Blue Highway Games — Local services in Seattle

I'm am, hands down, BHG's Biggest Fan.

tl;dr Fantastic People (from owners to employees to fellow gamers you will meet) Huge selection of Library games that you can borrow to play Lots of games and puzzles to buy great selections of discounted used games for purchase upstairs hosts weekly and monthly events of all kinds Best game store in the area (or anywhere?). Just go!

The extensive version: I adore Blue Highway Games for so many reasons!! And every time I think I have it all figured out, I learn something new about it. Let me help you get to know it a little better and lay out all the reasons you should go check it out.

Friday Night Meet Up Games - open to everyone and anyone! Come by and play games with access to a giant lending library. There's a good amount of table space so you just grab a group, a game, a table, and play. They also do a prize for "Friendliest Gamer" for the year which goes to the person who has played games with the most number of unique individuals (they keep track so you don't have to) and you get a store credit prize at the end of the year.

Tournaments - they host monthly tourneys with a featured game. Sign up to play for fun or for the plaque on the wall. If you win for the month, your name is engraved on a nameplate plaque and if you win the most touneys in the year, you get a much bigger nameplate plaque. You also score points just for entering the tourneys and there's some nominal reward at the end if you collect a set number of points.

The Game of the Month goes on sale for 20% off which also happens to be the tournament game. So buy it for cheap, practice it and enter the tourney!

Food - BH does serve bottled alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. They also have a wide variety of sweet and salty snacks - definitely comes in handy on late night games.

USED games on Sale - Being a game store, of course this place has a giant collection of board games and accessories. Come check out all that has come out. But what I find even more amazing is their giant collection of USED games upstairs. Yes, they have an upstairs! Go up there and check out their wall of used games for incredible prices. You will seriously not be able to find better prices! I found an excellent edition of Pictomania for $10!

Sell back your old games or games you don't want. You can check with the store for a "drop off time" where you can deliver some of the games you no longer want to sell to the store. They will check out your stash and give you a quote - you can take cash or store credit with the store credit valuing a bit more.

Are you in awe of this place yet? If not, I'm sure a visit here will be all you need to fall in love like I did!!! Come play games with all of us on Fridays or just go in and buy that game you've been looking for!! It's such a fantastic...

How disappointing: this place is unwelcoming for families. Knowledge regarding family games seemed limited, and you may not be permitted to look at the games in their gaming library or sit on their play area if you are under 21 (!).

We went in at 7:15 on a Saturday with our well-behaved, gaming-focused 8 year old. We asked about “Magical Kitties,” a by no means niche beginner-level boxed RPG meant to introduce kids or first-time players to RPGs. Not only had the employee never heard of it, but even after I explained what it was he had zero thoughts or recommendations for similar options, alternatives, or even other games we might like. Ohhkay….we shrugged that off and browsed ourselves, deciding that “Flamecrafter,” a dragon-themed dungeon crawler, might work. We walked to the games library where it says you can take out games to try, and pulled Flamecrafter from the shelf, only to have the same employee appear to tell us that while the space is there for people to enjoy and explore the games, we weren’t allowed to do so as we were not 21. Again there was no attempt to be welcoming or come up with alternatives - could he have offered a different space for us to look at the game (“you’re very welcome to join me over here at the register if you want to at least look through it”) ? Could they have simply allocated the upstairs space to 21+? Was there another option or any way of indicating that a store that purports to serve families does indeed mean to make them feel welcome? Could they have even greeted us with info about the ongoing event, and perhaps an apology about the unavailability of the play area?

While we will be seeking a different go-to for our family and adult gaming needs, it is in a lovely space and is well-lit, and has a nicely curated (by no means encyclopedic) selection that is likely good so long as you don’t want anything particular. Although we were not permitted to sit at the tables the few people who were there seemed...

I want to start off by saying that I had high hopes for this place. The interior is clean and had a wide selection of games to purchase and to try out in the store. The main issue is how disorganized the play tables are during event times (which seem to be very often). Today I went in while a magic the gathering event was going on and wanted to see if there was space for me to try out a board game. The owner told me that the bottom floor was reserved for magic the gathering only and if I wanted to play other games I’d have to find a table upstairs. The upstairs was full (which makes sense), while there was a table or two empty downstairs. What rubbed me the wrong way was how people upstairs were also playing magic the gathering and were not open to sharing tables if asked. It didn’t make sense that the downstairs was reserved for magic the gathering while the upstairs was the only space for people to play other games and that space was also taken by people playing magic. The seemingly obvious solution to me would be to only allow magic downstairs as that is reserved for those looking to play that game only and allow people who come in with other interests to use the upstairs portion. There were children who wanted to try games as well that were told they couldn’t because of the magic players upstairs and overall I think that this place does not cater to casual board game enjoyers nor does it seem like the management cares to change that. Based on this experience I will not be back especially when there are much better and equitable places in Seattle such as Mox Boarding House that delivers the same service in a much more approachable and equitable way...