(Review) Dragon's Den Games and Hobbies, Honesdale, Pennsylvania

 So while my kids went down early Friday to prepare for their basketball weekend, I logged off from work and travelled an hour north to check out a game I had uncovered thanks to... Instagram?

Amongst the few things I follow on the 'gram is Huge Miniatures.  On one of their reels (the short term pic or video) they did a shout-out for a restock for Dragon's Den Games and Hobbies in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.  

Fun facts about Honesdale.  

1) The Stourbridge Line, a local steam locomotive attraction, was one of many train rides I took as a kid.

2) Honesdale was the home of West End Games (Star Wars d6 fame!).  This explains why there are more Star Wars d6 books per capita in eastern Pennsylvania than any other corner of the country.

3) Honesdale is about 50 minutes away from my apartment, making the visit a large part of my Friday evening. 

Despite, downpours, construction, and an accident scene, I made it on-time with no personal issues. On-street, after-hours parking was no issue (perhaps its a bit tougher when the trains are running).

Disclaimer: I didn't snap any pictures during my visit, like I normally do.  All pictures on the post are pulled directly off their  Facebook page.  Outside of the darkness outside in the picture, everything else matches my visit spot-on

Cleanliness:  It's a narrow but deep storefront, with tables on the left, flanking the counter and register, and most non-CCG product on the right.  Things were clean, there were a number of players there and no one had their stuff tossed everywhere.  It's not the setting neutral open layout that Warhammer moms go ga-ga over, but it did feel intriguing and inviting. 

CCGs:  Magic, Pokemon, and Flesh and Bone seemed to be the heavy hitters, both with shelf space, singles, and events.  Looked like mostly (M)odern sets, although a lone Flying Men caught my eye, and I got a price right quick.  

Role-Playing Games:  D&D dominant, although there are 3rd-party products and other games.  A quick check on the Facebook page seems like someone was running Free League's Alien before.  

Miniatures:   The very nice employee behind the counter who greeted me and answered all of my questions, admitted that they were more of a wargaming store than CCG-driven, and it shows.  Typical Warhammer models and paints, Star Wars Legion, Reaper Bones, and a healthy variety of Citadel, Vallejo, Army Painter, and Huge Miniatures. 

They pass my Player Handbook test and "weird stuff" test. Kudos!

 Board Games:  A small sample of some of "traditional" FLGS games (Ticket to Ride), but a few smaller, cheaper games I admit I was not completely aware of.  Enough inventory to peruse a bit.

Accessories:  Following the proper mantra, "Order dice and people will buy them."  There was a good display of dice sets.  More impressive, according to photos, was that compared to a regular restock, they were seriously lacking in stock, which is a good thing. 

Events: Despite focusing on wargaming, they are on Wizard's websites, and do a bunch of tourneys and pre-releases.  I saw a bunch of Star Wars Legion, Pokemon, and Flesh & Blood events on the calendar for April.  Thursday nights were 40k nights, but nothing was on the calendar beyond the beginning of April. Events seem well attended, and the staff does a good job updating the Facebook page on events and restocks.

For Dragon's Den, I'm going to give them a respectable 3.5 gnomes out of 5.  

This is my game review side becoming a bit snobby.  They have a great location, I showed up after a restock, and somebody bought a lot of stuff before me.  Everyone was as pleasant as punch.  If you are within a half-hour of Honesdale/Wayne County, this is the store you should be shopping and playing at.  For a store that's been open for five years, I expected slightly more stock, but if they order it, and it consistently sells, I understand not copying a Barnes and Nobles bookshelf model like a lot of the other FLGS I've visited recently.  If I showed up the day following a big reorder, I could have raised things at least a half-point, but I'll stick with my first impression, and hope to get proven horribly wrong later.

I did grab a bunch of Huge Minis paints, including Magenta flowers,  a replacement yellow, and some fluorescent bright colors to experiment on my Chaos Space Gnomes.  I did pull the trigger on the Flying Men, and got a cool pack of three promo foils for free.  Unfortunately, with time and gas costs, it is cheaper to order online with Huge Minis directly, and Honesdale is out of the way that I can't do this trip more than twice a year, but I will try.  Here's hoping the girls' basketball schedule has a non-conference road trip up this way and I'll take a true half-day to venture up early.  

Dragon's Den Games and Hobbies is at 552 Main St in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.  You can find out more information from their Facebook page and their website.

(Edit 5/10/23 8:54EST - Updated the the pictures since the URLs were not translating.  Also discovered that the they got a decent restock yesterday afternoon of the items I was grumbling about.  I have nothing but impeccable timing. I'll maintain my review until my next visit.)