It’s hard to believe it’s been almost five years since I bought the Game Zone and transformed it into Game Empire. On September 15, 2006, I took possession of Game Zone and my life changed completely – and became totally amazing. This coming September 15 will mark the fifth anniversary of that purchase.

Fond memories of the old Game Zone...

The summer of 2006 was incredibly exciting for me. I remember taking my tie off after work on July 26, 2006, and rejoicing that my 20 year career as an attorney was complete. I spent the next month working alongside my brother Cliff at his Game Empire store in San Diego as he trained me to run my own store. Cliff became my partner and half owner of Game Empire Pasadena. We were embarking on a bold and exciting adventure together to build a new Game Empire in Pasadena. I can’t describe how fun it was to work with Cliff to build my fabulous new future. Cliff took the lead in building my store and it prospered over the next few years, despite the problems in our economy. In the summer of 2008,  I bought out Cliff’s half of Game Empire Pasadena, and took complete ownership of the store myself.

The humble beginnings

I remember on September 15, 2006, taking over the Game Zone and immediately taking down all the posters that blocked the light from the front windows. We rearranged the interior of the store to give a hint of what the new Game Empire would look like once reconstruction was done. I ran the Game Zone for three weeks before we shut down for the transformation. We gutted the entire store, as well as the space next door, and rebuilt everything. At 2:30 p.m. on December 13, 2006, the Fire Department inspectors gave us final approval and Game Empire Pasadena was born. Rex Rummens had patiently waited for two hours for the inspection, and he was our first customer. The metamorphosis was complete – the Game Zone caterpillar had transformed, and the Game Empire butterfly emerged from its cocoon.

September 15 is important not only because it marks the date that Game Empire Pasadena was conceived, but because it also marks the date our current lease expires. It is time for another amazing transformation.

Travis and I were seriously considering this one, but Jeannie said no way.

Fortunately – ironically – I was unable to reach an agreement to extend our existing lease which forced me to look for a new location. After much effort, my other brother Craig played a key role in helping me find a landlord that had an excellent property on Colorado Blvd. It was at 1945 E. Colorado Blvd., on the north side right next to Taco Bell. I got very excited about this location. Travis and I spent a considerable amount of time measuring it and designing floor plans. This was awesome because it was 4,200 square feet, which is 1,200 square feet bigger than our current 3,000 square foot store.

Sadly – and thankfully – it was not to be. It turns out the building needed a LOT of work to bring it up to city code requirements. The landlord saw that I was heart broken when I realized that space wasn’t going to work. He gave me another option. He showed me the space of his old business that he ran from the early 80′s to 2005, the famous Pacman Arcade at the north-west corner of Colorado and Allen. Most of you know that Pacman was Pasadena’s largest and best video game arcade, but I had only heard stories about it since moving here in 2006. It was definitely famous, and had caused a lot of controversy in its day.

Soon to be full of every game imaginable!

The landlord split the space in half, with the south half being used as the Progression Salon, and the north half being the Dance Family Studio. He told me I could have both spaces for very reasonable rent. I saw the space and immediately fell in love. It’s 6,200 square feet, more than TWICE as big is my current store, and significantly less rent!! Wow! The interior is very unique and energetic. Originally designed to be a video arcade, it screams out “Fun and Games!”

Once full of dancing feet, soon to be full of tumbling dice!

I took Travis to see it asap, and he loved it as well. At 5:30 p.m. on Friday, July 1, 2011, I signed the new lease and spent the 4th of July weekend truly celebrating – and finally breathing again. On Sunday morning, my mother and Cliff came to see the site for the first time. They both agreed that this was a no-brainer – the space was perfect for a game store. Here are some of the best highlights:

•    The location is only about half a mile from our current store;
•    The location is just two blocks from Pasadena City College;
•    There are lots of great places to eat within two blocks, including the new Lucky Baldwin’s, Starbucks, La Salsa Café, Johnny Rockets, Panda Express, Burger King, Frozziyo Yogurt, Frederico’s Bakery, Papillon Café, Novel Café, Big Mamma’s and Pappa’s Pizza, Topps, Burger King, Luigi Ortega’s, and more!
•    There is a bus stop right in front of the store;
•    The Allen Station for the Gold Line Metro is just two blocks north of the store;
•    There is a large 41 space parking lot behind the store that is almost all ours;
•    The building has a very unique architecture which will help us stand out and reestablish the location as a landmark in Pasadena;
•    There are no trees to block our sign (a BIG problem with our current location), and…
•    It’s HUGE, so there’s plenty of room for growth!

