(Review) IGAR Games - State College, Pennsylvania

I'm not dating myself, but 35 years ago this month, I got to travel to State College, Pennsylvania to participate in a high school indoor track invitational at Penn State University.  It was a great weekend, but as my other teammates wandered downtown State College for t-shirts, sweatshirts and other souvenirs, I have found memories of a game stores just off of campus, with all the stuff you'd expect to find in a game store circa 1990.

Fast forward 35 years, and my daughter, Maja was participating in an AAU volleyball tournament in town for the last weekend in January.  Those faithful readers who know I do basketball rants should know I do not have enough patience or medication to cover volleyball this year, but, with a late Sunday schedule, we experienced this odd concept called sleeping in, and Maja got her Playa Bowl for brunch.  

With some extra time to kill, Dad checked off one of his usual boxes.  Game store. 

Obviously the nostalgic game store is gone, but we did find IGAR Games, right off of Business 322.  

1514 Martin St, State College, PA 16803

Location:  The building the store is on is on an odd commercial loop off of busy Business US 322, shared with different business offices, and across the street from a bowling alley and (we later learned going home) a Dairy Queen. We had not problem finding it, and not problem finding parking on a Sunday.

Cleanliness:  They've been open for three years, and the pictures from the news article I found about their grand opening match what I saw at the store. 

Board Games: The store is dominated by boardgames taking up the largest footprint.  A LOT of board games that check off my "immense and diverse" selection.  Enough that Maja and I got to pregame a couple of my sister's birthday and Christmas presents, because I hadn't actually seen physical copies of these games. When I'm seeing end-cap style displays from the game manufacturer and  product looks to move, I figured they know their stuff.

CCGs:  Didn't scour behind the counter for singles, but they had Magic and Star War Unlimited, plus a Star Wars event taking place.  

RPGS: Not a dominating display of the D&D 5e library, rather a small and robust selection of D&D, World of Darkness, the Hasbro Renegade lines, plus some small press/zine stuff.  Plus I was wildly amused by a number of No Thank You Evil products.  

Miniatures:    WizKids/D&D, Marvel Crisis Protocol, Star Wars Legion, and Battletech, with Army Painter paints and supplies.

Accessories:  I know in my monthly gaming solicitation post, I usually lament, "Who buys this crap and do they sell it?"  I don't know if it sells, but I was pleasantly impressed with the variety of the items displayed in a case just inside the door.  Much better than the 55 giant WizKids D&D dragon boxes I've seen at other stores.

The further follow up on my rant, they had a great supply of dice... at the $20 set range.  I know I'm an old pseudo-Grognard lamenting pricing in this day and age, but twenty buck seems high for a set of polyhedral without a gimmick...   The good news is, if you don't want the official D&D dice, or the Gaymer dice, or dice with rubber ducks inside each one (very cool), they also stock the traditional and colorful Chessex sets for just over have the cost of the fancy sets. 

Finally,  standing right behind you as you checked out was a shelf full of used games!  It was a nice selection, everything properly and reasonably priced, and seeing a copy of GDW's Sands of War plus its Expansion set made be a bit giddy.  

Events:  The gaming area is compact, but it was full of Star Wars CCG players when we were there. I was navigating the Discord and there is definitely talk about Magic evens and other RPG, TCG, miniature, and board games getting organized at the store.  While a "big board" is necessary, if there was one advertising, I didn't see it.  

After lamenting the Discord, I love that the store posts new arrivals and restocks on social media.

Just like 35 years ago, I didn't leave with that much.  Maja got a puzzle (they do have a solid display of puzzles) and I snagged a sticker to support the store. 

All-in-all, my nostalgia trumps all reality, but IGAR Games is a super rock-solid store that I hope the students at Penn State and the civilians in State College is taking advantage.  At this time Gaming with the Gnomies gives IGAR Games four out of five gnomes. 

IGAR Games is located at 1514 Martin St, State College, PA 16803. According to their hours on their Link Tree, they're open, Tuesday - Saturday 10:00am to 7:00pmSunday 12:00pm to 6:00pm