Topline:
The days of discreetly engaging in nerdy hobbies for fear of ridicule are long gone, thanks to LGS — or local game stores.
Why now: With the mainstream popularity of board games and tabletop games, the places that cater to players have grown in number.
Why it matters: In many communities, local game stores have become third spaces for people to gather, hang out and find community.
Read on ... to learn more about these shops — and for a list of recommended places.
The days of discreetly engaging in nerdy hobbies for fear of ridicule are long gone.
On any given night, you’ll find groups of people at a local game store, or LGS for the initiated, gathered around tables for all kinds of fun and games. For the most serious hobbyists, they offer something crucial: a place to play. And the simple presence of free or low-cost tables can turn a shop into the beating heart of its community.
The growth of local game stores throughout Southern California has been a long time coming, meeting a demand that’s been building over the last couple decades.
As evidence, look no further to Dungeons & Dragons’ decade-long cultural renaissance. Once thought as something you play in your parents' basement, the tabletop roleplaying game has spawned popular podcasts, Madison Square Garden-filling YouTube shows and award-winning video games. Then there’s Magic: The Gathering, the trading card game that’s become $1 billion empire.
It’s great news for game and toy companies like Hasbro — and better news for the brick-and-mortar stores that fuel these hobbies.
LGS regulars like Casey Malone, a writer in the games industry living in Los Feliz, see these stores as an antidote to a pastime that has become more impersonal — and isolating.
“So much of the experience of going to a store and just looking around and immersing yourself in a hobby has been eradicated by tech companies, it’s really lovely to just be in that space and occasionally find a new thing I’d never even heard of,” Malone said.
It’s a sentiment that Donna Ricci, owner of Geeky Teas & Games, has heard repeated at her Burbank shop.
“I see the same question all the time online,” Donna Ricci said. “I work from home, how do I meet people?”
Geeky Teas & Games is a decade-long staple of the Burbank hobby scene, It’s both hoping to provide the answer and to capitalize on that question. They recently moved to a new 22,000 square feet location on Alameda Avenue — three times its original size.
Ricci is leading me through the new digs — a labyrinthian single-story complex with a variety of private rooms as well as larger warehouse and storage spaces. Even on a weekday afternoon, a dozen or so hobbyists are here to hang out, play games or just browse the store’s extensive offerings.
To some, Geeky Teas’ latest expansion may seem like a leap of faith, but for Ricci and the rest of her team, it was inevitable. Over the course of a decade, the shop has moved four times, each into larger spaces.
Players appreciate the extra legroom, like North Hollywood resident Ian Ager, who goes to Geeky Teas for Warhammer, and Magic.
“I'm far more likely to come back if the place doesn't feel cramped and the folks behind the counter don't skeev me out,” Ager said. “The social scene there is very strong because they have a ton of space and some of the cleanest game rooms in the city.”
Even newer stores, like Revenge Of, have been racing to meet that specific demand. The Glassell Park shop opened in 2022, and almost immediately doubled its size after a year. The added space is used for events and will soon house a cafe.
The point is to create community.
“It was never enough to just create the space and let it exist, we needed to curate an event, a destination, a reason to leave the house,” Jeff Eyeser, Revenge Of’s creative director, said.
To that end, the shop hosts spotlights for local makers, book clubs and the monthly summertime outdoor market LotZilla, featuring local vendors and artists.
As to Ricci, she is expanding Geeky Teas offerings to podcasting and content creation equipment rental.
“Not everyone has Critical Role money,” she said.
However they evolve, the two shops say their commitment to providing a safe space for everyone — no matter their age, race, gender or sexual orientations — to play games remains unchanged.
“We honor everyone who walks through our doors — except mean people,” Ricci said. “They can f**k off.”