Soon, that blue facade will be bright red with searchlights shining out of it. I'm not kidding!

So here we are, it’s five years later and it’s summer again. It’s time for Game Empire to make another transformation. But this time, instead of transforming the store from the caterpillar that was the Game Zone into the beautiful butterfly that is Game Empire, we will be transforming from the beautiful butterfly into a powerful eagle. And while the current Game Empire Pasadena is very much still “Cliff’s store” in design, the new store will be the result of Travis’ and my efforts.

On a final note, I want to thank God and my family, particularly my wife Jeannie, for all the help, guidance, advice, and patience with me throughout this process. This was a difficult time for me. I didn’t want to move, but staying just wasn’t an option. Jeannie really helped me keep the faith, and stopped me from making some hasty decisions. Now, we – you and us – are going to become something even more amazing. The new Game Empire will be an eagle that all of us can ride into a fabulous new future of gaming, fun and long-lasting friendship.

I can hardly wait!

-Chuck

Standing in there was described as being in a 'glass shower'

Ok, I admit it, owning a successful game store is a LOT of fun. One of the most fun aspects is watching the wild and crazy things that happen in our store – especially in Los Angeles . Here is the story of one of those amazing days.

It was approaching 6:00 pm on Thursday, November 4, 2010. I was about to leave for the day. It had been a long day of preparing Christmas orders as well as handling all of the normal everyday management issues one sees in any retail business. Sales were strong thanks to the release that day of the long-awaited new Dark Eldar Codex for Warhammer 40K. To top it all off, Travis was leaving that night for Las Vegas to get married to Misty. While I was very happy for Travis, I was doomed to receiving a large shipment on Friday without his awesome help. Oh well, weddings trump work, so I was ready for a long Friday.

Little did I know that this was the least of my problems.

Approximately 5:50 pm. The Warmachine crowd was showing up and a number of games were already under way. Travis had just started a battle with Will. In addition, there was a D&D game going on that had started when we opened that morning, plus a group of guys had just started playing Axis & Allies Naval Battles. There were about 20 people in the store at the time, and the crowd was going to get bigger. It was a normal Thursday evening at Game Empire.

So there I was, standing behind the counter waiting for my closer Chris to show up so I could go home and have dinner, when I heard a huge KERRSPLAAAASSSSSHHHHHHH!!!! This was REALLY loud and REALLY startling. It took a split second for me to look towards the sound, and I saw a wall of shattered glass flying into the game room like a wave of water. My mind raced at the speed of light. I immediately thought someone had thrown a rock through the window. Then I realized that a rock was too small, so it must’ve been a bowling ball (yes, I literally thought that). Then I realized that even a bowling ball was too small for this disaster. It must have been a car! “No way”, I thought. “How could a car drive through our window?”

I'll have two D&D books, a Warjack, a coke, and a side of fries...

I ran from the register and into the game room, and sure enough, it was a car – a silver Honda. I quickly looked around, bracing myself, fully expecting to see a lot of blood, severed limbs, and maybe even dead friends. This was way scary. I saw a lot of broken glass, mangled furniture, the window frames and door bent and smashed on the floor. I heard someone yelling “Are you all right?” over and over. I saw people pulling themselves out of the wreckage. It was definitely a disaster scene.

But no blood. No severed limbs. No dead people. The person yelling “Are you all right?” was yelling at the driver who was still in the car. I quickly realized that – miraculously – no one was seriously hurt. “Thank you God” was all I could think. This was the first miracle.

Once I confirmed that all of the gamers were basically ok, I went to see how the driver was doing. He was an older gentleman (89 years old, he later told me). He was just shaking his head in shock. Clearly, he was embarrassed, ashamed, and thankful that no one appeared to be seriously hurt, all at once. He kept telling me how sorry he was. I told him not to worry about it, no one was hurt. He got out of the car and sat down. I called 911.

