Games-n-Fun in New Zealand?

[Tharian]

Hello all.

I'm getting ready for an extended trip (about two months) to Auckland, New Zealand, and wondered if there were any games or LGS I might be able to check out while I'm there.

Any other advice would also be appreciated since this will be my first trip outside North America. I should have internet access while I'm there, but since my flight is scheduled for next Monday, I'll be able to follow up on this post in the meantime.

Thanks!

 

[Hypersmurf]

Hello all.

I'm getting ready for an extended trip (about two months) to Auckland, New Zealand, and wondered if there were any games or LGS I might be able to check out while I'm there.

Any other advice would also be appreciated since this will be my first trip outside North America. I should have internet access while I'm there, but since my flight is scheduled for next Monday, I'll be able to follow up on this post in the meantime.

Your best point of contact might be the Auckland University Roleplaying Club, AMERICA.

-Hyp.

 

[Cam Banks]

Back in my day, which is to say the early to mid-nineties, I was the manager of a game store called Mark One in Takapuna, on Auckland's North Shore. There were several other Mark One Stores, and it was a pretty good time to be a gamer. On my visits back to NZ I've noticed a dramatic shift in the past decade and it looks kind of dismal now. AMERICA used to be 99% LARP-type folks, but it's nice to see it seems to have leveled back out into tabletop gaming now.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Lancelot]

Back in my day, which is to say the early to mid-nineties, I was the manager of a game store called Mark One in Takapuna, on Auckland's North Shore.

Mark One, at least in Takapuna, is now Vagabond. They also have a store in central Auckland. I've observed a few gaming groups actually playing at the store, although this is infrequent. They're the two leading RPG stores in Auckland, NZ's biggest city. There's also King of Cards in Auckland Central, although that's almost exclusively Magic the Gathering and Collectible Minis games. I'm not up-to-date with the stores in Wellington or Christchurch, although I think Hamilton still has a Mark One as well.

I think nearly all Kiwi gaming groups are based at home these days, amongst a circle of friends. The days of "playing at the gaming store" are long gone, except for tabletop wargaming like Warhammer. Most of the local gaming stores still have messageboards, though - low tech corkboards with handwritten notices advising of local games, which you might be able to join for a couple of months.

 

[Dross]

Your best point of contact might be the Auckland University Roleplaying Club, AMERICA.

-Hyp.

I know it's just me but:

You mean that someone's first visit outside North America will include visiting America?

 

[Hypersmurf]

AMERICA used to be 99% LARP-type folks, but it's nice to see it seems to have leveled back out into tabletop gaming now.

I was at the America's Cup this weekend - I'm not a member (busy Tuesday nights), so I don't really know the culture of the club. There seems to be an attitude of "So do you play D&D, or a real game?"... though, interestingly, most of those people also seem to be D&D players as well. Just ashamed of it, I suppose

America's Cup is all systemless, and I get the impression most of them hold systemless games to be superior to systemed games.

On the other hand, BattleCry (their other big annual event) was a mixture of systemless games with some Spycraft, Call of Cthulhu, and some other stuff, and I think there are assorted games running throughout the year in various systems. Plus at least one long-running LARP.

-Hyp.

 

[cthulhu_duck]

I'm not up-to-date with the stores in Wellington or Christchurch, although I think Hamilton still has a Mark One as well.

Wellington has a gaming store called Wargames Supply - http://www.wargames.co.nz/ and Christchurch has Comics Compulsion - http://www.comicscompulsion.co.nz/. Hamilton is the only city in which the Mark One name survived - http://www.mk1.co.nz - and is my local FLGS.

(There's a brief mention of what happened to the Mark One Comics chain at http://www.comics.org.nz/wiki/index.php/Mark_One_Comics)

 

[Hypersmurf]

(There's a brief mention of what happened to the Mark One Comics chain at http://www.comics.org.nz/wiki/index.php/Mark_One_Comics)

Wow - The Old Book Cellar! There's a name I haven't heard in a while!

-Hyp.

 

[Tonguez]

Wow - The Old Book Cellar! There's a name I haven't heard in a while!

-Hyp.

Yeah I remember that place

MArk 1 is where I started collecting Lone Wolf & Cub, and Swamp Thing

plus Marks sister (Tania) was hot

oh and there was the Italian Ice Cream Palour around the corner in the BNZ Tower

 

[gribble]

oh and there was the Italian Ice Cream Palour around the corner in the BNZ Tower

Ah... the old basement foodcourt in BNZ Tower... memories...