Dark Tower Games — Local services in Saint Johnsbury

for better and for worse this has been my LGS since I was in middle school. I’m 30 now. Bought my first Tabernacle from the owner and can say that was a pretty cool situation and he has done little things here and there over the years to do right by me personally.. but.. here we go.

it's 2025 and from my observation and experience, this is the current state of Dark Tower in Saint Johnsbury.

rather than being staffed consistently by the owner and his original business partners, it is staffed almost entirely by volunteers from the community with varying levels of customer service skills, willingness to be helpful, and knowledge of the products they are selling. the staff are frequently engaged in a game of some sort and for you to request service it is interrupting their game of choice. their willingness to help comes with varying levels of masking their disappointment.

as is typical with a lot of small town shops, if you're looking for staples, results may vary. another side effect of being run by a slew of volunteers, the inventory is frequently disorganized to a point where the staff are digging and failing to find what you need frequently.

the economy of the shop is predatory. the shop will buy your cards from you at 50% trade in, and closer to 30% or something egregious for cash. I have been all over the country and these are some of the most outrageous margins I have come across. they also sell off TCGplayer 'market' price which is often skewed and not representative of what cards are actually going for. put simply, this shop is buying from you incredibly low and selling high.

at best this is a shop for players who are brand new to the game or players who are comfortable with their ability plateauing. i will unpack this more below. with a lack of serious organized competitive play, people who come to Dark Tower are not incentivized to challenge themselves or each other in a meaningful way. blame this on COVID if you'd like, but even prior to COVID, the competitive events at Dark Tower are fewer and far between. and at this point a majority of the organized play is 'casual' and 'open play' and even when described as 'high power', there is an enormous amount of grief around CEDH strategies, staples, etc. rather than asking questions and using high performing players as a recourse for information about card quality, tight play, etc.. high performing players are looked at as an inconvenience, or ruiner of fun (lol).

last but not least, one of the volunteers is an unregistered offender. I avoid being at the shop and interacting with this person as much as possible, and don't know enough about defamation laws to name drop the person here. but, if nothing else about this review get's people's attention, lights a fire, and challenges Dark Tower to do better and be better, perhaps this will.

the ball is in your court, DT. I've...

Update: thanks for the response. So excited to check it out. I tried a couple times to find this place when my son was in highschool. Had no idea it was real!! I changed my review to 5 stars for the quick response see you soon!

I still can't seem to get to this place. Is it real? No photos, no website, no phone number??? I will edit my review...

One of the best gaming stores I have ever known. I have looked for its equal in other small towns and big cities to no avail. The staff is friendly, helpful, and engaging and the clientele is a hoot. While the selection isn't always the largest, the atmosphere more than makes up for that. If you are anywhere nearby -...