A Review of West Seattle's Newest Game Store

Board games are a big part of my life. Guests to my home often find themselves sitting at my table staring at pieces of cardboard or little wooden game pieces, so as a seasoned board gamer I love it when a new shop opens as one can never have enough board games or places to play. Saturday, May 17^th was the grand opening of Meeples Games, a gaming store and cafe in West Seattle and I stopped in to check it out.

First impressions: Meeples is a bit out of the way on the second story of a business complex. The location actually reminded me of the board game cafes in Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, as they were often tucked away on an upper level of buildings, accessible only through side-streets and cramped elevators. Thankfully, Meeples is easy to access and the size of the space is larger than you'd expect. All of the staff I encountered were extremely cheerful and helpful, despite the hustle and bustle of the grand opening.

The important part of a game store is of course the selection of games they offer and Meeples did not disappoint. They had a wide variety of both classic and recent games for sale, and I appreciated their organization style of grouping similar games together by theme or category. This makes it easy if you know of one game you really like and want  to find others that you might enjoy as well. I should also mention that behind the register Meeples featured a myriad of games to check-out and get a feel for them before buying.

Meeples is not just a game store, they have a cafe as well which serves a wide range of snacks and beverages, including espresso and beer for the adult patrons. The cafe side of Meeples is off to the right when you enter and I must say it exceeded my expectations. I ordered the brie, apple, pesto and prosciutto sandwich and it came with a side of potato chips. It was simply delicious and I highly recommend it!

I ended up staying for a Magic: the Gathering draft and was able to check out their gaming space, which is on the other side of the store from the cafe. The gaming area had many tables and comfortable chairs, and unlike other game stores I've been to it didn't get unreasonably hot when full of people. That was definitely a plus.



I was very pleased with my experience at Meeples and if you’re a gamer and find yourself in West Seattle, this is definitely a place worth checking out.



Check them out at: http://meeplesgames.com/

3727 California Ave SW

Suite 2B

Seattle, WA 98116



Hours: (per the website, last checked on 5/20/2014)

Sunday - Thursday 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Friday - Saturday 10:00 AM - midnight

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2014 Goals

I've never been much for resolutions, simply because I can't keep them. I remember resolving to do homework before playing games, or getting straight As, or... well, that was pretty much it. My New  Year's promise was always about school and I always quit my gung-ho nature after a few weeks. Now the new year generally starts with a, "It would be nice if..." and then I proceed to list off things that would be "nice." After a month or two passes, and I've done nothing, I start to narrow down that list to one or two concrete goals and then view them as "when" and not "if." It has proven to be quite effective!

It's super effec-... wait, wrong game.

For fun, though, I want to share my "It would be nice!" lists here. It's a combination of both personal and blog related with plenty of geek thrown into the mix!



Blog:

* It would be nice if A Bit of Geek didn't have any web down time this year

* It would be nice if the A Bit of Geek facebook page hit 500 likes

* It would be nice if I carried out a product idea from start to finish and started selling said product

* It would be nice if I started cosplaying

* It would be nice if I started my cosplay videos idea

* It would be nice if A Bit of Geek hosted more giveaways

* It would be nice if Rachel and I got our variety show idea off the ground

 

Feeling really good about my list so far.

Personal:

* It would be nice if I finally finished my Skyward Sword file

* It would be nice if I started and finished A Link Between Worlds in 2014

* It would be nice if I created at least one paper sculpt each month

* It would be nice if I organized my craft room

* It would be nice if I played board games at least once a month

* It would be nice if I made it to Scotland this spring

 

A country whose national animal is a unicorn? Worth at least one visit.

What would be nice for you this year?



-MJ



*header and preview image source

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Humble Win

Inspired by the (mostly) true event of winning a game of Carcassonne against a friend.

-MJ

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The Writings of a Noob "Explaining" Netrunner.

On Friday night I had a board game marathon. I know how to party hard. We kicked things off with a few cans of soda and a riveting game of Carcassonne. After trying it at PAX for the first time it has become an instant favorite. Good thing one of my housemates owns a copy! After winning the game by two little points (which was marvelous because originally we thought that he had won by one point, but it turned out that one of my farmers round-about-ly connected to three completed cities, booyah) we moved onto a surprisingly confusing session of Toboggans of Doom. I've had that for a while, a PAX of yore purchase. It's fun for the most part, but needed more play testing before it emerged into the heaving world of sleek gameplay instructions and cards that are fully colored in.

