July is Independent Retailer Month

So, July is Independent Retailer Month. That means with all the board games you want (and need) to buy, now is the time to head out to your friendly local board game store and treat yourself. Forget Amazon. Don't use eBay. Perhaps you can surf on by those other online retailers you check every day to see what's new.

It's a lot to ask - I know.

And I know what your thinking, "Everything is so cheap online!" "Whatever I want is at my fingertips!" "I'm not wearing pants."

The world is your online oyster and it's hard to pass that up.

Or is it?

Well, I'm here to tell you that your friendly local game store is there to serve you and offers you a lot more than just free shipping or a monetary discount. You can literally walk into your game store and demo a game. Perhaps you can demo the one you were thinking about buying. Perhaps you will demo a different one that you didn't know you wanted to buy!

Can you meet new gamers on Amazon? Nope. The Review section doesn't count.

Can you hold a game in your hands and read the back cover when shopping online? Nope. Don't let this experience disappear like it did with video stores or music shops. There is something incredibly visceral in this type of experience that cannot be matched through enlarging jpegs on your monitor.

Can your game group meet at eBay? Nope. That doesn't even make sense.

The list could go on and on, but as the intelligent gamer I know you are, it is unnecessary. You're the one that reads rule books for fun. You're the one that can rattle off the names of game designer as if they were movie stars. You're the one that listens to podcasts and laughs at/with Stephen Buonocore.

So, give a little back to the industry that is practically your analysis-paralysis support group by supporting the local game stores that need our business not just in July, but all year long.

Just please wear pants. We don't need to set the "see, board games are actually cool!" movement back any further.