As my time out east winds down, I find myself excited to return to the store I consider my home away from home in Iowa City. If there's one thing I've learned while out here, it's that I didn't know just how good I had it, with two top-notch stores within 30 minutes of where I lived.
The stores in question, Critical Hit Games in Coralville (same thing as Iowa City, basically) and Battlezone Games in Hiawatha (same thing as Cedar Rapids, basically) are, quite simply, incredible places to play.
Critical Hit and Battlezone both have plenty of gaming space, and regularly attract FNM crowds of 25-35. Every week. Not only that, but the owners/operators/managers are very hands on and always willing...make that excited...to sit down and play a game with you. One of the last things I did before leaving Iowa was learn to play this game about High School cliques that was a blast. Not only did Crit Hit's owner sit down and teach us to play simply because we asked, but he sold me the open demo game at a discount because I wasn't going to be in town for the games actual release.
Even more important is that the community surrounding those stores is beyond welcoming. The players, the owners, and everything about the stores are top notch. They don't even smell (the store, I mean...)!
I thought that was the norm. I had been to other stores in Minnesota that were equally as spacious (or more so) and equally as clean and welcoming. True I had been to my fair share of dumps, but I wasn't prepared for how difficult it was to find a good store in other areas.
I won't name any names, but I've come across some dumps out in the DC metro area. Part of the problem is that there are so few gaming stores in the first place. During my last two DC stints (I'm an intern machine!), Wizards still had their own store open at the Pentagon City Mall, right off the metro. It was pretty perfect and always had a good crowd for local tournaments. Since they left, that void has only been marginally filled. There are very few stores within metro/driving distance, and those that are don't compare with what I had in Iowa.
Don't get me wrong, the east coast is home to some of the premier gaming stores in the country. Star City is in Virginia (albeit not FNM close to the DC area) and Dreamwizards is in Maryland, about a 20 walk from a metro stop. Great places to play, all, but also ponderously far from DC proper. And though I may be wrong about this, I believe the district itself actually has no gaming stores to speak of at all (wouldn't be surprised).
So as my time winds down out here and I look forward to playing again with all the Iowans and at two of the best gaming stores you'll ever find.
So basically, this is my oh-so-emo love song to the gaming stores that make a community.
-Blake
P.S. If you're ever in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area, stop by Critical Hit or Battlezone Games no matter what game you play. Tell them I sent you (I always wanted to say that).
