Perfect Order

 We heard today that the next set of Pokemon, Perfect Order, releases March 27.  We will have booster packs and a limited number of elite Trainer Kits available for purchase.

Games Workshop New Releases

 The main new releases for March 28th are an updated Blood Bowl Elf team and the new issue of Spike magazine, with rules for them.  Please let us know by noon March 10th if you want any.

The masters of the passing game return to the Blood Bowl pitch with an elegant set of new miniatures.

Printed rules for the new High Elf team can be found in Spike! Issue 21, which contains fantastic content for all Blood Bowl players 

We will also have a number of GW novels ariving.

Gensys

 We will run a Yu Gi Oh Tournament on march 28 using the new Gensys system of building a deck.Somewhat similar to Warhammer 40,000, Yu gi Oh cards are now assigned points and players build a deck using the assigned number of points for the tournament.  Many cards cost zero point so you can put up to three in the deck at no cost, while more powerful cards cost 20 or 30 points limiting the number in the deck.

Lorwyn Eclipsed

 Looks as if we have a small order of Lorywn eclisped arriving tomorrow or Monday.  After that, according to WotC, we cannot expect a restock until the fourth quarter of 2026.  Why?  Because the company has a lot of product in the printing pipeline already:  reprints of Play boosters for Final Fantasy, Spider Man, Lord of the Rings, as well as the products releasing this year.

Games Workshop Pre-orders

 Here is the link to the list of GW pre-orders releasing march 21. Please let us know by noon CT March 3 if you want any

36th Anniversary

 This past month the store celebrated its 36th year in business and I figured I would take this opportunity to look back at some of the changes I have seen over the past three and a half years:

Credit card processing—Through most of the 1990s, cash was king (still is, but that is another topic). Credit cards were used, not debit cards as those came about much later and the process for using them was a lot lengthier that today’s insert or tap. Credit cards has raised number and names for use with a manual machine, not so fondly referred to as the “knucklebuster”.  Each machine contained a plate with the merchant’s processing information embossed on it. When making a credit card purchase, the sales clerk would fill out a multi-layered carbon, later carbonless, form, summarizing the items purchased and total amount charged, have the customer sign the form, then insert the card into the machine and slide the imprinter back and forth, imprinting the merchant and customer information onto the form. Since the clerk held the machine in place with one hand and slid the imprinter with the other hand, it was possible to strike the knuckles if not careful. Credit card processors would also mail out booklets every so often, containing lists of hundreds of thousands of fraudulent credit card numbers, which the clerk was expected to check before taking the card. The customer would get a copy of the form, the store kept a copy and a collection of copies from the day’s credit card sales got mailed off, usually daily, to the credit card processor. Happily those days ended in the late 1990s when even small stores got access to electronic credit card processing.

Credit Card Use—Along with the change in credit card processing, we saw an increase over the years in the use of credit cards themselves. Through the 1990s, the majority of our sales were in cash and purchases were comparatively small, in the $10 to $30 range On an average day, we would use the knucklebuster 5 to 10 times a day. On a typical day today, 75 to 90% of our sales are made with credit or debit cards with average up to about $25 but a $200 to $500 sale, unheard of until the advent of the trading card game, is not uncommon. Also common today are high school students and younger with their own credit cards or, more often, some form of phone based payment.

Trading Card Games—Prior to Magic, and later Pokémon and Yu Gi Oh, as well as the dozens of other trading card games that sought to capitalize on their popularity (anyone remember Super Deck or Towers in Time?), the game store served a very niche market, primarily young men aged 12 to 25, especially in college or military service. At the time Games Workshop’s business model targeted boys aged 10-12, who the company expected to play for about 4 years, then move onto other interests, like girls. Women did play but they accounted for about 10 to 15% of the customer base. TCG’s, especially Pokemon, vastly expanded the typical game store’s customer base, bringing in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of new customers and exposing them to the hundreds of other games available.

Pokemon Day

Join us for Pokemon Day on Feb. 27th . We will have Ascended Heroes booster packs for sale as well as a limited number of Pokemon Day gift Sets and tins.  Limit one of each per purchase.  Ask for a free prize pack and sticker sheet.