The shiny new box! Netrunner came out a little over a week ago.

Against my better judgement, it being past midnight and myself being exhausted, I agreed to play Netrunner, the newly released (re-released?) card game from Fantasy Flight. In the 90s, Netrunner was a collectible card game (CCG) that was, apparently, loved greatly by my housemate and his twin brother. Considering the way the game is played, though, the collection aspect was a challenge and ultimately the game failed.

Bear with me as I attempt to explain my experience playing Netrunner. It's not untrue to say that I was extremely confused for the majority of the game. It was tons of fun though! The story here is that one player is a hacker of sorts, and the other is an evil corporation. The hacker must steal Agendas from the corporation, and the corporation sets up Programs to keep the hacker out. This is the sort of game that would benefit greatly from a playing mat, at least to start out. It was difficult for me to keep track of which cards were supposed to go where.

You can't tell from this photo, but there was high action going on.

Eventually I figured out the turns: hackers get four actions, and corporations get three. I played the hacker, so I made sure to lay down a variety of Icebreakers, cards that would allow me to break through the protective Programs that the corporation player laid down. My objective was to collect seven points worth of Agenda cards, and I came so very close. As the game progressed, I had three Icebreakers, a Hardware card that allowed me extra RAM (very helpful), and a lot of additional Link points to prevent Tagging from the corporation. As I write this I feel that I'm making little to no sense. Forgive me, maybe?

KNOW THIS! Netrunner is a lot of fun, but, as with all complex board and card games, make sure you have a solid understanding of the rules before playing. Also, go in with a lot of patience. Since my housemate was such a fan of the original CCG, and loves reading game manuals, he knew a lot about the gameplay process and he helped me along. There was a lot of me showing him my cards going, "Will this be useful?"

A close up of the "Action" card and my character card, complete with money tokens.

Ultimately he won because he set me a mega trap. As the hacker hacks into the Programs set by the corporation, the hacker doesn't know what he or she will find. The corporation can be protecting valuable Assets and Agendas, or it can be creating a trap. As I executed a Run, what ended up being my last Run, I uncovered a deathly trap, one that caused six net damage and destroyed me. If only I had picked a different Program to Run through.

The card on the left brought certain death. The right brought winning.

Unknowingly, I chose certain death.

Thanks for sticking around, I know that this probably made no sense whatsoever. In order to get better at writing about board, card, and tabletop games I guess I'll have to play them more. What a drag!

-MJ

*all pictures are property of abitofgeek/MJ. Netrunner is property of Fantasy Flight!

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Lots of content; limited access.

The Kindle is great for reading, but a tablet 

would be nice for more things, including reading.

When I see a new game that I feel excited about, just a little glimpse, I'm immediately putting my hopes into that game being available on a platform that I have access to. I am often times let down, as I'm sure many others are as well.

Of course, it's not entirely unheard of for a person or a family to have access to the entire spectrum. I was once in that position with a 360, PS3, Wii, DS and PSP. What a glorious era!

The largest hurdle here is those blasted tablets though. Especially the iPad. For the past few months I have this recurring dream that I own an iPad. Aside from the absolutely outrageous price tag (yeesh), I don't even know what I'd do with an iPad. I already have access to a desktop computer, a laptop and a touchscreen smart phone (that does almost everything my laptop does).

So why the issue?

Spelltower.


SpellTower Trailer from zach gage on Vimeo.

Part Boggle, part Tetris, with a little bit of Scrabble and Bookworm thrown in, Spelltower has me desperately wishing I owned an iPad.

Anyone out there own an iPad? Have you played it? Can I borrow it...? :D

Just as a note, this entry is not meant to be a complaint at all. I'm fairly certain that I hardly understand just how amazing a fact it is that I have such a world of technological advancements around me. Plus, I'm not experiencing any kind of shortage on electronic devices or games to play.

It just stinks when I am introduced to something that looks so fun and yet I can't play it! Guess I'll bust out some Scrabble later and get my word fix there. Or hey, anyone want to play Words with Friends with me? My username is bionicT! Hope to see some of you on the board :)

-MJ

P.S.

