I could go online and order it from some deep discounter but not only did I want to support a local business, but I also wanted it for the evening’s gaming. And I had no way to do so other than to go to this terrible store that I had hated for many, many years. There wasn’t an option. The great game stores I had grown up going to were long gone and now AGF was another casualty even though it was a success. That thought made me really, really sad.

The closest store was miles north of the city and it wasn’t exactly a Friendly Local Game Store by any stretch. Nonetheless, I made the trek to this ancient shop and I was actually surprised that they even had it. The store was dark, dusty, and the one person in the store was too engrossed in a trash fantasy novel to even say “hello.” Third or fourth-hand grocery store fixtures, rusted and rickety held ancient, unloved, and marginal games. It smelled terrible, like dirty human, although no one was in the store. At least I thought. There were two people huddled in a corner playing a game of HEROSCAPE. I swear there were no light fixtures in this place. I actually thought it was closed as I walked up.

I bought it anyway, and I sat in my truck out in the parking lot for a few minutes- not breaking open the shrink-wrap for the customary in-the-car survey of new game contents but thinking about the past couple of years. I realized how much had been lost at that point. Not just to me personally or financially, but to the entire Atlanta gaming community. There wasn’t anything that could replace AGF.

I felt like my customers, my fellow gamers, and my friends needed me to do something.

I felt like I owed it to them.

Questions or comments for Michael? Send them along to gameshark.feedback@yahoo.com .

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