D&D 5E (2014) starter set at Walmart

[Americancyco]

I've seen D&D 4E red starter set at both Target and Walmart. I've seen D&D 5e starter sets at Toys R Us. This doesn't surprise me much because Walmart / Target also carries Axis and Allies 1941 which is a start set of that game also. I wouldn't expect to see any other D&D sets just starter sets.

 

[Emirikol]

Wal mart....

That's almost enough to make me stop playing D&D.

I saw it at Target (because I'm a snotty big box shopper), but I don't do the wal mart thaaaang, so I guess that's why I didn't know it was sold there


...

 

[Von Ether]

I got my old red box out of the Sears mail order catalog.

That said, this is what Hasbro brings to the table for D&D and what Hasbro has wanted all along. Both of which (yeah, this time I'm that guy) irks me.

First, because Hasbro should have been doing this for ages. (I can imagine that Hasbro is the boss smoking his cigar while WotC as the nervous employee is hearing Hasbro say, "You want to be promoted to Wal-Mart, you have to earn it. Just look how hard Magic McCard is working. That's why he gets the Wal-Mart.)

And second, that's why Hasbro's holy grail for D&D has been to find a way to "toyify" it, not only for the masses, but also to make it an evergreen product that needs no "silly" R&D department every 8 years. Just pull it out of the injection mold, box it, shrink wrap it, throw it on the shelf and let the money roll in.

As a guy on the street, you'd think that Hasbro would give up on that. But Hasbro is not a hive mind, it's a corporation. There's always going to be some up and comer VP who hopes they can get a promotion out of cracking that code.

Basically, as a board game production product, D&D is "broke" and there will always be someone more interested in "fixing it" so it makes more profit for less cost instead of leaving it alone.

 

[TerraDave]

I got my old red box out of the Sears mail order catalog.

More from the Retroist.

 

[Von Ether]

More from the Retroist.

Wow. Yep.

 

[Barantor]

I've seen the starter set in Toys 'r Us, Meiers and Target as well.

This isn't the first time this type of product has been in Wal Mart though, I remember buying the Games Workshop and Milton Bradley joint venture 'Heroquest' in Walmart as well as the old TSR "Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Game" that used a 2nd edition set of rules set in a really toned down Thunder Rift setting.

I've seen Munchkin and Zombie Dice in box stores too though, so it gives me hope that the gaming sections of those stores won't be dominated by Milton Bradley classics forever.

 

[DM Howard]

I've seen the starter set in Toys 'r Us, Meiers and Target as well.

This isn't the first time this type of product has been in Wal Mart though, I remember buying the Games Workshop and Milton Bradley joint venture 'Heroquest' in Walmart as well as the old TSR "Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Game" that used a 2nd edition set of rules set in a really toned down Thunder Rift setting.

I've seen Munchkin and Zombie Dice in box stores too though, so it gives me hope that the gaming sections of those stores won't be dominated by Milton Bradley classics forever.

Mmm. That box wasn't Thunderift; if I remember correctly it was basically Dragonlance without being Dragonlance. I could easily be wrong though, but that box is how I started.

 

[Bacon Bits]

IMX, game and toy stores (or department stores with game and toy departments) seem to be willing to carry game sets that come in boxes, but they don't like to put books on shelves outside the novels area. Since that area is almost exclusively devoted to pulp fiction, self help, cooking, young adult, and children's fiction, game materials isn't really a major draw. I mean, the PHB by itself is a pretty niche purchase. You have to get the PHB, DMG, MM, and dice, and even then you have to make everything up after you've read a couple hundred pages of game rules. A boxed set that's a whole game with an adventure is much better.

 

[Henry]

My first D&D was a boxed set at a now-defunct toy store chain called Circus World. If some 10 year old finds this and picks this up to play as an alternate to his or her PS4 or Android Game Apps, a good thing will have continued in this world.

 

[aramis erak]

Wow. Other old-timers correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember D&D products on the shelves of big-box stores since 1st edition. Many chains stopped carrying D&D merch during the "devil worship" scares of the 80's.

JC Penney, Sears & Roebuck, and Kaybee Toys all carried the BX boxed sets in store in many locations; Kaybee Toys, the JC Penney Catalogue, and the sears catalogue carried the BECMI boxes.
Most of the major chain bookstores carried more than just the boxed basics; Borders, B. Dalton, Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble all carried both the BECMI boxes and the 2E hardcovers, albeit not in all locations.

Likewise, Hobbycraft and Gamekeeper both carried a variety of RPGs through their corporate in-house distribution side, but again, not every store carried RPGs in store. Most Gamekeeper stores did, but I know of one location that carried no RPGs in stock, but would happily order them.

Oh, and AAFES carried the whole TSR catalogue up to at least 1988. Again, not in every location, but always available as a special order.