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What cities have strong gaming communities? Are they concentrated in the South and Midwest of the US and the UK? Is it more that certain areas of cities are strong gaming areas while other parts of town are 'dead'?

Examples: Chicago strikes me as a very strong Gaming city, especially for the popular games (GW, PP, etc.). Philadelphia is relatively strong, but you're better off in Montgomery County, Cherry Hill or West Chester than in Bucks County or Downtown. Likewise Cincinnati: Eastgate was a strong area, Blue Ash, Hyde Park and Clifton weren't (at least when I lived there), the latter two being especially surprising with a lot of young people and both Xavier and Univ. of Cincinnati near those neighborhoods.

What makes an area a strong gaming community? Is it population density? Having strong local stores, cons and clubs? Would that make Muncie IN and Lancaster Co PA (home of Wizard's Keep and both Fall In! and Historicon, respectively) strong communities, despite their small sizes?

And how is it where you live? Is it feast or famine? Is it more/less accepted by the local culture (i.e. gaming clubs in the schools, etc.)?

London is OK, but not great. There isn't a big community at the university, but there's a couple local clubs - one at the FLGS and one independent. Unfortunately, the independent one is located on the remote outskirts of town so getting there can be a pain.

I'll be moving to Toronto this summer. From what I've seen the community there is a bit stronger.

Kitchener is a great gaming area. Lots of strong players and a well supported gaming group centered around the FLGS Phoenix.

Population density has something to do with it, but then again, the best gaming town within 150 miles of where I live has a population of no more than 50000. I think ultimately what it gets down to is the quality of the local game stores and the willingness of people to step up to the plate and start clubs and games.

>>London is OK, but not great.

Do you mean London UK?

Bay Area, California - Silicon Valley to be precise.

I would say that the Los Angeles area is a average to poor gaming community. I think the reason for this is that the area is so spread out. I can think of 12 FLGS in the greater LA area but there is no one store that has a strong group of players. Most of the stores have 1 or 2 serious players and a bunch of casual players.

The stores/areas that have the best gaming communities in California that I know of are Game Empire San Diego and Great Escape/Sacramento.

Darrian

Atlanta is a pretty good gaming area, 3 or 4 gaming groups, one or two competitive players and a posse of casuals in each.

Posted By Asmodai on 10/22/2007 8:55 AM
London is OK, but not great. There isn't a big community at the university, but there's a couple local clubs - one at the FLGS and one independent. Unfortunately, the independent one is located on the remote outskirts of town so getting there can be a pain.

I'll be moving to Toronto this summer. From what I've seen the community there is a bit stronger.

Asmodai:  Toronto is no panacea.  There's a good following for GW inside the outlets, but outside, at the FLGS, its mostly dying a horrible death.

OTOH, I got reassigned to Sault Ste Marie for work.  I've yet to check out the gaming scene in Sudbury (a leisurely 4 hours away...), but the gaming scene in town is DIRE.  As a former Londoner, it makes London seem like a mecca of gaming.  No disrespect intended to the local FLGS owner - as the store is mostly a comic store, unsurprisingly, there is no gaming space and their 40k rack has the old eldar lascannon in a NEW RELEASE blister!  Warmachine is unknown here.  (I might try for Pressganger status...  haha.)

Things are looking grim...  Apparently there's a few 40kers here so I might have to dust off some 40k stuff when I move the rest of my stuff up here.

One month down, 36 more to go. 

Posted By Kilkrazy on 10/22/2007 9:31 AM
>>London is OK, but not great.

Do you mean London UK?

given his location shows as london, ontario, canada I would guess not.

Allentown/Greater LeHigh Valley is surprisingly good. There is really only one store that has dedicated GW game space (One with space not selling GW, and the other GW store no longer having games) but the guys are very friendly and have a lot of army variety and such. Woot, go Portal!

Northern DE used to be really good with Rogue's Den in Claymont (I didn't game there but have SCA fighter practice in the lower area) which had probably more game space than I have seen outside of Historicon/Cold Wars. I don't know how things look now that it closed; Days of Knights has a good selection to buy, but little space it seems.

