Game Shop advice for south central MA

[SolitonMan]

Hi folks, I'm visiting family in MA this week and thought I'd solicit opinions on any game stores I should check out in the area. My brother lives in Longmeadow, which is pretty close to the CT border. I did a brief search on the Wizards site for stores, but nothing really struck me as must see. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your ideas!!

 

[JohnRTroy]

Unless something new opened up recently, you don't have much.

The only place I could think of that has more than your chain bookstore variety of RPGs would be That's Entertainment ( That's Entertainment -New England's Largest Collectible Store! ) on Park Ave in Worcester, but they are mostly a comic book store--the game section is good.

There used to be two other stores around. Fabulous Fiction used to have more paperback SF books and a large game store, but I believe they closed in the mid-to-late 1990s.

More recently, there was a nice shop that had play tables and other things in the early part of the decade, called Gameboro, which was located in Cherry Valley, MA. They specialized in gaming but that was during the big card and d20 boom, and I think they shut down sometime a few years back, probably around/after 2006.

Another Cherry Valley (Worcester-Leicester) store is called Master Hobbies ( R/C - Radio Control - Airsoft - Classic Army - Paintball - Models - Diecast - Welcome to Master Hobbies ) --I think they might have gaming stuff but they are more a jack-of-all-trades hobby store and I have no first-hand experience with them.

South of Worcester is probably best know for dozens of Pizza places though--mostly specializing in Greek style. (I can't believe how many Pizza places there are in my hometown).

 

[JohnRTroy]

I wanted to also add, rather than visit a gaming store, you might want to visit a place called the Higgins Armory Museum. If you play any fantasy games and want to know all about arms and armour you really should check this out.

Higgins Armory Museum

EGG got scheduled to be a guest speaker in 2003 and really loved the place.

It's not a gaming store, but I think you'd find more inspiration for gaming there than just getting a random d20 supplement.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Unless something new opened up recently, you don't have much.

The only place I could think of that has more than your chain bookstore variety of RPGs would be That's Entertainment ( That's Entertainment -New England's Largest Collectible Store! ) on Park Ave in Worcester, but they are mostly a comic book store--the game section is good.

There used to be two other stores around. Fabulous Fiction used to have more paperback SF books and a large game store, but I believe they closed in the mid-to-late 1990s.

More recently, there was a nice shop that had play tables and other things in the early part of the decade, called Gameboro, which was located in Cherry Valley, MA. They specialized in gaming but that was during the big card and d20 boom, and I think they shut down sometime a few years back, probably around/after 2006.

Another Cherry Valley (Worcester-Leicester) store is called Master Hobbies ( R/C - Radio Control - Airsoft - Classic Army - Paintball - Models - Diecast - Welcome to Master Hobbies ) --I think they might have gaming stuff but they are more a jack-of-all-trades hobby store and I have no first-hand experience with them.

South of Worcester is probably best know for dozens of Pizza places though--mostly specializing in Greek style. (I can't believe how many Pizza places there are in my hometown).

That's pretty close. That's Entertainment's new RPG stock has dwindled to little more than D&D stuff, but they have boxes of older stuff: also mostly D&D (including lots of Dragon magazines). But its a interesting store anyway.

Fab Fiction closed its doors late in '99.

Gameboro is gone, as is another Cherry Valley store: Rising Phoenix (within the last year). Master Hobbies I'm not sure about, they're probably still around, but they never had any real amount of RPG stuff.

And I hartily agree that if you're in the area you should check out Higgins Armory which John mentions in another post. There's a fee (it used to be free many years ago), but it isn't that much. Especially for what you get. If you can possibly do so, I strongly suggest that you go when there's an armor demonstration scheduled. Yes, you will see a man in full plate armor doing somersaults and other feats of agility.

 

[SolitonMan]

Cool, thanks for the tips everyone! I'll post back if I make the time to get anyplace. Turns out that family can be remarkably activity-oriented when they don't see ya too often.

 

[Morrus]

Did you check EN World's game store locator?

I don't know if it has any there, but it's worth a look.