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E-mail StoryRolling the dice: Strategy board gaming thrives in tough economy
| Friday, May 2 2008 11:06 AM
Last Updated: Sunday, May 4 2008 2:29 PM
Miniature metal men, creatures and robots are putting a strain on Tom Ellenberger’s relationship with his fiancee.
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Cala Gaming
Address: 3401 Wilson Road
Hours: noon to 8 p.m. daily, and “all night” Fridays.
Phone: 831-8849
Web site: tcgdealer.com
Farrescape Gaming
Address: 3608 Mt. Pinos Way, Frazier Park
Hours: 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 3 p.m. to midnight Friday; noon to midnight Saturday; closed Sundays and Mondays
Phone: 245-1404
Golden Glove Cards and Comics
Address: 2316 Brundage Lane
Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
Phone: 633-2889
Paladin’s Game Castle
Address: 6300 White Lane, Suite B
Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Sunday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday
Phone: 201-8150
Web site: paladinsgamecastle.com
Russo’s Books and Sports Collectibles
Address: 3000 Mall View Road, in the East Hills Mall
Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Phone: 872-0029
Web site: russosbooks.com
The Gaming Experience
Address: 3202 New Stine Road
Hours: noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday
Phone: 836-0706
Web site: www.thegxp.com
Collectible card games
Players buy cards and build a deck giving them a variety of skills for use against an opponent. “There’s a lot of thinking that goes into it, not just cards,” said Tony Russo, owner of Russo’s Books and Sports Collectibles in Bakersfield.
Board games
Though similar in some respects to games like Monopoly, modern board games require participants, often numbering between two and six, to manage their resources carefully. “It’s about the people you play with, not about the game,” said Sean Guinn, owner of Cala Gaming on Wilson Road.
Military simulations
Made here in Bakersfield and exported worldwide by Decision Games, among other companies, these map-based games give players control of historic armies in the wars they fought.
“One of the funest things to do would be to play a game and to win with the side that historically lost — to literally change history,” said Paul Koenig, a game-tester, designer and warehouse clerk at Decision Games.
Miniatures
These games require players to set up their armies, some of which they may have painted themselves, and assemble them on a table for battle against an opponent’s force. “If you find out a really cool way to defeat your opponent, then that’s what makes it fun,” said Gary Peabody, a manager at Farrescape Gaming in Frazier Park.
Role-playing games
Games like Dungeons & Dragons let players create imaginary characters that then interact with other characters on heroic quests, encountering dangerous foes — as well as riches, magic spells and new powers. “It’s kind of like living your own action movie,” said Chad Thornton, co-owner of The Gaming Experience on New Stine Road.
Photos:
The Gaming Experience had a full house on a recent Saturday. Here gamers Jeremy Miller, left, plays Jesse Morales, with John Boone in the center watching.
The Gaming Experience on New Stine Road is moving a few doors down to larger quarters.
Gaming is popular enough that it could be recession-proof.
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She wishes he would quit spending most of his extra time — and a majority of his disposable income — on fantasy board games, and instead devote that time to “more socially redeeming aspects of my life,” Ellenberger lamented.
It’s gotten to where the 27-year-old Bakersfield church youth leader and ceramics production scheduler resorts to a cunning tactic to smooth things over whenever she brings up his hobby: “Change the subject.”
Customers like him are keeping local strategy game sellers busy at a time when other businesses dependent on discretionary spending are tightening their belts. Just as impressive is that the stores are doing well in the face of heavy competition from video games and the Internet.
To understand why, you almost have to put yourself in the shoes of their customers, typically young men who play strategy card, role-playing and board games as much for their social value as their hobby aspect.
“Our biggest thing is our sense of community,” said Chad Thornton, co-owner of The Gaming Experience, a game store that just moved from a modest space it has occupied for three years at New Stine and Planz roads to a spot more than twice as large a few doors to the west.
