamers thinking bars are an "after gaming" place. To put the two in the same place is to encourage people to consider that table-top gaming is an adult activity, to be enjoyed with all the benefits of a bar atmosphere and a game store vibe.
As I close in on finishing this process of licensing, I've told folks off the street about my ideas, (in the past, we had the idea, but never planned on when to follow through, so I never bring it up anymore) and the response has been "Huh, that sounds awesome. Never would've thought of that." Which ultimately makes me wonder if I am at the cusp of discovering the one thing Coloradans haven't followed through on yet and what that might mean going forward. I'm hopeful I can get beer off the ground, make it a profitable venture for the success of the store in the next 12 months, and if it is look at remodeling and expanding the idea into a fully fleshed out bar concept.
Obviously I'm counting my chickens before the forms are turned in, but I'm hopeful so far. I think this could be the key to jump starting the store into a venture worth talking about. I won't just be a "game store" in the Denver area anymore. I'll be a new thing; worth seeking out, worth taking the adventure to visit. In the end, that's the brand I'd really want for my livelihood. An adventure.
Monday, August 4, 2014
Marketing, or "How to Drive your Competition Crazy"
I've been reading a copy of "how to drive your competition crazy" by Guy Kawazaki to brush up on my business knowhow, and it's pretty interesting. Getting involved in a small business means you know your competition pretty well, as there aren't more than a few other game stores in the Denver area. All of them are fairly fair away, but those stores that are considered my competition by customers are namely about one thing: Magic or discounts.
Game stores in my area do a lot of Magic sales and that's only 1 night of the week for me, though I compete with them online by having better pricing. The discounted board game market exists pretty fiercely with Black & Read but they lack any kind of playspace or knowledge of the product, which gives me a slight edge in the long term. Discovering how to drive them crazy is mostly about knowing the product better and keeping it in stock or getting in special orders for nerds that need it.
A few questions that were posited in the book are pretty useful for considering the future business strategy of the store itself:
1. What business is your company really in?
2. Where do you see your company in 5, 10, 20, 50 years?
3. If a prospective customer doesn't buy from you, where do they buy it?
1. My business is one of customer service and trust. People come to me because I'm building a community to find like-minded individuals who want to play together, so organized play basically. Coming to me, people know I try to know as much about games as possible and will personally try to find a game that is up their alley and in the vein they require. I have my finger on the pulse of gamers in my area and try to fill their needs and develop relationships for the future.
2. In 5 years, I will hopefully capture a larger Magic market that other stores cannot. Given that based on past experience, 2-3 shoppes in the area will go out of business and won't immediately be replaced, I have to be ready to take their customers when they leave and know how to provide space and product for them. Ideally, I will be doing something different (like beer & wine in the store) that will help me stand out against any store in the area so that I'm not just a well run business people can trust, but a shop innovating on the edge of gaming.
In 10-20 years (hopefully I'll still be here!) I can hope to have a few employees running the shoppe in my stead, able to provide the same services I maintain, and can build the shoppe towards being a destination for gamers all around Denver to venture out to. With the light rail coming to Arvada and the revitalization of the Ralston neighborhood surrounding me, the walk-in/drive-by traffic will increase almost 50% over what it is now, given the trends, so providing a catchy spot to drop in and game will be critical for that. In 20 years, I can hopefully be a pillar of the community that is a one-stop-shoppe for all things gaming that never runs low on stock and always has in the newest games.
3. If people don't buy from me, they go to Black and Read locally, or to Amazon. I can't really prevent that, except by keeping a more flourishing stock of games and being aggressive about getting in preorders in a timely manner. Success in this market requires a constant restock and a full store, as well as the openness to stay clean and friendly for anyone who might come in.
