The Portal — Local services in Manchester

This is truly a great find. Right across the street from the fantastic Time Machine Hobby, The Portal, TMH's gaming branch, is my home away from home Friday nights. I'm an avid Warhammer 40k player, and there's a weekly league hosted here. They don't charge for use of the gaming area and they have about 12 awesome full sized tables in the back with tons of cool terrain. It's a great place to meet and get a few games in.

There's another area for card game tournaments, and while I can't speak to those, they're usually very well attended and people of all ages seem to be having fun.

The staff are knowledgeable and friendly, though depending on the event going on they can be pretty busy, but even then I've never felt brushed off or ignored. They're willing to give out lots of great hobby advice, and if you want something that's not in stock they'll usually work with you to order it.

With all the online stores, its hard to find a good FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store). And even though it's a 45 minute drive for me, its well worth the trip, and I try to support the store by making my purchases there whenever possible because of all the stuff they provide at no charge. They do all sorts of special events, for example they have a Christmas party where everyone automatically got a raffle ticket and they gave away prizes that were targeted at the different groups! (I.e. the 40K players were in a raffle for some 40k sets). To the Warhammer people alone they gave away around $200 in prizes!

TL;DR 10/10...

As much as I want to like this place, I really struggle to. On one end, I find their prices to be fair and I'm usually able to find the products I'm looking for. On the other, I feel like I am inconveniencing the staff. Whenever I come in here, the attitude of the guy that's usually working here is far from warm. Like, I'm sorry I interrupted your card game but you're at work! Try and make me feel welcomed, or at the least give me your attention and offer help.I just can't justify coming back here anymore. My final tip for this place, if you're selling cards, then you should sleeve the cards by default and at the very least have a top loader or appropriate sized bag to keep my cards safe on the way to the car. It would also be helpful if the products on the shelves were labeled with prices, I feel like every time I asked for a price I was being met with a shrug and a guess....

The Portal is Par none the best Gaming store I've ever had the pleasure of having to play at for long periods of time. Anyone who remembers some of the smaller starter 40k stores from the 95-05' period. You will also remember the annoying Drama that was seemingly associated with them. The Portal has ZERO of this. And the small things that do come up, because we're all human, are handled like adults dealing with adults. Thus creating an open and welcoming environment when even bitter players crack a smile at a loss. Thank you for the Portal, and everyone who works their. My mental health is literally supported by my ability to relax at your establishment, and knowing i will have fun every time, no matter which game i wish to play, or whom i play against =) (sorry i havn't been their I've been practicing 8th edition with friends at...