After talking to the police and ensuring that everyone was being taken care of, I shifted gears and started thinking about the mess. My first thoughts were “Dang it! With my windows smashed I’ll be here all night guarding the store until I can board it up in the morning. No going home for dinner for me. And double dang it! Travis will be gone tomorrow! This is gonna suck.” Travis then asked if I needed him to go to the hardware store to get wood for the windows. I told him to hang on, I needed to get a better picture about what was happening.

...ok, that'll be $6.95 at the first window.

Then the Pasadena Police and Fire Department arrived, and started doing their thing. I quickly explained what happened, and they asked that everyone clear the damaged area. There was glass  and metal all over the game room. The crash had blown glass all the way across the store.

Then the next miracle happened. I got a call from some guy named Mario. He said he heard on the police radio that a car had gone through my window and asked if I wanted him to come board it up? He said he could be there within an hour and that it would only cost $350, including materials. I immediately agreed. Ok, maybe I would get to go home that night. Awesome!

Then the next miracle happened. The police asked me a bunch of questions, gave me important information and advice about how to proceed, and were really helpful. The firemen then asked if I wanted them to move the big metal pieces to the garbage. Of course I said yes, and off they went. Those guys took ALL the big pieces of debris out.

The funniest part was watching gamers arrive for an evening playing with their friends. I smiled at seeing the expressions on their faces as they walked in the back door. They stood their, holding their bags of troops and gaming things, open mouthed staring in disbelief at the mess. You could see them trying to digest the situation, and realizing that they weren’t going to get to game that night. Immediately, anyone who had been there during the crash was a mini-celebrity. Everyone made jokes.

•    We had the first drive-through window in a game store!
•    We now had in-door parking available for our customers!
•    The driver was so excited about the new Dark Eldar Codex he forgot to get out of his car before entering the store!
•    Travis’ Warcaster popped his feat and summoned a Honda to crush the enemy!
•    The D&D players all made their Dexterity checks to dodge the charging Honda Dragon!

It's ok... the table broke the fall.

This last joke is actually true. In the pictures below you can see that the door ended up on Michael’s chair at the end of the table. How Michael got out of the way I’ll never know. Rafi had climbed up on the table as the car blazed through the window. Mark dove under. The other guys all dived away. Mark was the only casualty, having suffered a cut on his arm from climbing out of the broken glass (thankfully, no stitches were needed). Travis and Will had been playing Warmachine on the table in the upper right. The table in the upper left had been set up for a game, but no one had started playing on it yet (thank God).

People from all over were coming to see the wreck. In fact, the ladies at the nail salon were watching aerial shots of it on the TV news when they realized this was happening only four doors down from the salon!

After a while things settled down. The police and fire department left. The family of the elder gentleman arrived and took him home. But before leaving he explained to me what happened. He was headed to the Vons Pharmacy which was three doors down from Game Empire, and tried to park in front of my store. Somehow he jumped the curb. He panicked and hit the gas instead of the brake. That accelerated him into the tree in front of the store and his car bounced off of it right into our window. The tree had very minor damage.

Finally, Mario showed up and went right to work boarding up the window. My employees and I started cleaning up the glass the best we could. Mario cleaned up the rest. Amazingly, by about 9:45 pm the entire mess was cleaned up. We had lost a display cabinet and most of the items in it, one of the tables was tweaked a bit, there was a rip in the carpet, and the window was boarded up. We were back in action. The tables and chairs were all back in place, and the only sign of the accident was the boarded up window.

News of this event spread quickly through the gaming community. Pictures of the crash went all over the net, and were even published in Knights of the Dinner table #169 . Recently, I met a customer who was from New York and had heard good things about our store. He saw the picture of the crash on our screen saver behind the counter and only then realized that he’d seen that picture on the net months before. He had no idea it was my store when he walked in.

Corrin had the best quote from the event. His girlfriend (now fiancé) told him “It’s just Chuck’s luck that this would happen the night that Travis leaves for Las Vegas.” Corrin said “No, it’s just Chuck’s luck that someone drove their car into his store on a busy game night and no one was seriously hurt.”

Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between being lucky and being blessed.

