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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Two Years Free of GameStop: A Retrospective.

Next month marks a whopping two years since I quit my job at GameStop. February 2011 was a time of huge change for me! I was planning a trip to Ireland, and then after that I moved down to California to begin the next chapter of my life. It's a new year now, 2013 ahoy, and I'm feeling nostalgic about the old game store.

Is the power really to the players? Is it? Source.

The other day a friend wanted to pop down to a new location a few towns over from where I worked, but he wondered if I'd be bothered about seeing people I used to work with:

"Unless you don't want to see anyone you know," he said.

"Oh I won't know anyone that works at this location," I replied.

We walk into the store and the first person I saw was a manager whom I'd met a few times, but spoke on the phone with on a regular basis when I was a manager. He had been with the company for a long time and frequently transferred to new or troubled stores to clean things up. My jaw nearly hit the floor with irony and delight.

I spoke to him, he remembered me, and we chatted briefly about our tenure with GameStop. It was a nice visit, and reminded me of one of the best things about my time there: the people. One of my best friends now started out as a simple co-worker, and some of my best memories are of goofing off with my long-term manager. When I talk about the ridiculous and bad things that happened during my six year employment people often ask why I stayed for so long. My immediate answer is, "Because I loved my co-workers."

The free poster perk wasn't bad, either!

On a different and more selfish level, it's also because I loved being in the game industry. No matter how peripherally. I had constant access to release date lists, e-mails about pre-release information, and GameInformer. I could look at the magazines if I wanted, read all the backs of all the boxes, ask customers first hand what they thought of titles, and I could watch the games rise and fall in popularity. Based off of trade in trends I could tell which games were long or short, which were good or bad. I knew the rares from the commons. I had an expansive knowledge base even though I had experienced only a fraction of the games for myself.

Of course it wasn't all fun and games (pun intended?). I was yelled at by customers, there were late nights and long open-to-close shifts. Stores were dirty, people were mean, co-workers were incompetent. I dealt with thieves, irresponsible children, and I lost my temper a time or two. Once resulting in a broken phone and another in a dislodged ceiling tile. My wage was bad and my hours were inconsistent, but part of me really loved my job. And I was fiercely dedicated to my store. I took great pride in working there.

It's strange to go into my old location and see people I don't know and floor setups that I didn't build. I just want to wander behind the counter and start processing trade ins all, "It's cool I used to be a manager here."

I don't think they'd like that, though.

-MJ

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