Mishap Games — Local services in Roanoke

I first came there in the 2022 to play D&D. I bought all of my books, dice, starter set, and character sheets there.

A big pro for Mishap Games is that James will take a chance on you even though you are a stranger when you ask to host games. Some stores are very shy.

The big problem in 2022 and in 2023 was the store was poorly cleaned. The tables were not cleaned during the week and the trash cans were never taken out either. Therefore there were nats flying around all the time. I remember for three weeks straight there was a donut box under the check out counter. The bathrooms was something out of a Eastern Kentucky rest stop.

Then in the summer of 2023 there was the huge issue where out of nowhere James stopped folks from coming to the store and using his tables. He was disappointed that folks were coming in and not even saying hello or buying anything, then after months of coming to the store they would just vanish. I totally understand his frustration. Sadly, this hasty policy was enough for some folks to leave the store and never come back. And it all could have been prevented by just having the customers required to use the discord calendar and better communication with loyal customers from the get go. Within a matter of days James reversed his policy due to the feedback he got on discord.

Thankfully, for 2024, the store is much much cleaner.

Sadly, once again due to horrible communication and judgement, James has lost more business. About 1.5 hours before my group was going to play at his table, one of the players who lives within walking distance brought 3 or 4 kids into the store. They were not his kids. Then I get notified that if this same person or anyone that has been playing with him at the same table does this again then we will no longer have access to the tables. So this is like five people. These five people did nothing wrong.

So I just saved James the trouble by just banning myself for life. I wouldn't have a spine or self respect if I walked back in there.

I wise manager would have a store policy in place for such matters if that was such a liability risk (which is what I was told) and the customer would have been told to leave immediately. Furthermore, a wise manager would tell the person that brought in the kids that they would be banned from playing, instead of casting a wide net and threatening customers who are innocent and have done nothing wrong. Some of these customers have bought hundreds of dollars of merchandise over the years.

This store has a lot of potential, but James seems determined to run off customers. It already has a great location with great parking. It has a wide selection of Games. James will order something immediately for you.

Sadly, James has failed to capitalize on the basement to help folks socialize (Fiji Island days) and the Kitchen (Fiji Island days) for supplemental income. And he keeps failing to connect people in person, his greatest potential value innovation.

James is an expert with games, and is friendly and can talk with you, but he's a horrible manager, and a unfair person.

The margin for error is too thin when you compete with Amazon and roll20 and the like.

I don't see this business lasting through 2025. Just a wild guess. And if it does fold, James will most likely blame the Roanoke Valley and not himself. It takes Wisdom and Charisma to accept...

Its a nice store, with friendly and knowledgeable staff. They cater all the way from tabletop war games to card and boardgames, covering everything in between. I believe that they also do roleplaying games too. Location and parking is fantastic. There's a place on one side that has burgers, hotdogs and ice cream. On the other side is Pump-it-up where you can drop off the kids, if you have any. It's a pure nerd nirvana! They're very well stocked and the owner told me he'd order anything that wasn't on the shelves. I can't stress how helpful this guy was, he listened to what I was interested in and then made some great suggestions. I'm really happy with my puchase from Mishap Games, I'll definitely be back for some more games and...

They have a great selection and variety. Their store hosts three basic sections: miniatures, games (like board and card), and role-playing games. I personally was more interested in the games, but the variety of their miniature supplies definitely piqued my interest. For their game sections, their use of cubby holes instead of plain bookshelves made browsing extremely easy. Furthermore, the prices were what you would expect from a brick and mortar store. Now that I know how nice it is, I will definitely be coming back!

In addition to the store, they had a spacious second half for playing games, and their decor...