All in all, this was an outstanding experience. No one lost their tempers or reacted badly to the situation. I was very proud of my fellow gamers because they all pitched in to help and immediately knew what to do. The driver of the Honda called me the next day to apologize again, and wanted to thank everyone for being so gracious to him. I am deeply grateful to the police and fire department. My family all came down and were there for me. My employees Travis, Corrin, and Chris all rose to the occasion and did everything that was needed to get past this. Given that no one was seriously hurt, I’m glad we went through this. It was a good bonding experience, and gave us all something to tell our grand kids some day.

I hope you enjoyed this story and the pictures. I have lots more crazy and fun stories about owning a game store, and I’ll write about some of them later. In the mean time, come on down and join the fun!

-Chuck

(Bonus points if you can find the Ghostbusters quote!)

This shocked me. This lady thinks Puerto Rico is a strategy game?? My first thought was this lady doesn’t know anything about gaming.

But then it dawned on me. Of course Puerto Rico is a strategy game. It’s just a very different form of strategy game than I had ever thought about before. Why hadn’t I seen this earlier?

Let me explain. I’ve played Puerto Rico once and have no plans to ever play it again. Now don’t get me wrong, I “appreciate” Puerto Rico. I know that it is one of the most popular Eurogames around and has a very high rating on Board Game Geek.  But for me it was just a math game (I call it the “Excel Spreadsheet Game”). It was all about developing the right resources in the right order so that this resource would magnify the value of that resource. At the end of the game the player with the most resources wins. There is almost no theme or storyline to the game. It is simply an elegant resource management game. For me resource management is work, not fun.

In terms of gaming I had always thought that “strategy” was a term related to maneuver of units on a map, not manipulation of resources without a map. But this lady was right, proper manipulation of resources was a “strategy.” This was a new idea to me.

From this I developed the concepts of “spatial” versus “math” strategy games. Spatial strategy games tend to be very visually oriented, like Chess. Players see the board and are required to imagine what the board will look like in 2-3 or more moves. Really gifted players have developed their visual skills to the point they can play many Chess games at once while blindfolded (the current world record is playing 35 games at once while blindfolded). I am a very visual thinker, and that’s why I’ve always been attracted to spatial strategy games.

But a lot of gamers are much stronger in math than me, and prefer to view the world more abstractly. This is hard for me to describe because it’s not the way I think, but I know it’s true. I remember the first time I ever played Power Grid, another excellent resource management game like Puerto Rico, but with a slightly stronger theme/storyline. About two-thirds the way through the game I finally figured out the basic mechanics and developed a strategy for winning, although it was far too late to actually win. At about this time one of the players turned to another player and said “Wow, Bob, you’re going to win in three turns by $2, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.” Bob looked back at him and said, “Yeah, I know.” Sure enough, that’s how the game ended. I was flabbergasted. I could hardly tell what the current score was, let alone what the score would be in three turns. These guys could see something I couldn’t see. Because it was math.

Then one day I was in the store watching a debate between a bunch of us gamers about which was the better game, Chess or Go. To me, Chess was obviously the better game. But some of the people there were arguing – in a very civilized way – that Go was clearly the better game. And that was the final piece of the puzzle for me. Some people have analog minds, and others have digital minds.

Chess is primarily analog because it is spatial. To me, “analog” means a continuous flow or move. A piece on a Chess board moves from one space to another in a fluid move. The move of a cavalry unit as it charges in a miniature war game is also fluid and continuous. I can move the piece or unit on the board, but I can also visualize its move in my mind. Further, Chess has a number of different pieces with very different characteristics and moves. Moving those pieces in concert with each other to maximize their power is the heart and soul of Chess.

Go is digital. There is only one kind of piece in Go, they are either black or white, and they do not move on the board. Go is much more static and abstract than Chess. Placement of the Go pieces in a pattern where they inter-support each other and destabilize/eliminate the opposing pieces is the heart and soul of Go.

So where does this take us? And how do you tell which kind of player you are? Knowing if you are an analog or digital gamer will help you find the games you’ll enjoy most, and avoid wasting money on games you may find more frustrating than fun.

If you are an analog thinker, like me, then you think visually and have fun thinking visually. Thinking visually comes naturally to you and it helps you to relax. You are probably attracted to games with little characters or that have maps of places that your pieces move around on. Good examples would be Risk, Axis & Allies, Monsterpocalypse, and miniature strategy games.

