RIP Playin' Games

[major_clanger]

On the way back from an errand in the Tottenham Court Road area I took a slight detour to pop into two of my favourite shops in the area - Gosh Comics and the Playin' Games boardgame and RPG shop. The former is still doing fine (and I picked up a couple of new Mike Mignola collections - BPRD #12 and Witchfinder.) But round the corner to Museum Street and Playin' Games was signless, empty and bare. Looking online I've found a comment on a gaming site that it has indeed closed, which is a deep shame as it was one of the best gaming shops in London or indeed this end of the country - it was second IMHO only to The Games Shop in Aldershot*.

Presumably it fell to the combined onslaught of online retailers, Games Workshop and their monoculture shops ("There is no other games system than Warhammer, to suggest others is HERESY!") and, quite probably, Forbidden Planet's growing Games section. FP can't compete on range, but they can compete in terms of sucking in customers, and that's probably what counts.

(*Probably the only time I ever have or ever will recommend Aldershot or something in it.)

Comments

[uitlander]

http://hobnobs.livejournal.com/132582.html

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

Oh what a shame! I quite often used to pop to Playin' Games and Gosh! when I was at the LRI, as it was a 5 minute jaunt from Lincoln's Inn. I must have spent a fortune in there over the years.

I can't think of anywhere else like it... almost doubling the rent seems pretty low :/

[pogodragon.livejournal.com]

There's Eclectic Games in Reading - I've not been for a while, but they're moving premises at the moment (or have maybe just moved) they're pretty damn good if you're around that area.

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

Sadly I am in Southampton, with occasional jaunts to London (I'm kinda finishing up PhD stuff at Bart's & The London occasionally).

[timscience.livejournal.com]

Have you looked at Orc's Nest on Earlham St? It's just down the road a bit (near where Charing Cross Road crosses Shaftesbury Avenue), it's an indie, and it's been there, like, forever. Certainly since I lived in London which was 1987.

They advertise as RPG but their online store suggets a good selection of boardgames and miniatures as well.

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

Orc's Nest has always been pretty much exclusively aimed at the *cough* younger Games Workshop/wargames market though (although it's admittedly been a while since I last went). I always felt extremely uncomfortable going in there as a single female too >_< Maybe they'll change a bit to fill the gap?

Playin' Games had the best selection of grown up games I'd ever seen, from fancy chess sets to go boards to wooden topology puzzles to big box strategy games, cheapass games, RPGs, wierd almost experimental Euroepean board games... *cry*

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Last time I went to Playin' Games I was less impressed with the selection. I understand the management changed a while back and they were struggling.

For RPGs Orcs Nest is actually pretty good, or at least are for the things I go for. They have some adult board games but I'm not as up to speed on those as I am for some of the more tentacular RPGs...

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

I think I might be a bit allergic to RPGs :)

But yeah, PG had been notably not restocking on Cheapass games for a while... ah well.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

> I think I might be a bit allergic to RPGs :)

You and me both.

Shame about Playin Games.

[gmh.livejournal.com]

Aye, I noticed that. I was in there just a few weeks ago as well.

There's still Leisure Games in Finchley and Eclectic Games in Reading (run by friends of ours); they're both a bit of a hike compared to PG, but...

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

... there are other reasons to go to Reading. The Pie shop has its attractions.

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

I've heard good things about Leisure Games

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Leisure Games is still my benchmark for a good games shop, plus they do mail order.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Damn, that was a really good shop. The guy who ran it was really helpful. I was only ever there once, when I was in London, but I was planning to return.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

If it helps at all, the chess shop in Baker Street seems to be selling a wide range of board etc. games now e.g. Settlers, Carcassonne (?sp), etc. Possibly they bought Playing Games stock?

It's been two or three months since I visited Playing Games, I was going to go there yesterday on my way to the Tun but got out so late I didn't bother. Thanks for the heads-up, another reason not to visit that area any more...

[annafdd.livejournal.com]

What I heard was that it fell to a dispute with the landlord, which is even sadder.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Bugger. I was in London a couple of weeks ago for a meeting in Bloomsbury, but passed Playin' Games before it was open. Didn't have time to drop in on the way back home. :(

[multiclassgeek.livejournal.com]

PG had been going through some... interesting times.

I worked there, briefly, and while the Store Manager was genuinely enthusiastic (if a little short on actual management skills), the Overall Owner really didn't "get" gaming at all, and was kind of a douchebag. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if OO decided to give it up, and focus on his other shops.

Orc's Nest is well-named, because most of the staff are about as friendly as the aforementioned green-skinned humanoids. Leisure Games, OTOH, is a good shop, with knowledgeable staff, and there's a board-gamey shop near Warren Street (which might be the chess shop ffutures is mentioning)

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

How sad. It does seem to have been as well-loved among the gamer community as, say, a good independent bookshop. At least mail order board games are more readily available than ever, but it's not the same.

Last time I looked, Hamley's was better than I thought it would be for These Games Of Ours. Not brilliant, but non-zero.