Public Service Announcement, Nerd-style:
The Wizards of the Coast stores, called The Gamekeeper here in Los Angeles, are all going out of business. Their stock is still pretty good, and everything is at least 40% off the cover.
So, if you’re like me and you were waiting to get the D&D 3.5 corebooks, now would be a good time. If you’re a poker nerd, you can also get clay chips there on the cheap, and if you’ve ever wanted to venture into games like Settlers of Catan or Diplomacy, they’ve got those as well. All 40% off.
Personally, I think most games are overpriced to begin with, so 40% off brings them right down to a very affordable and reasonable level.
Now go forth, and nerd-ify!
40 thoughts on “well tug my beard!”
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The WOTC stores in WA are also going out of business and having great sales. We picked up the Settlers Expansion, a couple D&D books, and a ton of D%D minis. Happy Foraging!
If you’re into the nerd board games like Settlers, check out http://www.boardgamegeek.com. I know people who live there on the weekend.
Curses! No Gamekeepers up here in Calgary. No deals for Canadian nerds. 🙁
Thanks to our wonderous exchange rate, we get the esteemed pleasure of paying 40% over what would be your regular price!
Yeah, going out here in Baltimore too.
Not too surprized, when I used to still work for Games-Workshop, when Peter Ackman still owned wizards (before they bought game keeper)(long caviet) Game Keeper had like the WORST ordering / stock distribution system.
Their buyers lasted 6 months tops, and EVERYTHING was ordered to the main office. And then distributed to their stores country wide from there.
Everyone knows how inpartial gamers are, so you can be sure that lots of great games were given equal billing.
And after WOTC bought them, there certainly was no preferential treatment for MTG or Pokemon products.
Regardless, this chain should have died out years ago, and if WOTC hadn’t bailed them out .. they would have.
Don’t you west coat guys have that HUGE supermarket sized hobby shop ? err i forget the vendor’s name .. but he used to put in a huge GW order (like .. in the thousands) every week .. and that was only like 300-400 square feet of his 20,000 + square foot store.) Damn my aging memory.
Found your site today via several other blogs. In keeping with the topic of the day. I really don’t care for gaming, never have.
Like the site. Keep it up.
If you’ve never played Settlers of Catan, beware that it is a very detailed time intensive game. I would recommend it to all shut-ins and people who work from home. Do not swim or operate heavy machinery for at least 2 hours after playing Settlers of Catan.
Woohoo! I am so there at lunchtime! Good time to stock up on boardgames that are usually overpriced, I’d say.
Sounds awesome! Love the site!
I certainly hope Dungeons & Dragons is more fun that Nethack. I tried it after seeing all the references here, and I was kinda disappointed at how easy it is to die. It’s hard to feel invested in a character. Maybe I would have liked it better in the days of CGA. In any case, some friends recently decided to start playing 2nd edition… we’re making characters next week. Hopefully it will be more fun with friends and creativity and etc. One thing we’ve noticed is that they really try to punish other races to make people want to be human, but I wanna be an elf! (story of my life…)
Did someone say poker chips?
Why do I always have to miss out on the good deals? *Hmph*
Yeah, we were kinda pissed that they’re taking the WotC stores out here in San Jose, too. We talked to them. Hasbro is shutting down ALL of the WotC stores because evidently (from what the guy said) Hasbro made some deal with Toys R Us to get a bigger share in the TRU stores if they shut down their retail division. Which, uh, welcome to capitalism but goodbye to the stuff that Geeks With Cash are going to buy. Well, unless there’s a great small gamergeek store locally.
Hmm…I will have to check it out and see what kind of deal I can get on the Star Wars D20 books I don’t have yet. I still think it kind of sucks that they are going out of business though.
WOTC is a really neat store, the one at my local mall closed down. Then reopened in what is barely a indoor kiosk. I hope they are discounting dice, i need some more d20s … my current stash have been rolling really badly.
Weirdly enough I bought a Wesley Crsusher figure at a WOTC store once.
I’ve been totally stocking up on the clearance dice, and managed to score an excellent deal on Carcassone (which I highly recommend). Last time I checked the D&D books weren’t on clearance…maybe it’s time to pay another visit! And buy more dice. Because maybe I don’t have enough yet.
Interesting…I literally live about 600 yards away from The Wizards of the Coast HQ in Renton, WA. I had no idea they were planning on closing their stores.
Damn! Must… get… to… The Westchester… now! Must… buy… Star Wars d20!
(Stupid conventions, taking me away from NYC for three days…)
Wait, what’s that… there’s a store in Pentagon City, not too far from where I’m having dinner with friends Friday night? SWEET!
The WOTC store at the Mall of America in the Twin Cities is closing, too. It’s a shame, but we have many excellent gaming/comic stores here that are frankly, much better than the WOTC is.
Here’s what the company has to say
http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=company/pr/20031228a
They’re all closing!
Frankly, I’m not surprised that they’re going out of business. Most of those games can be purchased online for less, and they’ve basically served as romper rooms for mall kids.
I’ll miss browsing in there from time to time. Maybe it’s a good opportunity to stock up on some fresh polyhedral dice at 40% off. DAMN SEXY!