If you are a digital thinker, then you think more abstractly, and have fun thinking about math and problem solving. You are probably attracted to games with elegant mechanics that operate more like equations. Good examples would be Puerto Rico, Dominion, Agricola, or Magic the Gathering.

Having read the above, it should be pretty easy to tell which kind of player you are. But if you’re still wondering, try this simple test. Fold your hands together in front of you with your fingers interlocked. Now look down and see which thumb is over the other. If your left thumb is on top, then you are probably a left brain dominant thinker, which means you are probably a digitally minded person. If your right thumb is on top (like mine), then you are a right brain dominant thinker, which means you are probably a spatial thinker.

Don’t believe me? Google search “right left brain” and start checking out the many articles about this on the net. I have given this test to hundreds of people over the years, and have found it to be about 95% accurate. Basically what you will learn is that if you are a left brain/digital thinker, then you think in bursts of short brain waves. Your are very good at multi-tasking because your brain is able to compartmentalize problems and think them through in discrete thought packets. That’s why you’re good at math. If you are a right brain/analog thinker, then you think in longer brain waves. When you think of multiple topics in a short period of time, your thoughts tend to overlap and are not discrete. You make weird and funny associations because of this, which can lead to confusion and creativity all at once. It takes longer to think visually, and the long brain waves make it easier to think this way (I read about this long ago and have found it to be true, at least in my experience). It will be harder for you to learn certain things because you need to build a visual model of it to learn it. But once you do, you will be able to visualize outcomes more easily.

In the end, every game has digital and analog characteristics. But some slant very hard one way or another. In addition to the games mentioned above, here are lists of games that I consider to be analog or digital:

ANALOG GAMES:
•    Chess
•    Virtually every miniature war game
•    The vast majority of war board games from Risk to East Front
•    Abstract strategy games like Ingenious, Yinch, Blokus and Hive
•    Adventure games like Descent, Castle Ravenloft, Last Night on Earth, Zombies or Nuns on the Run

DIGITAL GAMES:
•    Go, Cribbage, Dominoes, or Othello
•    The vast majority of Eurogames like Stone Age, 7 Wonders, Dominion, 1960 Making of the President, Caylus, El Grande, and Cyclades
•    Abstract war and political games like Twilight Struggle, 2 de Mayo, and Hornet Leader
•    Collectible and Living Card Games like Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, Legend of the Five Rings, Game of Thrones, or Munchkin

This brings us to games where there is a strong balance between digital and analog play styles. Both kinds of players will enjoy these games and can compete very effectively against each other. The interesting part is that if you were able to enter the mind of each player during the game, you would find that this player is playing it as a digital/abstract game, and that player is playing it as an analog/visual game – very different approaches to the game. But you would also find that they are both having a lot of fun playing.

DIGITAL/ANALOG GAMES:
•    Top-selling Eurogames like Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Carcassonne (everyone should own these three games)
•    Most war games like Federation Commander, Up Front, Labyrinth: The War on Terror, and Shogun

•    Collectible miniatures games like Heroclix, Star Wars Minis, and Axis & Allies Naval Battles
•    Any Role Playing Game

I hope this helps you find the games you will most enjoy. It should also help you figure out what kinds of games your friends and loved ones enjoy.

Tell me what you think. This idea is a work in progress and I will revise this article when I get it more refined. I’m dying to read your comments.

Happy Gaming!

Chuck
Game Empire Pasadena

Eurogames are a style of board game that originated in Europe, but that come from many places now. Specifically, they originated in Germany, and most of the best ones still come from there. Eurogames are different from traditional American board games like Monopoly, Risk and Clue in three important characteristics. American board games generally have these three common features:

1. Winner-Take-All Mentality. American board games are excellent at generating a single winner and no real second place. One player wins and everyone else gets crushed. One player gets all the money and everyone else is bankrupt. One player conquers the world and everyone else is subjugated. One player is declared smart and all of the other players are not. American games are really good at putting the winner on a pedestal and making the losers feel like, well, losers.

2. Players Eliminated One-at-a-Time. American board games tend to kick players out one-at-a-time. You’re bankrupt, you’re out (Monopoly). You’re conquered, you’re out (Risk). You guessed wrong, you’re out (Clue). This can be embarrassing and no fun if you’re eliminated early. Many people think they don’t like gaming because of this. They feel embarrassed because they were eliminated early and feel like they now have to wear a dunce cap until the game is over.

