Phoenix Gaming Lounge — Local services in Phoenix

A conflicted review.

I wasn't a huge fan of the layout, as soon as you walk in you have a few options, to your right is a little shopping area, directly ahead of you is an open gaming area with tables/chairs, it appeared there was an event or something going on as there was a timer on one of the TVs counting down from 20 minutes. Finally to your left is a bunch of single cards from various trading card games, primarily focused on MTG and Pokémon. They had some others, but those were the primaries.

The singles card selection is huge, quite a nice collection. I don't play but I do visit all the game stores in the valley, I'm a moderately detailed guy, I wasn't a huge fan of their prices on the cards themselves. I thought they had a pretty good selection of everything you'd need for cards though and storing them.

I am conflicted because it looked like there was more product in the back area where everyone was playing but it seemed inconvenient to access. People seemed active in that room/area and it seemed like I would just be in the way if I decided to look over there. I did ask if I could take a couple pictures (permission granted), I only took pictures of the area on the right (from the entrance) since it was moderately busy.

They do have snacks and drinks. I don't know if they charge you money to play on the tables or if it's free, the single employee it looked like was busy the entire time. It was kind of hard to tell who was who on the employee front.

I read through the reviews of this establishment going back 5 years, I'd say overall people enjoy their experiences gaming here although they do seem to have some favoritism type pricing structure with who gets to purchase what at certain prices. I don't like the owner's responses to people who left him negative reviews, while detailed, they don't seem very friendly, I did not meet them in-person, just judging from their own review responses.

Overall it looked like a great place to play MTG/Pokémon or other trading card games, that seemed to be their jam. There didn't appear to be much D&D or...

Staff acts like they are doing you a favor. Or I might put it as stuck up in another way. Edit in response to owner. Your judges are lazy, inactive, lack integrity & take sides based on how well they know people. I never received a warning prior to the night when I was threatened by the guy who was given a warning when I called him out for cheating, and told I was being dropped from the tournament. I was treated unfairly and disrespected by staff multiple times here and pretty much acted appropriately, with acknowledgment to how it can be viewed slightly out of line, in response. What about the guy who threatened me and was given a warning instead of what was suppose to be an immediate DQ. The level of professionalism here is at an all time low. Excuse me for standing up for myself here for gods sake someone has to. I play at all the local shops around you and am well liked:; Samurai sams, play or draw, amazing discoveries (Glendale/Gilbert) Arizona trading cards and collectibles, Olympus, Jesse James, the orc’s lair, retro exchange and Sun Valley Gaming. All places of which I have had a far better experience than I had with your shop. And listen to yourself I’m not the least bit surprised you would be the kind of person who would have me banned from playing entirely. You people are petty and immature. Grow up. Also to help with your “constructive conversation” for the record. Mike and Harper aren’t the issue it’s the other two. Adrian and the other guy. Now I can take accountability and apologize for calling someone the F word. But what about the ways you and your staff treated me that led up to it. Y’all are some, if you’re going to stand by that behavior then I’ll stand by mine. If that upsets you it’s...

PGL is the best shop in the downtown/uptown Phoenix area for Magic the Gathering. However, if you don't play Magic the Gathering, know that the shop will charge you ($5 each person, no exceptions) to use their table space. I find that this practice is a bit uninviting and makes them seem a bit hungry for cash. I'm going to buy board games from the shop anyway, so why do they want to charge 5 of my friends $5 to play a board game for 2 hours at a table with me? I had purchased dozens of board games totaling more than $500 from them over the previous months...

Additionally, some other experiences with the shop are: Josh (one of the owners) low-balled me with a $1000 offer (which was "the best he could do") on a collection of cards that was worth around $4500 retail (I had priced it out and sent it to him). I took my collection elsewhere and got $2025 for it. Another time, I ordered a board game from the shop during a holiday sale they had last year, and Josh told me it would be in within a week. Josh called me about 3 weeks later, after Christmas (the board game was supposed to be a gift for my brother), after the sale had ended, to let me know I could come in and get my board game. I didn't go in and get it.

Overall, I find their business uninviting and unprofessional and I recommend going to many of the other board game shops in town (like Samurai) for your board game needs, and your card collections elsewhere (like Play N Trade). Samurai lets customers use their space for games and doesn't pressure you to pay for the space nor spend money in the store (though I do so anyway). Play N Trade offers much better prices for card...