This is the 100th post for A Bit of Geek! *confetti*!!! Thank you everyone!

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So many choices and so little time.

I'm out of excuses. This week fails to deliver my big surprise. I expected to have it done before I left for Washington on Monday, but I didn't, and I arrived back in California late Wednesday night. Now I have my friends with me (yay!) and there was no chance of me finishing it in time.

The following weeks will be full of all sorts of fun, geeky happenings. The friends that are visiting are big into games themselves; the video and board variety! We have over a week of board game, tabletop game and video game goodness planned. I am psyched! The three of us all have 3DSes loaded with Four Swords adventure. It'll be awesome to play all together. Plus, I also have a DSi that has Four Swords on it, so Andrew can join us for the maximum four player experience!

Today will see us at the game store in search of a copy of the Battlestar Galactica board game. Here's hoping we find it!

I apologize for the short (and late!) entry. It has been super fun madness since my friends arrived and I've hardly had a chance to sit down and write anything!

So many to choose from!

Have a great weekend!

-MJ

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PAX 2011: Best ever? part 1

--This has been split into two parts for its ridiculously long length. Part 2 will go up tomorrow :)--


It's certainly a bold proclamation. I have attended seven of the eight PAX shows (not including PAX East, which has been going for two years), and each has contained something truly wonderful. For a week now, even before the PAX weekend began, I have wondered what this blog entry would contain. Would it be long, or short? Would I have had such an amazing time that simple words would not suffice? Would this be a dread year, lacking in personal interests and I would be short on stories? And if fantastic things did happen, how would I choose which ones to share with everyone?

I sit here, hands poised over the keyboard and a mostly white screen staring at me. The week's passing has not eased the writing process. The wonderful truth is that many amazing things happened. I had what was probably the most incredible PAX ever. But why? Seven out of eight shows, and this one was the best in my mind? I suppose I'll start by examining why I believe this is the case. Don't worry now, it's a very simple answer.

Jacki loves Wicket. A lot.

Participation. That's it. See? I told you it was simple. All those years of attending one of the greatest video game conventions in existence and I finally started to participate. Every year I go and sure, I have fun. I play the demo machines in the expo hall and I attend panels and laugh along with the crowd. I stand in lines among my fellow gamers and I relax in the handheld lounges. But this time I talked to people. I engaged those around me and I got over my intense fear of I-don't-even-know-what. Of course it helped that my absolute best friend was there with me. She makes everything better.

As a result, I had an extremely memorable PAX. I had the one-of-a-kind social experience that almost a hundred thousand gamers have. A new friend everywhere you turn. What could be better? The tall man in line for a free ICO shirt, the friendly cosplayer in line for a signing. The amazingly talented and sweet female Link and Dark Link cosplayers who not only posed for pictures, but found us later and chatted with us. The developers who are happy to meet rabid fans, and the new vendors who are overwhelmed by their product's popularity. The incredibly kind man that is Wil Wheaton, the total strangers who welcome newcomers with open arms to play fun and complex board games. This was my weekend.

Wil Wheaton, in all of his dick cape glory,

signing a photo of himself collating paper.

You'll get the full story tomorrow!

I considered doing a run-down of each day, but that would take far too long. Plus, so much happened on Friday and Saturday that it felt as though a whole week had gone by and honestly I just can't remember everything. You will be given the highlights and spared the exhaustion! I don't have any particular order in mind, so I'm going to start writing memories as they come to me. I hope that's alright.

On Friday night I did something that I have wanted to do every year that I've attended PAX: go to a board game room and play with some strangers. I didn't care which game or who I was playing it with. I desperately love board games of almost every kind, and there aren't nearly enough of them in my life. I am beyond thrilled that Andrew and one of his housemates love board games because now they are becoming so much more present in my life. I always knew that playing at PAX would be a good time. The convention provides a monstrous array of games for attendees to check out and play, and many PAXers bring their own from home as well. The game that Jacki and I had the pleasure of playing was Battlestar Galactica.

Our playing field for Battlestar Galactica. I lost my presidency, which made me angry.

It was in that moment that I chose to reveal that I was a Cylon. It may not have been the

most tactical choice, but it felt good to throw the presidency thief into the brig. Mwahaha.