3. Players Put into Direct Conflict with Each Other. American games tend to put the players into direct conflict with each other. You owe me money! (Monopoly). I’m invading you! (Risk).  I can answer this question and you can’t! (Clue). This direct conflict between the players can add a lot of stress to a game, and can end in hard feelings. I don’t think I’ve ever played a game of Monopoly or Risk where someone didn’t get upset and decide that all they were going to do was make sure that some particular opponent didn’t win. Also, once many people play an American board game they put it away for a week or two (or more!) before pulling it out again to let people cool off.

Eurogames don’t do any the above, as spelled out below:

1. The Scoring Track. Eurogames generally involve scoring points for achieving goals, and have a scoring track that keeps a running total of the points each player has scored. This is important because at the end of the game each player’s score is compared to determine the winner. Usually, the winner has scored some number of points but most of the other players will not be far behind. This is great because no one feels like they were humiliated on national television when they lose. Often, the losing players will want an immediate rematch because “if they just do a little better” they can win. Customers are always telling me how last night they played Settlers of Catan, Dominion, or Carcassonne many times until the wee hours of the morning.

2. Everyone Is in Until the Very End. Eurogames never eliminate players until the game is completely over. In fact, many Eurogames have a secret scoring mechanic which makes it hard to figure out who is going to win until the game is actually over. You may think you’re winning big time, only to find out that someone else has really racked up points on the secret score. Ticket to Ride is famous for this. It took me forever to win a game against my wife because she was really good at earning points on her tickets and getting the “Longest Line” bonus (I always forgot about that Longest Line bonus).

3. No Direct Conflict Between the Players. Eurogames almost never put the players into direct conflict with each other. Rather, players score by achieving certain goals: who built the most productive farm, who shipped the most product, or who built the most entertaining amusement park or zoo. Players have a very limited ability to interfere with the other player’s scoring. This keeps the stress levels between the players low and keeps the fun factor high. But beware, there are some interesting exceptions to this rule that can prove to be disastrous. The best example is “The Princess and the Dragon” for Carcassonne. Carcassonne, by itself and with most of the other expansions, is a classic Eurogame. But “The Princess and the Dragon” expansion introduces a game mechanic that allows the players losing the game to gang up on the person winning the game. I’ve seen adult players cry after playing with this expansion because twice they were in the lead, and twice the other players manipulated the dragon to eat most of the leader’s “Meeples”.  Not good.  Personally, I like “The Princess and the Dragon” expansion, but then I am more comfortable playing confrontational games like war games. Many gamers are not.

Another interesting and valuable characteristic about Eurogames is that they tend to have fewer moving parts than many American games. But they push a particular game mechanic much further than an American game. One of the results of this is that Eurogames are unique in that it’s pretty easy to lose gracefully. In other words, if you employ a B level strategy, you will probably score a respectable number of points, but you probably won’t win. If you use an A strategy, you are either going to win or you will lose relatively badly. This is important because many gamers aren’t really trying to win the game, they are simply trying to not be humiliated when they lose. They enjoy the communal aspect of gaming and defeating the other players is not a priority for them. Eurogames are perfect for this type of gamer. They are also perfect for the really competitive gamers as well because the A strategy is hard to pull off, particularly with experienced competitors in the same game.

So that’s it – Eurogames in a nutshell. If you haven’t tried one yet, I urge you to do so. They really are a different style of game from what most Americans have experienced. And none of this is intended to disparage American games. I love games like Monopoly, Risk and Clue, but I know that many people don’t. The shame of it is that they therefore don’t think they like any board games. The reality is that they like interacting with other people in a communal experience, and they even like some level of competition. But what they don’t like is feeling embarrassed when they lose. Eurogames avoid this.

If you want to try a Eurogame, then I suggest Ticket to Ride (either the U.S. or the European map version) and Carcassonne. These are both classic Eurogames, but they have fairly simple rules and you will probably be playing the game correctly right out of the box. Other excellent Eurogames are Settlers of Catan (the King of the Eurogames), Dominion, Puerto Rico, Power Grid, and Agricola. But these games are a bit more advanced and may be too much at the beginning. Also, it’s important to figure out what kind of games you like and are good at playing. Later, I will be writing a blog about the difference between analog and digital thinking, and how to tell which one you employ as a default. This will very much determine what kinds of games you’ll enjoy the most.

