(Review) The Games Keep - West Chester, Pennsylvania

With Millie's team in Delaware for AAU, and her mother wishing to hit a Trader Joe's before heading back to NEPA, we stopped at an Applebee's just inside Pennsylvania, and I bit the family a adieu.  I then wandered up the The Games Keep in West Chester and am still having trouble comprehending what I found.

569 E Gay St West Chester, PA

Location:  The Games Keep is a 25 minute walk from the campus of West Chester University, and the strip mall is laterally in front of the campus for a local high school, so it's location is optimal.  

There's two topics regarding FLGS that I keep harping about:  (a) The lack of inventory at a lot of stores and (b) Who buys the overabundance in generic board and card games in every monthly solicitation. 

Games Keeps seems to subscribe to the "order everything... in bulk" school of thought, and I could not complain about a lack of inventory.

So.....Much....Stuff!!!!!

and more stuff....

As a old-school gamer who remembers Crazy Egor's in it's pre-Magic heyday, the deluge of board games was simply overwhelming to the point I giggled.  

Cleanliness:  The sales space is largely organized and quite clean.  The problem is there's so... much....stuff that half-opened shipments of board games are sitting on piles, and the colossal pile of boxes add to the my worries about management and organization.

Board Games: This just has to be their bread-and-butter, because it's a more varied collection than even Games and Stuff in Baltimore has, and that's a much bigger store footprint.   Divided into categories like "Family", "Party", "Classic", "Co-Op" and "War and Historical," I had trouble finding a recent obscure game solicitation that they didn't have.  In fact, they had multiple copies of some games I thought I'd be hard pressed to find a single copy anywhere.    Looking for a current boardgame?  I'd consider starting here first.

So many wargames....

CCGs:  The whole back corner not dedicated to historical games was closed off with display cases and Magic cards.   The was a sign saying that the Magic buyer was not in at the time, but I also didn't see any other place for packs up at the front counter, so as a new visitor, I didn't know the procedure for asking.  

Role-Playing Games:  RPGs were the last corner of the store I found and they had a reasonable number of 5e books, as well as healthy Pathfiner/Starfinder, Shadowrun, and some other miscellaneous books.  

Miniatures:  GW, Star Wars, and Wizkids D&D dominate the area, with solid selections of both.  

Accessories:   Plenty of dice and mats at reasonable prices. 

Events:  Between event postings at the store and on its unofficial Games Keep Facebook group, I see 5e, Magic, DCC, and a lot of board games bringing people in. 

Gaming Area, overwhelmed by more product.

So, ViscountEric was rendered speechless by the "immense and diverse" selection.  The location is fantastic for a college town, and their seems to be an active gaming community.  

So why am I giving The Games Keep 3.5 gnomes out of a maximum of 5? 

The "immense and diverse" clutter was borderline "FLGS Hoarders" and I just got a sketchy vibe from the lone dude manning the store.  I'm normally oblivious to that stuff, but if picked up on something, I'm certain other folks have too.  In their defense, there are plenty of 5-star online reviews about personal and attentive service to non-gamers, so maybe I just showed up on the wrong day.  There's a lot of positive about the store, so if you want to drive to find a new boardgame, I recommend this place, however they also confirmed my mantra that you can't just order one of everything from the monthly solicitations., like Game Trade Magazine.  Even my "Imaginary Store Order" that I post every month doesn't get close to the inventory these guys have. 

The Games Keep is at 561 East Gay Street in West Chester, PA.  It's open Wednesday through Sunday.