Starting Our Local Game Store Reviewing Adventures

Hello there! Welcome to The Best Third Place where two partners explore friendly local game stores across the east coast and rate them on various metrics.

We've naturally developed the past-time of visiting all the local stores selling Magic cards, Warhammer, board games, or anything else nerdy that we can. Often we'll spend a Saturday visiting 5 or more shops, especially investigating ones we have yet to explore.

Currently we live in north Jersey where LGS' are plentiful. We're visiting Cape May, NJ tomorrow, and plan to kick off this blog by visiting 6 different LGS' as we meander our way to our destination.

Our hope is that through this blog we continue to find wonderful stores and communities, and that we can share some insights to the LGS-frequenting community at large. And who knows, maybe one day we'll have enough data and crown one LGS as The Best Third Place.

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Review of Warhammer Store, Matawan NJ

Our second stop on our trip to Cape May lead us to the Warhammer store in Matawan, NJ. We've visited the Warhammer store in Concord, DE before, but I wanted to see how this one compares. Address: Colonial Drive 1121, NJ-34 Suite 1121-N, Matawan, NJ 07747 Website: https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Warhammer-Holmdel Selection Let me be clear - a Warhammer store is exactly what it is supposed to be: a Games Workshop proxy for Americans to buy and peruse their models. Are these stores still LGS'? Yes. Do they get a pass on not having MTG products et all? Yes. If your hobby of choice is Warhammer (40k or AoS, Blood Bowl, Warcry/Kill Team, or anything else GW related), the Warhammer stores provide a lot of services other LGS' simply can't. If you want something AoS or 40k related, this store has it or can acquire it easily. Other Games Workshop product is sort of random, with more KT/Warcry than any sort of Blood Bowl support. They also keep a healthy amount of codexes an...

Review of Red Seal Gaming, South Amboy NJ

Our first stop on our 6-LGS extravaganza as we meandered out way down to Cape May was Red Seal Gaming, a smaller and newly founded LGS in South Amboy. Address: 103-B North Stevens Avenue South Amboy, NJ 08879 UPDATED Address: 419 NJ-34 Matawan, NJ 07747 Website: redsealgaming.com Selection Red Seal Gaming offers a decent selection of the most recent products for Magic, Pokémon, Warhammer, D&D, and board games. Because they opened recently, you may be hard-pressed to find anything printed in the past; however they did have every Magic set going back to Guilds and Allegiance, which recently rotated. They don't yet offer Magic singles,* but I can easily forgive this as they are a new store and said they hope to do so in the future. * See update below as this has changed. "As a note on Warhammer selection - while Red Seal only has the bleeding edge of Warhammer models (printed last 2 years, focus on newest 9th edition pieces), the owner is willing to special order from GW to ...

Review of Trotta's Hobbies, Barnegot NJ

Shortly after being disappointed by Legion Traders, we arrived at Trotta's Hobbies, and we were relieved to find an LGS with active players, all wearing masks. Address: 323 U.S. 9, Barnegat Township, NJ 08005 Website: www.trottashobbiesnj.com Selection Trotta's is a typical LGS - it has a selection of sealed Warhammer, MTG, Pokemon, and board game products. Board games and RPG systems align the front and wrap around to the TCG products and registrar, finishing out on the far side of the store with Warhammer miniatures. Cleanliness The store was small but clean - the tables were in use but looked freshly wiped and the floors were also well maintained. There was an extra room in the back absolutely packed with excess stock - it looked messy but it must have kept the main store from being a cluttered nightmare itself. The shelving with the Warhammer stock was relatively dirty and unorganized, but it was the only such issue in the main store. Friendliness The person at the counter...

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