Monday, July 30, 2018

If Stuff Is Stolen From You, What To Do

Had a customer report a theft of some of their gaming supplies over the weekend. Thanks to them doing the correct things and alert staff at the store, we were able to recover the items and turn the thief over to the police. Here are steps you should take if items are stolen from you:

1. Make a list of what was stolen. Be as detailed as you can, not only for police purposes but in case you want to file an insurance claim. Saying that you had a binder of Magic cards stolen is much less helpful than saying "I had a black Ultra Pro binder with these specific cards in it and they were on these pages." We recovered a stolen collection a couple of years ago because the victim described a particular box in which part of the collection was stored and the thief came in with the cards in that box. Incidentally, if you have very valuable items, such as Moxes, photographs for insurance purposes are a good idea and can also help identify your stolen property.

2. Call the police. 911 is probably not necessary unless the theft is happening now but the police cannot act to recover your property unless they know about it. Do it as soon as you realize the theft took place. Thieves generally want to get rid of their stolen items as quickly as possible so speed on your part is essential.

3. Call stores in the immediate area. Unless the items are Magic or some other type of card AND the thief knows their value, they will want to get rid of your property, since they want money for them fast. Trying to sell stuff online can take 2-3 days or better . In most cases a thief wants cash now. We had a couple of cases where the thieves parsed out a collection and sold it to several stores in St. Louis but most thieves are opportunists and not willing to go to that much effort. If your items are stolen while you are playing at a store, don't blame the store. We don't like thieves any more than you do and will be quite happy to see them arrested.

Take these steps and you will have a much better chance of getting back your stolen property.


Saturday, July 28, 2018

Speed Dueling Decks

Just received the following info on the new Speed Dueling Decks coming for Yu Gi Oh this fall:

The Speed Duel Starter Decks each contain 3 ready-to-duel Speed Duel Decks and 3 Ultra Rare variant cards specially chosen to boost each strategy.  Speed Duel Starter Decks: Destiny Masters contains Decks for the Millennium Item users Yami Yugi, Ishizu Ishtar and Maximillion Pegasus to face off against up-and-comers from Speed Duel Starter Decks: Duelists of Tomorrow containing Decks for Seto Kaiba, Mai Valentine and Joey Wheeler.

Also included are brand-new Skill Cards to change Deck-building decisions and flip the tables on your opponents!  Some Skills come right out ofYu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, but as a bonus, each Deck contains a brand new original Skill for their respective characters!

All cards in the Speed Duel Starter Decks contain a new marker confirming their legality for Speed Dueling.  Only cards with this special symbol may be used for Speed Dueling*, however players are free to Duel with Speed Dueling cards in regular Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME tournaments and events.**

Speed Dueling is a great way to get a taste of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME while also providing compelling new gameplay options for existing fans.  Keep an eye out on the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME events page to find out where you can play Speed Dueling events!

Speed Duel Starter Decks: Destiny Masters contains: 1 20-Card Yami Yugi Deck 1 20-Card Ishizu Ishtar Deck 1 20-Card Pegasus Deck 9 Skill Cards (3 for Yugi, 3 for Ishizu and 3 for Pegasus) 3 Ultra Rare variant cards

Speed Duel Starter Decks: Duelists of Tomorrow contains: 1 20-Card Seto Kaiba Deck 1 20-Card Mai Valentine Deck 1 23-Card Joey Wheeler Deck 9 Skill Cards (3 for Kaiba, 3 for Mai and 3 for Joey) 3 Ultra Rare variant cards

*To use a card in Speed Dueling it must have the Speed Dueling Symbol on the card, other versions of the same card are not legal.
**Skill cards may only be used in Speed Dueling events.

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Jay's Favorite Games: Red Dragon Inn

I like Red Dragon Inn because it's a fun party game about drinking and gambling. It can be played with two or a near infinite amount of people and anywhere in between. It's a great game for people ages 13 and up with very simple or very complex rules. Over all I love it a lot and think you will too.
- Jay

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Star Trek Fluxx

Or is that Fluxxes? Anyhow, Looney Labs has announced they have the licese to produce a series of Star Trek Fluxx games releasing later this year:

We are very excited to announce three new Star Trek Titles from Looney Labs - two standalone card games and an expansion pack that allows you to shuffle both decks together!
 
Star Trek Fluxx: Featuring characters from the Original Series,
including Spock, Uhura, and Scotty!

Star Trek: The Next Generation Fluxx: Featuring TNG characters,
including Troi, Riker, and Worf!

Star Trek Fluxx Bridge Expansion: 12 cards that allow Kirk to meet Picard,
Spock to meet Data, and the Past to meet the Future!
 

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Survival Tips for GenCon

GenCon is coming up in less than a month and Blaine Pardoe has put together a list of 35 survival tips for GenCon. To his tips I would add, don't touch the cosplayers. Just as cosplayers should not wear outfits that cause them to bump into other convention attendees, a cosplay outfit is not an invitation to hug or otherwise touch the wearer.

Friday, July 13, 2018

National Ice Cream Day

Just a reminder that National Ice Cream Day is this Sunday and, while we won't have any ice cream here, we will have coupons for a buck off a $5 purchase at Cool Spoons, which does have ice cream

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Pre-orders

I have said it before but pre-ordering or asking about a product really helps us to decide if and how much of a game or related product we decide to bring into the store. Unlike mass market stores such as Wal-mart or Target, we have to pay for and keep everything we order, so we tend to err or the conservative side when ordering. If you want us to get something, please let us know by ordering it.

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Why Aryel, Knight of Windgrace Should be in Your Deck

Aryel, Knight of Windgrace is in Dominaria and with the standard rotation coming up, knights are going to be super popular. This Legendary Human Knight costs 4 mana and is a 4/4 with vigilance. It uses black and white mana so any black/white could benefit from it. For less than its mana cost you can create a 2/2 knight token, then tap any number of knights to destroy a target creature of that value or less.
Aryel makes it easy to build a small army quickly. I hope you check out this underrated card and enjoy it!
-Jay