Play the Game Read the Story
9808 Carousel Center
Syracuse, NY 13290
(315) 472-GAME
http://www.playthegamereadthestory.com
The store is stocked with a wide variety of games:
* CCG/TCGs of Magic: the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon, World of Warcraft, Naruto, Dragonball, & Epic
* RPGs from AD&D 4E, RIFTS, Robotech, World of Darkness, SCION, Shadowrun, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mutants & Masterminds, Star Wars, HERO, and GURPS
* Board games range from Risk to Cheeky Monkeys, and every genre, virtually every age, classics to currents in between, though mainstream titles are not their forte, they can make orders for what they don't have.
* CMGs (Collectible Miniature Games) and Wargames: Warhammer fantasy/40K, War Machine, Star Wars Minis, Axis & Allies, Heroclix, Monsterpocalypse and D&D Minis.
* Dice games such as LCR and Liar's Dice (as seen in
Pirates of the Caribbean).
What they don't have they can check to see if they can order it. They carry mostly non-mainstream products, mostly regarding board games, but for everything else, they carry supplements and lines produced by the smaller companies.
They are fairly decent about stocking their shelves, and again, if they don't have what you are looking for, they are willing to take a special request and contact the customer once the product is in stock. They even offer mail order service through their company website, under the "Online Store" link.
With the current larger events area of the local game stores, they offer the chance for a number of events to be run simultaneously. They just participated in BOTH Free RPG Day & Worldwide D&D Game Day. Offer delve nights, Monday & Friday Night Magic, Wednesday booster drafts, standard & legacy events for Magic on Saturday & Sunday, like events for Yu-Gi-Oh! on the same days. They also host demo events for rpgs, and open miniature game night on Thursday nights. But don't take my word for it, check out their on-line events calendar, right on their website.
I would say that the store and its staff represent the epitome of gamers everywhere. If any of them don't know the answer, they can refer you to another staff member who is more knowledgeable in that field.
They also carry comic books, including obscure titles, and back issues. The staff is quite friendly, and knowledgeable to a point, but altogether, a very fine store. Given the history of RPGs in general, that there are ANY stores like this one in Syracuse is a miracle unto itself.
I hope that they are selected for the winner.