Gillespie Clan Treehouse

Wandering Havoc Games

Before I whine, I would like to say that this post is about how awesome Wandering Havoc Games happens to be – so don’t brace yourself for how this place outdoes the shit list I’m about to expound upon. Now as I’ve said in the previous post, I love me some geeks. I really do. The culture, the activities, even the smell (well, I suppose ‘tolerate’ is a better word for the last one there) – they all warm my heart. However, I do have some caveats.

BO is tolerable. Means that you didn’t put deodorant on. Whatever. Clutter is fine. I am a clutterly person myself. Shyness is fine. Strangers can be scary. However, no matter what ‘genre’ of geek you might be, perpetual environmental, personal, and behavioral filth is horrible. Most every store I’ve been into that’s been aimed towards PnP gamers has been a prime example of at least one of these cardinal sins, and frequently more. A lot of the stores are moldy, with the kind of mold that suggests they don’t clean up spills on the carpet ever, or with food particles swept into corners and left there to develop their own little mutated ecospheres. I’m fairly certain some of the owners sleep in the back of the stores despite zoning laws, and consider washing their hands to be cleaning up for a big event. The biggest beef I have with gaming stores is that I’ve never felt welcomed, expected, if you will – most of the time, whoever is manning the store is either creepily and persistently friendly, or is lacking in any kind of social grace whatsoever and treats me like an idiot.

Wandering Havoc Games has none of these problems. In fact, they’re quite clean and friendly. They’re a family owned and operated store on 6th street in Marysville, WA – and they are the store I’ve been wishing would set up shop somewhere near me. The owners are old school geeks, and are knowledgeable and actually fun to be around. All three of the guys running the shop are Herald level Dungeon Masters, which they modestly admit isn’t a big deal anymore – but the guy running the Encounter we played, Russ, was really good. He was even capable of keeping a (small) semblance of order with six of us chattering madly on all sides and making horrid double-entendres. They have regularly scheduled Magic tourneys, Pokemon games, and D&D Encounters, as well as having on-site environmental creation maniacs (you should see some of the sets that Dan’s made for his D&D games!). Their inventory is a little limited right now, since they’ve only been open for 9 months, but what they do have is really good. 4th Ed books, board games, card games, dice, geekaphernalia… I swear I squealed about ten times wandering around the place, which, granted, isn’t exactly a huge feat on their part; but it does speak on how well I liked the place! I will assuredly be going back on a regular basis. Not only that, but they do private parties; I bet you can’t guess where my birthday parties will be from now on!

Not only are they a hidden gem, but they’re located above another hidden gem! Binary Diversions, a “3-D Gaming Lounge,” is directly below. It’s… sort of what Galaxy Games wanted to be: hip, interesting, and well-decorated. It has almost a club-like vibe when you come in the door, until your eyes adjust and you can see the twelve-year-olds at the counter. The owner is nice, and even though I didn’t get to play there, it looked like something I’d be interested in doing. Once again, I felt welcomed as opposed to repulsed, and if it was dirty, then it was at least odor-free and dark enough that I couldn’t see it. ^_^

If you’re looking to get your geek on in the Marysville area, then you REALLY need to go to 514 State Avenue. Go around the building to the 6th street side, pick up some snacks at the Berryhill Market, and then go play your current obsession – from Magic to Munchkin to Modern Warfare, someone will be able to take care of your fix.