Central PA is the suck so far as it goes. Growing up one could pretty much give up on the chances of getting a game. Magic was fairly common, but you had to travel for minis.

I didn't do much non-video gaming in State College, so I can't really say, only that Magic was all over the place, so I assume GW was too. Only two game stores that I knew of had space for playing though.

I would say that good gamers are critical to a good community, since even if you have a big store with lots of space, it is hard to get people interested and sticking with such an expensive hobby if it isn't fun to play with the other people there. Conversely, some guys who really get along and love to play will find some way to make it happen, needing only a bulliten board in a game store to get started.

Chicago is weird. All the GW gaming is probably west at the Bunker. And all the Warmachine gaming is at
Games Plus and drives out in the surrounding flatlands.

None of it actually happens IN Chicago.

Perhaps the thread title should be "Where are the good gaming cities in Canada."

It might save people from other countries wasting their time trying to help.

Posted By keezus on 10/22/2007 11:45 AM

Posted By Asmodai on 10/22/2007 8:55 AM
London is OK, but not great. There isn't a big community at the university, but there's a couple local clubs - one at the FLGS and one independent. Unfortunately, the independent one is located on the remote outskirts of town so getting there can be a pain.

I'll be moving to Toronto this summer. From what I've seen the community there is a bit stronger.

Asmodai:  Toronto is no panacea.  There's a good following for GW inside the outlets, but outside, at the FLGS, its mostly dying a horrible death.

OTOH, I got reassigned to Sault Ste Marie for work.  I've yet to check out the gaming scene in Sudbury (a leisurely 4 hours away...), but the gaming scene in town is DIRE.  As a former Londoner, it makes London seem like a mecca of gaming.  No disrespect intended to the local FLGS owner - as the store is mostly a comic store, unsurprisingly, there is no gaming space and their 40k rack has the old eldar lascannon in a NEW RELEASE blister!  Warmachine is unknown here.  (I might try for Pressganger status...  haha.)

Things are looking grim...  Apparently there's a few 40kers here so I might have to dust off some 40k stuff when I move the rest of my stuff up here.

One month down, 36 more to go. 

There's a couple Toronto clubs listed on GW's page. Are they still active?

I prefer gaming outside of GW stores which tend to be very cramped and don't have much table space.

I meant London, UK (Indeed, I thought I specified that). I would have mentioned Paris and Berlin as well (Berlin just seems to have an active community on the web, and when I visited Paris last year I found two gaming stores within 2 days, with copies of Space Hulk and gorgeous Confrontation displays, so that should mean something).

I remember Rogue's Den. It was a good 1.5 hours away, and totally worth it. I would go there every time the wife and I drove to DC to visit the inlaws (there was also a fantastic Mexican restaurant right by there). I was really bummed when they closed.

Cape Cod's gaming community is very...odd. There have been gaming clubs, especially at the Community College, that have ebbed and flowed. The Hyannis Borders sponsored a 3.x D&D club in their cafe for a while. There have been three gaming stores: The Gathering (which opened up near where I grew up), which catered mostly to kids (GW, Clix and Magic/Pokemon cards) and died a horrible death, Gamenight, now in West Barnstable, which looks like it should do really well in their new location (they also do GW, but Confrontation/AT-43 as well), and Dentatus from TMP had a gaming store/area in his stained glass workshop where he sold VOID stuff. Gamenight is the only one left. It's still better than the late '90s, when you could order stuff from Joe at Hobbytown (and maybe he'd get it right), or schlep up to the Hobbytown Quincy, or N. Dartmouth, or Boston.

Malfred: how's the Oak Park area of Chicago?

It's a tiny store. Oh you mean to move to?

Ask the Grand Preceptor. Too expensive (for me) to buy, but the area is kind
of like Evanston. Mixed income populations separated by very clear boundaries.
The wealthy live in certain areas, while the working class live a little closer to the
city.

The GW in downtown Oak Park is doing well, I think. I don't really know since I
don't go except on Tuesday night club night. They get a lot of walk-up business
because downtown Oak Park is a walking neighborhood, and it's situated in an
ideal location by the movie theater.

Kiddies swarm the place on the weekends (or so I've been told).