One of Thornton’s business partners, Rich Cameron, expanded wryly on the idea of community: “Some of our customers have trouble meeting people sometimes.”
Another draw mentioned from time to time is gaming’s addictive power, which has earned one game the nickname “cardboard crack.”
Bakersfield substitute teacher Steven Moore, an avid gamer who recently sold his Sony PlayStation 2 video game console because he prefers strategy games, insisted that his hobby is no more habit-forming than professional sports.
Given such a dedicated following, some in the industry go as far as to say the strategy game business won’t merely hold its own in this time of economic uncertainty, but that it’ll prosper as people pare back their entertainment budget and spend more time at home.
Combine that with parents’ preference for face-to-face game interaction over watching their kids stare into a computer monitor, and the investments being made by local game stores look prescient.
“We’ve seen as there are dips in the economy ... we actually have an influx” of customers, said Curtis Lusk, a partner in Paladin’s Game Castle, which is moving from a storefront it has inhabited for five years to a space near White Lane and Ashe Road that he said is better laid out and more heavily frequented by shoppers.
At both Bakersfield businesses, owners say they plan to expand their selection of board games — including offering traditional family fare such as Monopoly — while making more room available for hard-core gamers to participate in tournaments.
The strategy game industry does not share sales figures, and so it’s difficult to say confidently whether more money is being spent on games. But John Kaufeld, a spokesman for the industry trade group Game Manufacturers Association, said conditions do point to improving sales: “If the economy’s down, games are up.”
Without disclosing sales numbers, a spokeswoman for one of the major makers of trading card games, Carlsbad-based The Upper Deck Co., said participation in gaming tournaments is on the rise.
“The numbers have been only going up,” company spokeswoman Claudine Ricanor said, adding that strategy games are highly popular in Europe as well as in the United States.
Sales have only increased at Decision Games, a Rosedale gamemaker that has published dozens of different military simulation games and magazines for enthusiasts worldwide for 20 years, sales manager Ryan Ramirez said.
While Ramirez declined to share sales figures, he said the enduring appeal of strategy games has to do with their endless variety.
“Games are kind of a renewable resource,” he said. “You can play the same game hundreds of times, and each time it’s a unique experience.”
Strategy games have long done “very well” for Russo’s Books and Sports Collectibles, which has three locations around town, two of which sell trading card games popular with teenagers, owner Tony Russo said.
Parents like the games because they promote strategic thinking and reading, he said.
“The kids have to be able to read and have to be able to plan their attacks,” Russo said.
Lusk, the partner at Paladin’s, said the games’ fun extends to the whole family.
“We really work hard,” he said, “at getting the kids and families back together and around the table.”
LOYALTY KEEPS BUSINESS THRIVING
They don’t typically charge customers for the use of store space, even for extended periods. Many don’t sell video games. And you can buy their products cheaper on the Internet.
So how do strategy game stores stay in business?
In a word: loyalty. Game store owners say their customers have an interest in keeping their favorite gaming place in business, so they buy their equipment there.
“They know that buying from us allows us to pay rent,” said Chad Thornton, co-owner of The Gaming Experience on New Stine Road.
The games aren’t inexpensive. Metal miniatures required for some games can run as much as $20 apiece. Other kinds of games depend on accumulating a strong collection of cards, so it’s up to the player to decide when enough is enough.
Repeat business is almost a sure thing among gamers. That’s largely because game manufacturers are constantly introducing supplemental game elements that, not coincidentally, tend to be a tad stronger or more interesting than the last.
There’s money to be made on the Internet as well. Curtis Lusk, partner in local game store Paladin’s Game Castle on White Lane, said he has a “large, significant” online business selling high-value gaming collectibles.
And games aren’t the only things for sale in many stores. Snacks and beverages are a must for some players who spend hours at an in-store tournament.
Also, Internet access can be a source of revenue when players tire of face-to-face gaming and want to play a game against someone who might be in another country.