The future is bright, but getting to the point where I can be satisfied with the level that the store is at requires constant diligence over the product I carry. Never letting something get out of stock and finding that new hot thing that people want to play is critical. Hopefully I can remain vigilant and eventually get sales spiking even higher so that I can be paid a living wage and eventually provide for an employee to do the same. I think examining the future marketing needs of my shoppe through watching other stores is a part of it, but getting the revolution of tabletop going myself is key to success, not just survival.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Top Ten Essentials for a Game Store
I watched an interesting interview called "The Top Ten Essentials for a Game Store," featuring Tom Vasel and others and it led me to think: What am I doing right, what am I planning to do, and what do I need to work on? A lot of the things they talk about are things I'm already doing okay at, but their list was intriguing because of the coverage their list tended to have. About 10% of stores they interact with do the things they requested of stores.
Some of the things mentioned were: Keep your store clean, including bathrooms, and without clutter. Have staff that are friendly, informed, and interested in repeat customers. Run a well lit space with areas for playing games and enough room to shop. All of these are basic things that any store should be interested in, so it isn't surprising to see them as the critical steps for a game store to follow. It's more interesting that most game stores do not follow these small steps of running a business because they're generally run more as clubs, playspace for like-minded people, or just a hangout. It's something for me to never lose sight of: That I run a store at the end of the day and everything else is secondary and a benefit to it.
Things I'm planning to do:
Some of the things mentioned were: Keep your store clean, including bathrooms, and without clutter. Have staff that are friendly, informed, and interested in repeat customers. Run a well lit space with areas for playing games and enough room to shop. All of these are basic things that any store should be interested in, so it isn't surprising to see them as the critical steps for a game store to follow. It's more interesting that most game stores do not follow these small steps of running a business because they're generally run more as clubs, playspace for like-minded people, or just a hangout. It's something for me to never lose sight of: That I run a store at the end of the day and everything else is secondary and a benefit to it.
Things I'm planning to do:
- Star Mats for X-Wing nights, so that all our tables look professional and ready to play on instead of just bare wood.
- Beer & Wine license, so that people can hang out and drink while they play instead of leaving to a local bar.
- Better lighting by the windows at night.
- A computer interface to browse Magic cards and our prices.
Things I'm working on:
- Preorders arriving in a timely manner. This has a lot to do with budgets and some to do with diligence of talking to distributors and getting things set aside. I think this will slowly resolve itself as it has gotten better every month since I opened.
- More diverse food options. Some different snacks and drinks being regularly in stock will help and getting some feedback on what people want me to carry may resolve a bit of that as well.
- Bigger events. Making our weekends a destination is getting there, but as I continue to reach out to the community with beer & game nights this might eventually get sorted out.
What am I doing right?
- The store is clean! It's well lit, fairly accessible at all times to any corner of the store to find what you're looking for and still avoid running into tables or other customers.
- When I preorder a product for people, I try to guarantee (if it's out) that I will get it in before 30 days are up. Usually it takes less than 14 days, but it's critical to me to be the kind of store people can trust to preorder product through and know that it's coming in.
- Consistency in hours and events. Every night is different, but the crowds that come in to play on those nights know they will have space to play and meet other folks. Priority space goes to the night scheduled, which resolves disagreements in having space to play normally. I post hours and show up during them and try not to stay afterhours too often, so as to keep people used to the closing time.
- I try to stay up to date on new releases, informed about what games are like other games, and do my best to engage with regulars even though they may play games I do not know how to play.
When it comes to finding the areas I'm weakest in, there's always going to be a blindspot, but knowing how to critically understand what you're missing going forward is something to keep an eye on. I hope that the areas I'm planning and working on get resolved and replaced by a pile of new things that I need to improve upon, since there should always be a way to work towards a tighter run ship.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Behind the Quarter
Well, this is how it begins.
This blog is for others to learn from my mistakes and for me to keep track of mine. Running a game store full time is a lot of work: accounting, inventory, pre-orders in a reasonable amount of time, new releases, customer service and event scheduling. There is no area of the store that is unimportant, but as I've only been open 10 months, there's still downtime and ways to improve.
So far Monday-Friday is full every night with people enjoying their particular brand of board game, card game and RPG. It is arguably a success as far as events go. Getting the weekends rolling will happen slowly, but so far getting more games on Saturdays and appealing more to the Olde Town crowd during the mornings is step 1 and 2. A lot of stores take a day off a week or open super late, but it seems like the best bet is to always be available as a store to the local community so as to be relied upon to be open and available for last second purchases. Events work and help us feel less like a store pushing product and more of a place you support to find like-minded nerds.