Austin has really grown in competitive players in the last few years. We've got a fantastic and energetic community, especially compared to the rest of the state.

I think the credit for this strength goes to two main contributors. First, the folks at Bell of Lost Souls (belloflostsouls.blogspot.com) have worked hard to unite the local community with large-scale campaigns and advanced tactics. Secondly, the owners of Battleforge Games (battleforgegames.com; one of the four game stores in Austin) have fostered this growing community of competitive gamers. Instead of shunning strong players, they've welcomed them.

Of the nine players from Texas that advanced from the 'Ard Boyz regionals, five of us are from the same gaming group in Austin.

But our inspiration (at least for those of us from Bell of Lost Souls) was definitely a visit to Adepticon a few years ago. They were the butterfly wings that really stirred things up down here. I can't say enough about that fantastic convention!

Of the 2nd Round of Ard Boyz in the southwest region basically all 3 came from Orlando and 2 from 1 store: Rubarb Games. Other than that I feel that with every city you will have a core of casual gamers with 3-6 advanced gamers. I dont believe there is any good gaming city since each has their own ups and downs. Except for Miami because Miami is a desert when it comes to gaming or finding a gaming store.

The midwest seems strong.

Minneapolis is flipping great. After being a starving man for a decade, coming here is like paradise.

Not just for GW either. Infact, PP is stronger here than GW. AT-43 is on a huge upswing. I can name 9 shops within a 20-25 min drive, three of which are very close to south minneapolis where I am.

But I am sure the proximity to Chicago helps the gaming in this area, as Wisconsin is strong as well as Illinois. Between these three states, its hopping.

Posted By Hellfury on 10/23/2007 3:02 AM
The midwest seems strong.

Minneapolis is flipping great. After being a starving man for a decade, coming here is like paradise.

Not just for GW either. Infact, PP is stronger here than GW. AT-43 is on a huge upswing. I can name 9 shops within a 20-25 min drive, three of which are very close to south minneapolis where I am.

But I am sure the proximity to Chicago helps the gaming in this area, as Wisconsin is strong as well as Illinois. Between these three states, its hopping.

Minneapolis is indeed the most accessible  and diverse wargame community I've experienced as well. .

Recent events at The Source in Falcon Heights include a 16000 pt a side Apocalypse Release Party (OMG, so much fun !) as well as friday night  "First Minnesota Game Club"  Meetings.  Warhammer, ACW, Wings of War, Clan War......so....much.....gaming goodness.

So what tells you if you live in a good gaming city?  You know you've arrived when you turn on your TV and see ads like this! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaLx8khP5j4

 

 

Posted By thehod on 10/22/2007 7:59 PM
Of the 2nd Round of Ard Boyz in the southwest region basically all 3 came from Orlando and 2 from 1 store: Rubarb Games. Other than that I feel that with every city you will have a core of casual gamers with 3-6 advanced gamers. I dont believe there is any good gaming city since each has their own ups and downs. Except for Miami because Miami is a desert when it comes to gaming or finding a gaming store.

The third being from Sci-Fi City, which has improved drastically in the past few years. And the two stores are 10-15 minutes from each other, about a 10 minute drive from downtown Orlando. So if you are ever in the city to see Mickey and crave a game, both stores are good locations to meet friendly people and get a game in.

Sci-Fi is the bigger gaming store with more table room and a good group of gamers.

Rhubard has a closer net group of gamers but are always friendly and the store is a little nicer. But has less than half the gaming area (and I am refering to their new location).

Both have their ups and downs and, in my opinion, there isn't one superior store. Some people just have their preferences.

Also in the area is Colussium of Comics which have a few locations. I would check their website to see where they are located if anybody is in the area. I don't  have much experience with them though, so can't comment on quality.

I would say Milwaukee, WI has a good scene.  I am in a gaming group that numbers about 15 core members we all mainly play 40k and almost all of us have tables at our houses.  We run tournaments once a year and we have an annual Big game.   We also have been known to play BFG, Necromunda, Battletech, EPIC and a cowboy skirmish miniature game.

Most of us have at least 10000points of 40k stuff, possibly not all in one army but still.

We also go to GenCon as a group and RockCon, as well the last two years we've represented at Adepticon as 2 different teams.

