The Best Third Place

We visited The Gamer's Edge on our way to an Airbnb we rented for Friendsgiving in the Poconos. This store is beautifully situated along a bustling main street in Stroudsburg with plenty of shops and restaurants. I wished we had more time to walk around, exploring the area, however we had just enough time to pick up boxes of Crimson Vow, a single or two, and get on our way. Address:  580 Main St, Stroudsburg, PA 18360 Website: thegamersedgecomics.com Selection Many stores seem to favor either "general nerd store" or "come here just to play Magic." This is not the case with The Gamer's Edge as they have both breadth and depth of selection. At the front of the store you'll find a good selection of board games and posters, etc, but as you continue you'll find a healthy selection of comics, Warhammer sets, vintage toys, vintage controllers and accessories, general nerd paraphernalia, and even painted Warhammer figures for sale. Beyond the high-value sing...

A review that I should've posted a long time ago, Mythicos Mahwah has become my LGS of choice, particularly when it comes to my wargaming and hobbying! Addresses: HQ: 1152 NJ-10 Unit 1, Randolph, NJ 07869 Mahwah: 115 Franklin Turnpike Unit 2C, Mahwah, NJ 07430 Website: mythicosstudios.com Photos to come soon Locations Firstly, it is important to note that Mythicos currently has 2 locations with a 3rd on the way. Their first is in Randolph (nick-named HQ) NJ and has more retail space and less gaming space. Their second location is in Mahwah NJ, and is far larger - less retail space, numerous gaming tables. I frequent the latter far more than the fewer, mostly due to proximity, but both stores are great. Selection Mythicos Studios is a wargaming store. Period. End. Stop. They do carry some TCG sealed product in the front of the store (for quite good prices, see below) but the vast majority of their selection is Warhammer, Wargaming, Star Wars Legions, and hobby supplies for miniature...

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...

Well, I wish I could write a comprehensive review of Trader's Legion Games in Forked River NJ, but unfortunately I only have one thing to say: Almost no one was wearing a mask.  Address:  118 N Main St Unit #1, Forked River, NJ 08731 Website: traderlegion.net We wanted to visit Trader's Legion as our 5th stop as we visited LGS' on our way to Cape May. After coaxing Google to navigate us to the right place, we walked up at around 8:00PM on a Friday. We saw perhaps a dozen or more patrons playing games, along with staff in the store through the glass, however I counted 1, maybe 2 masks among them total.  We turned around and left before entering. We can go into details of the cleanliness, the value, and the friendliness of stores we visit, but an important prerequisite is that you value my health and safety as your patron, and the health and safety of your community.  Trader's Legion have stellar reviews on Google, and they seem like they may be an otherwise great plac...

Our 4th stop was to East Coast Gamers in Toms River, NJ.  Address:  43 Main St, Toms River, NJ 08753 Website:  eastcoastgamersnj.com Selection East Coast Gamers has a full selection of MTG singles, TCG sealed product, miniatures products, board games, and older video games and paraphernalia. Though its stock has been depleted a bit due to COVID supply line issues, they carry everything new in MTG/Pokemon/Warhammer (40k, very limited AoS support) and have a robust selection of singles in their glass cases. Cleanliness The owner was actively cleaning the store and rearranging where shelving / stock was, so we did not get a good indication of the general cleanliness of the store. What was finished, however, was neat and tidy, and the tables for TCG/wargaming events were clean beyond the terrain pieces used for wargaming. Friendliness The owner was the one running the store when we visited, and though he seemed a bit disillusioned (who isn't right now?) he was extremely frien...

Our 3rd stop on our LGS jaunt was to Peninsula Games in Fair Haven, NJ. It was getting to be dark outside by this time, so we knew we may not be visiting these stores at the most lively times.  Address:  775 River Rd, Fair Haven, NJ 07704 Website: peninsulagamesnj.com Selection Peninsula Games has a decent selection of Magic sets, Magic Secret Lairs, and board games. Their selection of Magic singles was robust with several well-organized binders with staples and cards of interest.  "Their Warhammer selection seems somewhat eclectic and random. There wasn't a clear focus on newer or older figures, but not enough of either to cover the full gamut completely. Their Warhammer products are heavily focused on 40k with a lack of AoS." -Hskae Cleanliness Peninsula is a small store, and opposed to other newer stores, you can feel the history of the 4 years they've been there. I certainly wouldn't say the store is dirty per se, but its far from immaculate either. Peninsula...

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...

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 ...

We traveled to Rochester for a simple get away not too long ago, and had the distinct pleasure of running into three more local game stores during our time there. The first of these, Millennium Games, was truly a magnificent place. As one of the largest and most fully-featured LGS’ we have visited, it only makes sense for Millennium to be the first review we do! However, despite it's accolades and being our first review, by no means should it be held up as a yardstick to any other LGS. (Photos from Google) Address:  3047 W Henrietta Rd, Rochester, NY 14623 Website: millenniumgames.com Selection Millennium is what most lay-people think of when they are told about local game stores - you can find everything nerdy here, including board games, all the major TCGs, Warhammer and other miniatures, dice, RPG books galore, playmats and carrying cases, and more generic nerd paraphernalia like Doctor Who welcome mats and the like. Not only is the diversity of their stock fantastic, the specif...

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.