+1 Pencil of Writing
“I don’t go to Metairie unless I really have to.”
Ballzack, Rainbow in Marrero
This Saturday, while doing my once-every-couple-of-months run to Metairie, I passed by the newly-opened +1 Gaming and decided to pop my head in.
They’ve recently opened, so stock is a little on the low side I think. It seems to cater mostly to Warhammer and similar games, but still, a gaming store is a gaming store. They also have a whole bunch of tables for games - it appears that you can just show up with your stuff and play with friends. Pretty neat.
I decided to pick up my own “copy” of the card game Bang!, a really fun, easy, spaghetti-western style card game. Dave and Belen bring it with them on their travels, and we have fun playing it - probably mostly due to everyone always saying “It’s my turn? Ok, I want to drink a beer and then bang Belen.”
When checking out, I was asked if I was a “hero”. There were too many awesome responses that my neurons misfired, and I lamely replied “Huh?” They’ve developed a customer loyalty type program - being a hero gets you a discount, and when you make a purchase, you roll 2d10 (i.e. random number from 1-100) and based on the outcome, you get something for free.
I rolled a 1. As a joke, I think they should have an anti-prize for rolling a 1 - like getting slapped in the face with a fish or reduced discount for the purchase or something.
But, a 1 still won me something: either a bag of chips or a pencil. I went with the infinitely more useful pencil, and will use it at our D&D game tomorrow.
As he was describing to me the program though, it sounded kinda familiar, but couldn’t quite place from where. I knew it was a webcomic, but as hard as I tried, I just couldn’t make the connection. Luckily, I voiced this recollection to him. He told me I was right, and it was a Ctrl+Alt+Del comic (this one, specifically). They’d been inspired by it, sat down and did the math, and realized that it was actually pretty viable.
I think that involving a game into the buying process is fun. A group of us will head over there for a field trip soon, and perhaps sit down and run through a quick game of Castle Ravenloft or two.
Hooray, nerds.
Originally published at Prosthetically Hip. Please leave any comments there.