One year ago today, the Gamer's Gambit opened under its new management.

My life has been a pretty interesting one, and I've done a lot of different things in it, but I never thought I'd wind up running a gaming store, much less Gamemaster's.

It was in February of 2007 that I found out that Clubhouse Games had decided to go out of business. I was (perhaps appropriately) at Scott Braunius' house playing a roleplaying game. John Kretzer mentioned, almost in passing, that he'd heard from Dave and Rob that they had decided to go out of business; it was something they hadn't exactly made totally public. They'd had a few people offer to buy the store, but no solid offers.

I've been going to Gamemaster's since about 1982, when it was located in the Village Mall in the basement of the Bergen Mall. I remember the old carpets there, I remember the owners, I remember playing in their D&D tournament there. Other kids would wander around with their parents and buy things in the toy stores; my Mom always thought it kinda weird that I wanted to go down to that early-70s-carpeted, odd-smelling, dark, dingy place and buy things in that store filled with all those weird people. Luckily, she was pretty tolerant.

I made friends there that I still have today, still game with today. It was through the gaming group that met there that I met Dave Steltenkamp. Although we actually never played there at the same time, he was in the same group that I was (the one run by "Professor" Mike Satran).

Now at that time (in February), I had been between jobs for quite some time, but had a small amount of savings. Certainly not enough to buy the store. However, I knew that Dave--who owns the Dragon's Den in Poughkeepsie--was looking to expand his business to more than one store. So I floated the idea that, you know, why don't we buy the place?

One of the other people in the game (She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named) expressed an interest in joining the project. I contacted Dave, and sure enough, he thought it'd be a good idea. So, between mid-February and March 31st, the three of us had negotiations, raised money, hired lawyers, put together a contract, made the offer to Dave and Rob, negotiated the offer with Dave and Rob, got it accepted, formed a corporation, registered for taxes, got approval from the town, came up with a name, decided on a font for our logo (and the arguments about that one were Legion!), picked up vending machines, decided how we wanted to lay the store out, got register software, got the lease signed over, and cured cancer.

Okay, so we didn't cure cancer. But the labor and time involved were huge.

The thing is, I didn't get involved with this business for monetary reasons. I'd had a career in computers for many years, making a stupid amount of money working in various management positions. I knew that if I'd chosen to go back to that career, I'd be set financially. But it wasn't something I loved.

Watching the place about to go out of business would mean more than a loss of my friendly local gaming store. I knew that there were lots of people out there who loved the place. Folks for whom it was a home, a haven, a place to come that was fun to play in and a place to hang out with like-minded folks. There's really nothing like a gaming store to get together with people who share our peculiarly geekish interests. Playing RPGs in a Borders is right out, and while you can play in your basement, you don't really meet a lot of people outside of your own group that way. The place was a community of its own.

I had to save it, if I could. And so we did.

Looking back on it a year later, I have no real regrets, aside from my initial choice of partners. Not Dave, but the other one. We've maintained a pretty steady customer base--and gotten a few more, folks who saw the change of ownership and remembered it "when it was Gamemaster's". I've made a whole bunch of new friends, and they feel like friends I've had all my life but didn't know yet; the people I would nod to in passing in the store, knowing we shared a passion for gaming but weren't in the same group (or playing the same sorts of game!) I've learned a lot about the business of gaming, and had the opportunity to play with people I never knew and games that I've never played before.

It's been quite a ride. We have a lot planned for the future; advertising, renovations, new product lines, new events, all sorts of fun and exciting things. Taking the game store into the 21st century has been a pretty fun idea, and we're still not burnt out yet!

I'd like to thank everyone for being a customer here, and more than that, a friend. Like I said, while I'm going to be devoting the rest of my life to this place (and making a living from it), I didn't get involved with it to get rich. I got involved with it because it was a way to bring fun and enjoyment to people. To keep the community alive. And the community has helped us grow. Without you, there'd be no point. So, thanks.

--Scott

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Time to Play.