The game store you didn’t know existed

BY CHRISTINA NOLAND

Looking for a fun space to play tabletop games? Is finding a community focused on card games like Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh! on your Amazon wishlist? Huscarl Hobbies and Games should be on the radar.

Huscarl Hobbies provides game spaces, hobby stations, dice, painting and printing models, special events and more. The owner of Huscarls, David King, makes ensuring customers are happy his top priority.

“All you have to do is come in and go ‘Dave, you don’t have Mansions of Madness on the shelf, and I want Mansions of Madness because it’s one of the greatest games set in the JP Lovecraft Cthulhu Arkham Horror setting you could ever have,’” King said. “We put in an order to our supplier every week.”

Miniatures, card games, tabletops and other hobby items can get expensive quickly. Synergistic business is a big deal at Huscarl Hobbies. AJ’s NY Pizzeria is right next door to the game shop. If you want pizza at AJ’s at a discount, mention that you go to Huscarls, and you’ll get 10% off your order at the pizzeria. Likewise, one can stroll into Huscarl Hobbies with a piece of AJ’s pizza, and they can also receive 10% off in the hobby store.

“We also have the Harvester sales,” King said. “It’s been going on for like two years now and now it’s just consistent. You bring in a big bag of rice, some things of beans, three or four cans and drop it in the blue Harvesters barrel, it’s 20% off that day. You can do that every day.”

Huscarl Hobbies receives about a ton of food a year from donations. The shop is closing in on roughly three tons of food being collected since the introduction of the program three years ago. Helping those who struggle to put food on the table, especially during the pandemic, is a big deal for the shop.

"Things got weird and it's still weird," King said. "It’s one of those things where you help the community and I’m going to help you. Let’s keep this ball rolling."

For those who want to learn how to play card games like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! or Magic: The Gathering, there are friendly managers at Huscarls that are happy to show newcomers the ropes. No card trades happen in the shop unless there’s a judge present, to make sure trades are fair and done in good standing.

“Building this shop… it’s been the coolest thing. But part of our responsibility is to show people etiquette,” King said. “My job is to find you guys and bring your communities together. That’s the standard we’re setting.”

For students who already have games but need a safe space to play with friends, Huscarl Hobbies has multiple spaces available throughout the shop. There is even a space for tabletops such as Dungeons & Dragons that might need a quiet space to maintain immersive environments for players.

“The back game room, if it’s open, use it,” King said. “If you want to make sure you have it, reserve it. It’s five bucks. If there’s three of ya, it’s five bucks. If there’s 10 of ya, it’s five bucks. You’re here all day, it’s five bucks.”

Booster packs, board games and dice are well in stock at Huscarls, and so too are miniatures. The game shop 3D prints many of their miniatures and their terrains in house. There are painting demos, classes and contests for those more artistic in nature. Additionally, Huscarls can print custom models with STL files bought from Hero Forge, a free-to-use online miniature character creator.

“We do both resin and filament printing, but the only printing we do for folks outside of the shop is through Hero Forge,” King said. “You make your custom mini online, we’ll print it for eight bucks. You lose it, the dog eats it, it fails a critical saving throw and now has a terrible impact failure, we’ll print it again.”

Whatever the hobby needs, Huscarls Hobbies and Games either has it or can bring it in for you. The game shop has been around for six years and the staff of Huscarls still has folks come into the shop not realizing the store existed. At the end of the day, Huscarls works to give back as much as it can to the community.

“If you just need a space to play, you can come in and I’ll let you use the space for free,” King said. “It’s more about communities and that kind of thing. There are many paths to the temple. I do not have to walk your path to support you.”

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