She happens to love the show, I have never watched it before. It seems right up my alley though, I certainly love Farscape, so I'm sure I'll give it a watch before too long. We played with some friendly folk, two were from the Seattle area and the other two were a couple from Australia. They were traveling all over the U.S. hitting various conventions over the past month. I believe they left for home yesterday, and I hope that they had a pleasant journey back! The game was really fun, but also fairly complicated. Although in my recent exposure to a bunch of new board games, it would appear that they're all complicated. Moreso than something along the lines of Monopoly (which everyone is familiar with). So long as all players can be patient, things will eventually get going. We didn't have the chance to finish our game, but we enjoyed what we did play.

Something that has always been lacking in my PAX experiences (that was very prevalent in other people's) is good free swag. If you're unfamiliar with the term, swag is free stuff received at an event. There are always swag bags, and occasionally they have something fun, like a toy or a d20, but for the most part I feel pretty 'meh' about the bags. After the weekend is over I invariably read about people who won great items in raffles, or managed to snag some super awesome rare shirts. I usually leave empty handed aside from the merchandise that I paid for. I don't mind though, because that merchandise is most likely a fun shirt or one of the newer books. Happy faces all around!

This year, however.... this year, I walked away with three supremely great and limited edition free shirts. The first one was a total accident. I feel a little badly about this, but after seven attendances I think I deserved it. My friend James and I made a beeline for the Sony booth first thing on Friday morning. We heard from our friend Jake that Sony was giving out ICO shirts at 10:30. I may go so far as to say I'm a 'die-hard' fan of the Team ICO games, so I had to get in on that. While we stood in the monstrous expo hall attempting to piece out where we needed to go, vendors started excitedly urging us to play Resistance 3.

Is it just me, or does faded orange seem like a strange color for this?

If anyone knows me, they will know that I am not an FPS fan. I am terrible at them, and they're too violent for my tastes. But, I was at PAX, so what the hell? James and I shrugged and walked up to the rows of empty demo machines. I picked up a controller and thought, 'I don't even know which buttons do what.' The round started and I experimented with each button, figuring out scope, shooting, grenade and duck. Before I could finish all of the buttons I was killed by the opposing team. 'Oh well', I thought to myself. I hit respawn and continued mapping the rest of the controller. BAM, I was dead again. I laughed to myself and went, 'Well at least I know how to play now'. I respawned again and aimed at the first enemy I could find. I had already forgotten which button I needed, accidentally threw a grenade at a teammate, then was killed again. I shrugged and looked at James, who didn't appear to be having much more luck.

The round was then over and we were corralled to the other side of the display where we were told to line up for t-shirts. Again James and I looked at one another and shrugged, then got in line. We were given what turned out to be extremely rare (only 100 given out for each day) Resistance 3 t-shirts. They had a small option, which astounded me, and it's actually a very comfortable shirt. I like it.

More exciting though, and less serendipitous, were the ICO and Shadow of the Colossus shirts. I stood in line by myself for the ICO shirt, and chatted up a very tall man in line behind me. The announcer reminding people that they were giving out shirts at 10:30 kept pronouncing ICO as 'ee-ko', and I am fairly certain it is pronounced 'eye-ko'. I used this thought process to strike up the conversation, and we were well entertained during the wait. The ICO shirt ended up being bright orange, which was weird, and the smallest size available was medium. A bit of a bummer, but it appears to have shrunk a tiny bit in the wash. I will wear it either way.

The Colossus shirt is actually greenish in color, and the ICO is orange.

The colors are all out of whack from my phone! Apologies. Also, the font

on the ICO shirt reads, 'Never let go.'

Saturday had Jacki and me lining up at Sony for Shadow of the Colossus shirts. The line was positively astronomical. By the time we were up to the front they were out of mediums! I grabbed a larger size anyway, and one of the vendors said they'd be giving out shirts again at two. Jacki and I lined up again, and the second time around I managed to snag a medium for myself! This ended up working out very well because I was able to give the larger shirt to Andrew. I love happy endings.

For tomorrow: read all about our encounter with Link and Dark Link cosplayers, which lead to my insanely awesome opportunity to meet Wil Wheaton! PLUS, chatting with a Minecraft developer and the new online shop that Jacki and I are in love with. All that, and so much more.

-MJ

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