On the other hand, being a store means marketing, and finding ways to tell people you are here is key. I've read a lot of advice from other stores over the past few months and I think the way to not spam the world is to be interesting. Post once a day on Facebook so as to stay active and up to date, but not become a thing people want to "hide" from their walls. Post 3 times a day in Twitter, about anything at all really, and see what sticks. With enough followers it could eventually become the event feed for the store or at least create an open dialog with folks about games in general. This is more of a reminder to myself, again, so that I don't let up.
It's so easy to lay back and think: Things are going at a good speed, just let it work itself out. The thing with owning a business is that it must be your passion. I intend to be a personal shopper for any person off the street or for regulars that have been with me from the beginning. I want people to find a game they really enjoy, not just grab one because I said it's good and want a sale. I read something from Black Diamond Games that struck home with me awhile back: Whenever someone enters the store, part of me lights up to help that person, because I'm genuinely shocked and pleased that someone chose to enter the store and inquire about the things I love.
I am a very stoic man and anyone will tell you they've never seen me excited. At the end of the day, that is just there to temper my world from being too one-way-or-the-other. I feel it is a strength and a weakness, being able to handle stress more easily and not to make rash decisions, though I also never appear super enthused so retail is an odd environment. Thankfully the low-key retail space of a game store means I don't have to be pushy, loud, or overly-attached to work well.
So what is all this? What will this blog be, seeing as it's not a big AQ related blog about new games and the like? It's game theory, store theory, and business from a casual novice who wants to bring transparency to a career that is traditionally impossible to do long-term.
This blog is for others to learn from my mistakes and for me to keep track of mine. Running a game store full time is a lot of work: accounting, inventory, pre-orders in a reasonable amount of time, new releases, customer service and event scheduling. There is no area of the store that is unimportant, but as I've only been open 10 months, there's still downtime and ways to improve.
So far Monday-Friday is full every night with people enjoying their particular brand of board game, card game and RPG. It is arguably a success as far as events go. Getting the weekends rolling will happen slowly, but so far getting more games on Saturdays and appealing more to the Olde Town crowd during the mornings is step 1 and 2. A lot of stores take a day off a week or open super late, but it seems like the best bet is to always be available as a store to the local community so as to be relied upon to be open and available for last second purchases. Events work and help us feel less like a store pushing product and more of a place you support to find like-minded nerds.
On the other hand, being a store means marketing, and finding ways to tell people you are here is key. I've read a lot of advice from other stores over the past few months and I think the way to not spam the world is to be interesting. Post once a day on Facebook so as to stay active and up to date, but not become a thing people want to "hide" from their walls. Post 3 times a day in Twitter, about anything at all really, and see what sticks. With enough followers it could eventually become the event feed for the store or at least create an open dialog with folks about games in general. This is more of a reminder to myself, again, so that I don't let up.
It's so easy to lay back and think: Things are going at a good speed, just let it work itself out. The thing with owning a business is that it must be your passion. I intend to be a personal shopper for any person off the street or for regulars that have been with me from the beginning. I want people to find a game they really enjoy, not just grab one because I said it's good and want a sale. I read something from Black Diamond Games that struck home with me awhile back: Whenever someone enters the store, part of me lights up to help that person, because I'm genuinely shocked and pleased that someone chose to enter the store and inquire about the things I love.
I am a very stoic man and anyone will tell you they've never seen me excited. At the end of the day, that is just there to temper my world from being too one-way-or-the-other. I feel it is a strength and a weakness, being able to handle stress more easily and not to make rash decisions, though I also never appear super enthused so retail is an odd environment. Thankfully the low-key retail space of a game store means I don't have to be pushy, loud, or overly-attached to work well.
So what is all this? What will this blog be, seeing as it's not a big AQ related blog about new games and the like? It's game theory, store theory, and business from a casual novice who wants to bring transparency to a career that is traditionally impossible to do long-term.
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