Versus Games — Local services in San Francisco

I recently got back into Magic the Gathering and decided to take a few weeks and try out Friday night and Monday night magic at the LGS's in Bay Area. Here is my review for Verses Games.

The people working at Verses games are very nice and friendly. They have an excellent manager. He's very inviting and seems to be happy to teach you anything about magic you need to know. The staff is very friendly and seem to like their job. Grade A+

The store is very clean and well organized with the exception of the first table, which was littered with cards, papers, and laptop. I noticed the table was in the same state during their Friday night Magic event. Kind of like a make shift office.

They have a great selection of Dragon pro sleeves which are nicely displayed on the wall. They also carry Maegic singles, booster boxes, and board games. The retail area is very crampt and the selection ofvitems is very small compared to all of the other stores I've visited. The prices for accessories and sleeves are right in line with all of the other local stores. Verses Games does boast the best prices in booster boxes. Their normal price at $111for War of the Spark, is the same price you can get a booster box on Amazon. If you sign up for their store club you can get an additional $20 off of any booster box. So with the store club discount, you can get a box of War for $80 plus tax. That's the best price I've seen anyplace. Because of the lack of selection but great prices I have to give them a grade of B-

The main reason to visit your Local Game Store (LGS) is to play what ever game your interested in, weather it's Pokemon, Magic the Gathering or Lord of the rings. With the huge play space you would figure it's easy to get into one of the drafts that are advertised on their website, but this is disappointedly not the case.

I advise anyone that intends to show up to any of their Magic events call a head of time to see if you can get a spot or if the draft is even happening. If you don't, you will be waisting your time. The 2 times I showed up there to get into a draft they either cancelled the draft or said they were full. I've never gone to a local game store and turned away from being able to draft and I've been playing since the early 90's and for this to happen 2 Friday's in a row is amazing. Most places have a sign up roster and it's first come first serve but not at Verses. The regulars call in during the day and take up all of the drafting spots. When you call it's hit or miss. I called on a Saturday to get into a draft and no one answered the phone. I tried for 30 minutes calling several times. On Friday it's the same response if they do answer " we're full". I see this place loosing lots of pontential sales because of this. Every time I go to a game store I buy something. That's 100% of the time. If I'm told their full every time then I never take the trip to play there and never spend money doing so. A sign up roster with first come first serve would fix this issue. This setiment is eccoed in every game store I visit about Verses games. People don't want to play there because their system sucks. Unless they decide to change their system of sign up, implement an online sign up like Eudemonia, or save space for walk-ins like Gamescape I could never recommend going to Verses to play even with the great prices, it's just not worth it. Friday night magic grade: F-

This place could be the best place to play if they figured out a better way to get people...

Let’s start with the Gundam Starter deck release. The day before it came out, I called Versus to ask if there’s any non-preorder decks for purchase. They said yes. The day of, I called them when they opened while driving to ask if I get there in 20 minutes, will there be any starter decks left. They said no guarantees, but I have a good chance of getting them since I’m on the way. When I get there, it turns out I can only buy a full set of the starter decks…. I only wanted to buy 2. A heads up on any of the phone calls would be appreciated, but whatever. Fast forward to the week of the booster packs/box release. The release is on Friday, so I called Wednesday to ask if there’s non-preorder booster boxes for purchase on Friday. They said to call back on Thursday night to get a better idea. So Thursday night, I called, and they said there will be boxes for sale, limited to 1 box per person. That’s perfect. Friday arrives, I call them around 12pm since Google says they open at 12pm, and asked if they still had boxes in stock. They said they’re out of boxes, but have packs left. That blows, but I’m guessing they just didn’t have that many. I get there and buy the 4 packs I’m limited to, and I asked how they ran out of the booster boxes quickly when they open at 12pm and I’m there around 12:30pm. They said that they actually opened at 9am….. I’m new to this whole bandai card collecting thing, but how the hell am I suppose to know that they would open ahead of time? You would think during ANY of the phone calls I made previously, they’d tell me that they’ll open early, especially when they know that it’s a item that’ll sell quick?! What a depressing...

Hands down the best game store in San Francisco! Number 1 place to buy board games, Magic the Gathering cards, and Pokémon cards!

D is the store owner and he's great! Amazing top notch customer service! He takes the time out to help you find a game that fits you. Be it cooperative games, complicated games, party games, etc. He's willing to explain and if time permits demo the game for you. Where else can you play test a game before buying it? Not only dose the store sell popular games but it also sells local games made by people in the Bay Area.

If you like Magic the Gathering, this is the Bay Area's headquarters. The next best place is located in San Jose. The local players are fun, friendly, but still competitive enough to be a challenge. 7 days a week, you will always find someone to play with in the afternoons. Standards, Modern, Legacy, Commander, Draft, Sealed; they play everything here. People who trade cards here are also friendly and fair, often using apps to make sure every trade is equal. If you're looking for a place to compete in Friday Night Magic, Pre-Release, Launch, and Game Day for exclusive promo cards, this is the place for you!

Everyone here is like family, making it a very safe place for kids as young as 8 to come play and hang out.

At Versus Games, all challengers...