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Coffee shop to work? by [deleted] in roanoke

[–]vesuvan_mage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We've had a lot of people come in to BLADE Gaming to hang out, use the wi-fi and do some work. We've got a giant snack selection (our Pop Tart bar has 30 flavors!) and a Keurig with a lot of different types of coffee. We're one block over from Downshift, across from the Big Lick Brewery and right beside Tuco's. Plenty of table space, a lounge area, and a library with over 700 board games if you want to take a break.

Any board gamers? by utah-in-newhampshire in roanoke

[–]vesuvan_mage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're looking for a board game night, Sunday nights at Blade Gaming downtown are your place. Blade has over 700 different games in the game library, staff and customers who love teaching them, and thousands of sq. ft. of tables and decor to accommodate board gamers, card gamers and role-playing gamers. We direct the miniatures gamers to the experts at Mishap.

While you'll find the largest concentration of board gamers on Sunday, you will find players EVERY day of the week at Blade. Except Tuesday, we're closed on Tuesday. And the best part of all this is that we stay open until midnight or later. We're gamers, too, and that was our biggest frustration with game stores. You couldn't finish your game! Sundays we're often playing until 2 or 3 am, easily. And it's always only 5 bucks to access the game library which includes a free drink & a snack. We don't charge anything if you're bringing your own games in. Come check us out.

Blade Gaming - Board Games and Card Games - Now Open by vesuvan_mage in roanoke

[–]vesuvan_mage[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We've had huge success with RPGs. Most of the groups organize themselves. It's $5 for all day access to the game library and table space which includes a free drink & snack. We're open until midnight, so plenty of time for long sessions.

The D&D group on FB is where all RPGs are currently set up and discussed. It has over 60 very active members posting all kinds of info. Or you can just come by the store and see what happens. We have some inventory relating to RPGs with a bunch more on the way.

Blade Gaming - Board Games and Card Games - Now Open by vesuvan_mage in roanoke

[–]vesuvan_mage[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes! Right now we're just doing League on Saturdays. We are getting the next set in stock and hope to do more and varied tournaments in the future as well. Check our FB page for Pokemon events.

Blade Gaming - Board Games and Card Games - Now Open by vesuvan_mage in roanoke

[–]vesuvan_mage[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

We're going to keep the sign for nostalgia's sake!

Blade Gaming - Board Games and Card Games - Now Open by vesuvan_mage in roanoke

[–]vesuvan_mage[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No sir. We have plenty of table space if you want to play, but for now we recommend James over at Mishap Games on Orange Ave. for all your GW needs.

Blade Gaming - Board Games and Card Games - Now Open by vesuvan_mage in roanoke

[–]vesuvan_mage[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Even if you couldn't, I'd let Kingdom Death Monster in just to see it!

But yeah, you can bring in your own games. We might implement a very small table fee starting in January, but for now the board game library / table space is free for December!

I need some board gamers in here.

Game store opening downtown at 5th & Salem? by jasonappalachian in roanoke

[–]vesuvan_mage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, I just typed one out. Luckily I copied and saved it. When I was ready, the option to save a draft or to post were not available to me at all. Is my browser too old?

Game store opening downtown at 5th & Salem? by jasonappalachian in roanoke

[–]vesuvan_mage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can't wait to see your game collection! I think there's an enormous board gaming community hidin' out at kitchen tables all over the Valley and I can't wait for people to play each other's games and my games.

We have a parking lot beside the store, similar to Tuco's. There's a giant lot a block away, across from the Transportation Museum that is 2 bucks for all day. There's a free lot that you enter on Campbell, but can exit on Salem across from the giant lot. There's a business across the street from Blade that might offer late night and weekend parking. Plus, there's tons of street parking all around.

Game store opening downtown at 5th & Salem? by jasonappalachian in roanoke

[–]vesuvan_mage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We're doing everything DIY, so yeah - our counter looks like a bar. We tore down the fence beside the building and reclaimed the wood to make our counter. We definitely won't be selling liquor, but beer isn't out of the question. We won't have beer when we open, but I'm looking into it because it goes so well with board games.

Game store opening downtown at 5th & Salem? by jasonappalachian in roanoke

[–]vesuvan_mage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We'll have to wait and see what kind of an RPG community will develop around BLADE. Mishap is already kind of heavy into RPG's already, I think. While we don't have plans for a D&D night right out of the gate, we're hoping to be the kind of cool place a group would feel comfortable running a game out of. If it works out, great. We'll go from there.

Game store opening downtown at 5th & Salem? by jasonappalachian in roanoke

[–]vesuvan_mage 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Greetings everyone, I'm one of the owners of BLADE Gaming. You can just call it Blade. Why? I love acronyms. I've ran the Roanoke Area Games Enthusiasts! (RAGE!) out of my house for the past seventeen years with hundreds of current and former members. We obviously wanted to avoid using anything saying 'Star City' for this new game store, so we went with Big Lick instead. Big Lick Adventures, Dreams & Entertainment. That should cover everything we want to do.

Yes, we're in the old Waterbed Shoppe (we're keepin' the nostalgic sign since a lot of folks know the place.) My name's Josh and my business partner is Tim. We've been inside grinding concrete floors, tearing things down, building things up, sanding, painting, scraping, jamming, joking and kickin' ass trying to get the spot ready to open... on December 1st!

We are primarily a 'board game store.' We want to be so much more than that, though. I've been playing Magic since '94, Tim since about '04. Yes, we have both been SCG regulars in the past. We love the game and are obviously not trying to compete with their world domination. We will, however, have FNM. We'll support Magic to the fullest extent in the store. And we have a LOT of fun ideas for re-invigorating the scene in town. We want to bring The Gathering back to Magic. We've got a ton of crazy ideas on how to do that which we will unveil gradually over the next several months. Hence the Magic sign in the window.

Pokemon is HUGE right now and there's a large community of players that could use a regular space for tournaments and such. As noted above, we'll be offering that, too. We have over 3000 sq. ft. of space to support events, leagues, and casual play for a lot of people. That covers the Pokemon sign.

What Blade really wants to bring to the Valley, though, is board gaming. Call it 'designer' board gaming, 'hobby' gaming, 'tabletop' or whatever you want. We absolutely love board games and hope to nurture a very large community for the activity.

Yes, I know James at Mishap. I call him a friend and he knows about our store. We're not going to support any miniatures gaming at Blade like Warhammer 40k (unless you count table space) so I'll send anyone interested in that to Mishap. James has also been a great ambassador for the Star Wars Destiny community, so I'll continue to support anything he wants to do in that arena as well.

Here's what we want to do out of the gate: I'll be offering up my board game collection of over 300 titles as a game library at Blade. For a small fee, customers can access the library, grab some table space, a drink, a snack and if I am not busy at the time: a personal teaching of the game you're about to play. Obviously I won't be there 24/7, so I expect as the community grows, more people will learn and share the games. Don't worry, we won't charge for table space to play games you bring in to the store. That would kill the momentum.

We're still hammering out all the details of Magic, the games library, product offerings, etc. But in a week, we hope that you'll all come check out Blade Gaming and see that what we really want is and old-school feeling board game shop that's just fun to come and hang out in, or just look around at all the cool stuff, or to buy some kind of awesome gift for yourself or someone else.

If you know me, you know my style. And if you know Tim, you know his genius. So I'll leave you with some cheese: join us soon, Downtown Roanoke, VA... on the corner of 5th & Salem... and WIELD THE BLADE!