Games Plus — Local services in Lake Stevens

If you are looking for a local game store to play D&D at, stay FAR away from this one.

I didn't. And ended up quite regretting it. The whole thing starts innocently enough, they host a D&D night sponsored by Wizards of the Coast. The very first red flag which I paid little heed to is that there is zero information provided on the event notification besides "Beginner's D&D". And ironically, beginners are the people who require the most amount of basic information. Such as if you should bring a character prepared or not. There are several other signs of disorganization but that's minor in comparison to the entire staff's attitude.

The staff doesn't care to even so much as introduce themselves or remember your name. The DM I had in particular didn't do this either. And this is probably where it is the most important part of all as you'll be playing with the people sitting at your table for multiple sessions. It's not very comforting to sit down at a table where its clear that the DM just doesn't care and the other players are either confused, or overly-enthusiastic. The DM does not cater to any of this.

They do not encourage ideas, exploration, elaboration, extrapolation, so on and so forth. In fact they encouraged nothing. The entire adventure is completely in-malleable. But I showed up to 3 of these sessions just because I figured that "maybe, the next session will be better".

Instead, what happened is that the third session began with a staff member coming up to me after I already had sat down and requested a $3.00 table fee. He then went to a young child that was at my table and requested the exact same thing. There was no information about this whatsoever. Not on the initial posting, or was I told this when I entered the establishment and I did speak to 2 employees who were basically standing in front of the play area.

The staff occasionally tried to sell off relevant things before like miniatures which was more understandable. But that was also optional. I found the sudden "pay to play" mentality to be completely absurd. There is no way that what I was getting was worth $3.00. I showed up completely on my own merits (This was scheduled 2 hours after I had come from bloodworks), hoping for the best, and instead I found the worst.

Needless to say, that is last time I'll be attending one of Game Plus' D&D sessions. And I believe that everyone's time and money is better...

This little game shop is a very fun place. They carry an excellent selection of board games, card games, and, for you frisbee golfers, they now have a rack of frisbees. The staff is for the most part quite polite, though occasionally the owner looks a little bit tired or exasperated.

As an MTG player, I certainly recommend it to those looking to buy. The singles prices are reasonable, and I've noticed that the owner is stocked on booster packs from just about every expansion, and most of these booster packs are five dollars or less (no huge price jacking over the years).

For other card-game players--their selection seems to include just about everything under the sun. You are probably covered.

For D&D players, this place has D&D days. I can't remember when they are, but they are open...

Used to go to the Smokey Point one long time ago. It was a crutch of my die addiction and custom orders. Went to this one once, with my daughter and sons. The clerk was playing Magic, and lost . . . and then lost it full rampage. Kicked all the others playing magic out, absolutely freaked. He stormed out, saying he quits and *!@& this place. We were there just standing in the shop in awe. A lady came out from the back. We walked up to the counter and paid for our stuff, she was kind of in shock but acted very sweet. It was a great lesson for my children on how not to act when they lose . . . and I will always remember as a awesome thing to watch. +5 Game...