Neph – I’m with you… I’ve SO been jonesing to buy some clay poker chips, and would even consider driving up from San Diego if they had a good enough deal (on Ebay they’re running about $80-125), but I’m about to go out of town for a while… Bummer!
when Shane told me about the sale, i rushed over to Westside Pavillion only to watch teh final (4) copies of “Pirateer” fall into the wrong hands…
Arr!
I did marvel at the “Travel Edition” of “Settlers,”panted at the clay Poker Chips, and eventually could only bring myself to spend my self-allotted geek-money on “Munhckin.”
Maybe one day I’ll host a “Game Night” again!
i’m going back for the Poker Chips this weekend, i hope they still have some.
i did notice that the sale prices did NOT apply to any CCG’s (Magic, etc). Does that restriction still apply?
: )
jc
Will,
Funny… I met you briefly at LA Origins a million years ago. I was working for a game company at the time that did games based on H.P. Lovecraft’s work and you stopped by the booth to look at some of our stuff. All my coworkers were excited that “The kid from Star Trek just stopped by!”
I, however (no offense) not being a Trek fan, was simply impressed that “The kid in ‘The Curse’ was actually interested in HPL.”
I’d often wondered if you still had any interest in the hobby games field, and I guess you still do.
So, that’s pretty much the end of that ramble…
Yay! More Guillotine & Chez Geek for me! Great site Will — and btw… you started a monster when it comes to Geocaching.. i can’t get enough!
MORE PICS!!
I want wil to add to pics into gallery!!
Wow, this is really going to put a dent in my dating opportunities. Where else can I troll for a date with one of the great unwashed?
What does this mean for the D & D game? If anything?
Not that it matters – I tuned out when I heard ThAC0 was going out of style.
Sorry, I think CheapAss games are ALWAYS reasonable in cost and no store has to go out of business for them to be so! 😉
noooo! Don’t succumb to 3.5! They just made it to get your money- only 20% of the book is changed, and much of that is layout and illustrations.
Or do. maybe it’s just that much better
speaking of tugging your beard…there are people out here in WWDN land that would love to see what results when you try to grow facial hair…could be a project…it would go good with your evil “obey wil” eye.
The closure of WotC stores is really just symptomatic of the serious trouble in the RPG industry right now. With almost nobody making any money, companies are getting out of RPGs entirely. Decipher’s RPG division is gone (*sob*, there went my job) and there are a few more who are rumored to be not far behind . . . looks like Unknown Armies is getting dropped, and a couple other companies are even looking into closing out of RPGs entirely. So, get while the gettin’ is good — while we still have RPGs at all.
Wow… Diplomacy. I thought I was the only nerd who ever played that. Not that I was any good… I think I’m still on my high school AP history teacher’s standings with all of 3 points. Go Italy!
Diplomacy is awesome. I’m playing an online correspondence game with six friends right now. I’m Germany and so far, NOT getting my ass handed to me surprisingly enough. It’s a tough country to play.
Actually I find Settlers of Catan to be a very interesting game. You can finish a game in a much short time than all those games of Monopoly you played as a kid. Plus there is some actual strategy to it! Gasp!
Other good board games to keep an eye out for: Tigris & Euphrates, Tikal, Samurai, New England, Carcassonne: The Castle, Puerto Rico… well the list goes on.
As for the Gamekeeper stores going out of business, I am not too suprised. Malls typically charge too much for retail space and the few Gamekeeper stores I have been too seemed poorly run with not-so-knowledgable staff. Support your locally owned & run game stores.
If you get any extra D&D Corebooks, can you pass them along to my hubby-to-be? He plays at his brother’s house every other week, but I need a reason for him to get out of the house more often! Oh, Gamekeeper is going out of business here too in N. VA. The Gamekeeper, in our area at least, isn’t all Pokeman or Yu-Gi-Oh games. Some really awesome expensive chess sets and backgammon boards there too…
I wonder if the local Game Preserve is involved in the closings. They have some of the best games I’ve ever played. Wise & Otherwise is the best. But it can get kind of raunchy if you play it with the right crowd.
Oh well, there’s my 2 cents.
As I was standing in a store as a regional manager was working his way through inventory, I’d like you all to know that, as the month comes to a close, the sales will be going up to as high as 70-80% off. Keep your laser handy.
-=B.
There is also lots of WizKids stuff you can pick up there while it is inexpensive. 🙂
Have you played the new MageKnight yet?
The WoTc Game Center was the only reason to go to Seattle. I’m so sad that it’s gone.
I can’t beleive they are closing the stores too. Sheesh.
Bad Hasbro…bad!
I popped by my local WotC store recently to pick up some D&D books. They had a teeny tiny section. No Monster Manual. None of those nifty class handbooks. No modules whatsoever. Just a couple DMGs and PHBs, plenty of dice packs, and a few of those overpriced generic miniatures packs. I went to Waldenbooks.
Yeah, my ex boyfriend works for one of the WotC stores in Vegas that’s going under. He keeps sending us e-mails about the miniatures that are on clearance. *snortle*