If you want to learn Eurogames (and happen to be in Sunny Southern California!), then come on down to Game Empire Pasadena on a Wednesday or Friday evening, or on a Sunday afternoon or evening. We have a regular board game crowd that meets at those times and they are eager to teach games to new players. It’s a great way to meet new people, learn new games, and just have a lot of fun.

Happy Gaming!

Chuck
Game Empire Pasadena

Then, two extraordinary things happened. First, I started having significant doubts about my chosen profession. Don’t get me wrong; I was very successful as a lawyer. But after 20 years of fighting I was definitely burning out and my health was suffering. Second, my younger brother Cliff had opened Game Empire in San Diego in 1994. I taught Cliff how to game when he was very young, and our mutual passion for gaming has kept us very close over the years. He went on to make a career of it, and the San Diego store was a huge success from the get-go. Cliff worked very hard, but loved his work.  He had achieved the dream of making his passion his livelihood.

So there I was, unhappy, unhealthy, and watching my little brother prosper by following his passion while I felt I was not following mine. In January 2006 I made a decision: liquidate everything and build another Game Empire in Pasadena. So that’s what I did, to the astonishment of everyone, even my wife Jeannie. Now that time has passed, I can say that it was the best decision I’ve ever made (aside from marrying Jeannie). Like the San Diego store, the Pasadena store has been a tremendous success, despite the current recession. Cliff and I took all of the lessons learned from the San Diego store and used them to build my current store. Believe me, there are a lot of moving parts to making a game store work in this economy. Some may be obvious, but many are not.

A key component to that success is understanding games and gamers. As a lawyer I had to learn how to read people, understand what motivates them, and anticipate how they will react to new situations. I also had to analyze facts and circumstances, and then influence them to achieve the best results for my clients. Those same skills are central to playing games, and that is what this blog will be about: games, gamers and gaming.

Those of you that know me personally know that I am one opinionated dude. But after 40 years of gaming and  four years of owning a game store, what else could you expect? I’m the first to admit that many of my opinions may be meaningless to you, but others you may find valuable. In fact, I’ve been told by a lot of people that many of my opinions are actually insightful and helpful. In this blog I will try to share opinions that will help you and other gamers understand how to improve your gaming experience as well as how to spend your gaming dollars more wisely.

For example, do you know:

•    Why Eurogames are different from traditional American games?
•    Why Eurogames originated in Germany, and why most of the best ones still come from there?
•    What the difference is between “digital” and “analog” gamers?
•    Why Settlers of Catan is still the top selling game?
•    The five different gaming groups (and what is the secret 6th group)?
•    The difference between modern war games and traditional war games?
•    How to win – or lose – every game you play?
•    How to have fun playing with your non-gamer friends?

These are just a few of the topics I will be discussing on this blog. But let me be clear about one thing right off the bat: my opinions are simply that – opinions. I don’t present them as facts, and I reserve the right to change my mind and my opinions on anything at any time. My parents always taught me that the ability to change your mind is a sign of intelligence. I like to think I’m intelligent, and that you are, too.

I tell you this because I am very interested in your opinions about these same questions. Actually, I am more interested in your opinions than in my own. I look forward to reading comments that either refine or completely change my point of view about a specific blog topic. So please don’t be afraid to speak your mind. I only ask that you be civil about it, and avoid personal attacks either against me or another who has left a comment. We are all gamers here, which means we are all from the same tribe. Gaming is our bond, even if we don’t play the same type of game. We are a breed apart and tend to be smarter and more thoughtful than the Average Joe or Jane.

Ultimately, gaming is a bonding experience. While it may be true that when I play I’m doing everything I can to beat you, I am doing it within a set of mutually agreed upon rules, and I expect you to do the same. That’s why gaming is so fun. Two or more people agree to compete under the same rules, no one cheats, no one gets injured, and we laugh and shake hands when it’s all over. To me, that is just awesome fun!

The world of gaming is enormous and growing. There are lots of topics for us to discuss.  I can hardly wait!

Chuck
Game Empire Pasadena