As far as the rest of Milwaukee, out side our group, there are alot of people here who play a variety of miniature games.
There is another core group of about 10 guys that i play Flames Of War with.

There is a new GW store and i think 4 gaming stores with a new one opening next month.

I've seen Warmachine, battletech and starwars being played alot here too as well as many other historical miniature games.

I think the general Philly area is pretty good. Or more like the burbs.. decent amt of stores spread out pretty well each with a decent community, and a lot few different clubs spread throughout the area too.

Like for me for instance, I live just outside the city in Drexel Hill. There's a good store about 10 minutes away (Showcase, Granite Run), a good hobby store nearby (Hobbytown USA, Springfield who doesn't sell GW anymore but has tons of modeling stuff). My club meets at a guy's house about 30 minutes away in the West Chester/Exton area, and sometimes at another store near there (Fat Cat's in Downingtown). A new store just opened in downtown West Chester too called TDS. There's another Hobbytown in Edgemont, other stores in the Plymouth Meeting and King of Prussia areas, and also a huge historical wargaming club in that general area. Then there's the GW stores in Franklin Mills mall and Cherry Hill .. I went to them a few times a while ago and played a few games and didn't have any complaints except the GW store's fear of chairs. A little bit of a hike for me though being about an hour away for each one. I also hear there's a store in Conshohoken now too, but they're more a war machine & clix & magic kinda place.

The city itself may not have many stores but if you live within 15-20 miles of Philly chances area there's a store and/or club near you

Where I live now rocks. I did a count recently and there are over 15 stores! And over half of these hold tournaments. I used to live in Orlando, which was very good but the St. Pete/Tampa area is even better.

- G

New England area has had its gaming community dry up resulting in stores closing all over any place out side of this area seems to be a bit better for gaming as a whole right now.
NE store closings Wizards tower,Empire Games,Dakka Dakka,Battlefield Manchester, and more that I cant remember.

Houston, TX isn't bad, but we have the same sprawl issues that most large cities have.  There are 5 or 6 game stores sprinkled about.  Most of the players I've met are fluff players though, so if you want a competative game you have to look pretty hard.  Predator Games in Dickinson and Montag's games in Pearland both have decent sized groups.

I definately envy you guys in Austin though.  I got a chance to play against Brandon of battleforge games at the Ard Boyz in San Antonio and it was one of the best games I've ever had.  If he's an indication of the other players at the store, that's a great place to play.

Daydream

Posted By malfred on 10/22/2007 2:55 PM
Chicago is weird. All the GW gaming is probably west at the Bunker. And all the Warmachine gaming is at
Games Plus and drives out in the surrounding flatlands.

None of it actually happens IN Chicago.

I completely agree. As someone who lives and works in the city, there is NO gaming community here. In the burbs, it's pretty active though.

Okay, well there is a Clix gaming group that meets at Gamer's Paradise on Clark some nights but, personally, that's about as exciting as watching paint dry.

So, I can go out to the burbs to readily play a game but that's diffcult w/o a car...

Where do you game, ancient?

Posted By malfred on 11/02/2007 8:19 AM
Where do you game, ancient?

When I lived in the burbs, everywhere. Games Plus, GW Randhurst (while it was open), Gamers Paradise in Villa Park (when it was still open and I was working there - good times), etc. You name it, I've probably gamed there at least once.

Since I moved to the city 5 years ago, I've gamed twice - both times @ the GW Bunker in Lombard. Sad but true but because gamed so little, I sold both my finished armies and have just been sporadically finishing fun armies that I can use in other games (Arbites and Redemptionists in Necromunda/40K Witchhunters, Orks for Gorkamorka, etc.)

Anyway, my point is the gaming scene in the city is simply non-existent. It's sad actually because I have a lot of friends (plus my wife) who would actually get into gaming if there was actually someplace semi-public to do it.

Yeah most of the gaming seems to exist primarily at the Bunker. I go to the GW OP store
on Tuesday nights for club nights since the store locks the door and stays open for the
elderly gamers, but I'm not willing to travel much further than that on a weekday (and I
hear the place is a nightmare on the weekends)