by Will Brasher
Morning!I've donated yet again to the collection and this time I popped this little lot in to work...
..I think that's all for now but I'll cast a critical eye over my personal collection and see if any others fit the bill.
Before shift, I got in to have me a coffee and also look over the bookings so far for WillCon2020 (not too shabby!). Also had a frank conversation with one of the Directors and the shift superviosr, Jacob about a few ideas.
Threw out a few ideas to them and they seem pretty keen on following them up. I suggested a while ago that we put our collection on BGG and Jacob (as he works fulltime) is intending to do just that on quieter shifts.
Also bought up one of the concerns of our guests of drink rings on tables causing damage to the games and this making them feel uncomfortable, not really the feeling we want people to have! As a Gamer myself, knowing how much these things cost, it is fair to say
I totally understand where they are coming from. I recall a 'friend' new to the hobby not knowing where to put a card and wanting to keep it seperate from the others so... HE PUT IT BETWEEN HIS TEETH! :angry: Well, they won't find his body!
My suggestion to make people feel at ease? Beermats designed with our logo, maybe a QR code to take you to the booking site, could also be given out to local places to 'cross polinate'.
We also have https://nq64.co.uk/?page_id=541 opening next door very soon so I mentioned possible noise issues (I'm gettin on) as we only have a partition wall between us and them so may have some trouble there, to bring it back to a positive I suggested we maybe get a stash of tokens for their machines when they open and if someone comes in and we have no space but have a table emptying soon, pass them some tokens to keep them in the area. It's a thought!
Jacob mentioned he has been designated the buyer with the stores boardgame budget so my list will be being passed on to him for review and hopefully we'll have a good influs of quality games too.
As always before I know it it was time to get mingling and teaching. Before I knew it my shift had ended, yet again it flew by. It really helped that a bunch of regulars came in throughout the day, I mentioned my little get together so hopefully some of them will pop along on February 15th so I can actually sit down and maybe play a game or two with them for a change.
A lovely pair dropped the bombshell that they leave the country in a few months, such a shame. Turns out they both work in statistical based careers hence love the heavy end of gaming. This week they went for Wingspan to start them off then some KLASK and Tokaido.
Another regular group of 4 came in all prepped for Terraforming Mars, which unfortunately had just been snagged by 2 guys who had come in. I helped the two guys out as I love it so, talked a bit about it's excellent theme and how well it ties it in with the mechanics. The other group had to settle for Everdell which to be fair, isn't really settling. Once done I suggested they try Dragoon. I really wanted to see what they thought of it as I did suggest it blind so would be intrigued to see what they thought of the game, I'll check with them next time.
Another lovely regular couple came by later, I'd previously recommended Blokus and they loved it so I found Blokus Duo for a tighter, quicker game and also got them going on Ingenious, seemed a logical progression if they like the competitive abstract games. Ingenious was a popular recommendation this week for couples and familys alike.
So many excellent people to spend time with I could go on and on...
The group of four ladies I taught Catan to, the two young ladies I got going on Bosk, the family of six I got playing Mysterium (took longer than I thought as I have the Polish basic edition, but we got there and they played twice), the gang of five that got super excited for Paranormal Detectives, the father and daughter taking my recommendation of Upwords for a lighter Scrabble variant, Wallamoppi players, Onitama challengers, Santorini lovers (including a work colleague!),Groups for Just One, Codenames groups one of them getting super excited when I upgraded them to the BIG BOX, A lovely trio of ladies who I showed Azul to, the two families where one of the Fathers asked me for recommendations and noted them on his phone and got Hamsterrolle on the go whilst the two girls of the group played head to head Loopin' Louie.
All in all an amazing day had by all, no mishaps. I have probably forgotten some of the friendly people who made yesterday such a great shift for me but there were two ladies who came in who always deserve special attention...
My best mate Chris has a really bad back issue at the moment, he agreed to stay at home with the little one and his better half (in all ways), Helen and her sister Bryony came along for a few hours at the end of my shift. I set them up on Chronicles of Crime as it is right up their alley and pretty much left them to it, popped over to have my break with them and they even gave me a lift home and a good chat after about life and loss after. A perfect end to what really didn't feel like work at all.