Eyewitness reports say the store has been shut down and cleared out. No info as to why yet.

According to their web site, Thor's Hammer was the largest game and comic store in Texas. It was pretty dang big, I know that. Our World of Warcraft TCG group would meet there twice a week for tournies, and there were always lots of other games going on.

The few times I stopped in there it was big, yes, but didn't seem very well organized. And their selection was pretty limited.

True; it was a great place to play games, though maybe not the best place to buy them. But on a Friday night, that place was hoppin'.

Have you tried Great Hall Games? Friday night and Saturday afternoon is boardgame time. Sunday is minis/wargames.

That's a shame. I never played at Thor's and only shopped infrequently, but I wished them well. Their selection was certainly limited from a eurogamers' standpoint (they still had a copy of Doge for sale, last time I was there!) but they seemed to be a decent place for CCGs, CMGs, GW, and comics.

But a game store in Austin, TX, faces stiff competition: Great Hall is doing a full-court press on all things board / traditional / historical miniatures / puzzles and they multiply their effort with well-informed and hard-playing staff. Great Hall has a dedicated crowd of Friday/Saturday players, too.

Just a few blocks over, Dragon's Lair is tying down the fort on collectible cards and minis games, GW, Rakham, boardgames, and comics/manga. And they have several shops in central Texas. They run some gaming, but some of their old crowd shifted to Great Hall.

The only other two shop that I've visited are Wonko's, which claims a chunk of Far Northwest Austin, and Battle Front(?) (where Village Hobby used to be) in Northwest Austin. They seem to be pulling in the comics and comics-related-collectibles crowd (Wonkos) as well as GW and CCGs (Battle Front).

Last, there's King's Hobby which sells some boardgames, but really isn't a go-to place as they make their bread and butter on modelers and railroaders and don't offer any space to play.

All I can say is, if you like to play at your FLGS, support your FLGS!

Well that was a surprise. No one talked about it closing down, jut up and "poof" gone. I never actually shopped at Thors Hammer, as Brady said between Dragons Lair and Great Hall, they really didn't focus on what I liked. But they did have a popular open game night that will be missed.

Wow, I have never heard of either of those.

I guess that it is a good thing that I visited Thor's Hammer recently. That gave me some closure. T.H. certainly had a big area. But it was sparsely populated with inventory. Nothing like Great Hall's packed full feel. And their board gaming selection was horrible.

For you Austinites, Wonkos is located in the same retail building as the Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline and Battle Front is just across the parking lot from Alamo Drafthouse Village.

I'm pretty sure it's "Battle Forge." There's where I'm going to play AT-43 tonight.

Battleforge.

www.battleforgegames.com

I have been to Wonko, but only right after they opened. It's been a long while. I had to browse back in our blog to find my entry on it. It was October of 2005. I'm glad they're still around.



And remember, there is still Rogues Gallery in Round Rock (the former Dragon's Lair north) and the new Ninja Pirate in Pflugerville. I just saw in the Austin Chronicle that Ninja Pirate tied Dragon's Lair for Best Fantasy/Game Store in the most recent Best of Austin Readers Poll.

There was another game/comic store in Georgetown, on Austin Ave near Dos Salsas. Susan and I tried to stop by there last Friday (Oct 5) but it was closed. It looked half emptied out with some comics and games still there but the checkout area was cleaned out. There was a UPS missed delivery notification stuck on the door from the Monday (Oct 1). It appears that they just closed as well.

Up by Cargill's house!

And another unknown! Sesh. I do know about Rogues Gallery. I might stop by and see if they have R-Eco. But the toll road really screwed them over by making it harder to get there. And they are doing construction work on the frontage roads (but that probably won't help traffic any after its done).



John and I stopped by once after disc golf and Dos Salsas. It was a small store with not many board games. I can't see Georgetown having a big enough population to support a game store. So sad to hear it closed.

You need to check the meeting minutes from the Sushi Club. We discussed both of those in between ahi and edame.

I was in wasabi heaven!

Wooo, new stores to check out when I visit!

Fixed!

Aw, man, I didn't know Chapel was from Austin! I was just there two weeks ago for the Roller Derby National Championships. I'll be down again in December for a film festival at the Alamo Drafthouse.

Sigh. I really liked the Wednesday night group at Thor's Hammer and it was easy to get to from Liberty Hill.

I've never been to Wonko's but the owner recently joined the Boardgame Meetup group and invited people to play at his store:

http://boardgames.meetup.com/360/members/5238293/

Maybe that could be a new home for the Wednesday group.

It could be worse, you could live an hour away from any FLGS like me. Its really not an FLGS then I guess, I should just call it a FGS.

The guy at Ninja Pirate also wants to host our Wednesday nightsome games. It is a little closer to my house. I'd be willing to try it and Wonko's for Wednesday night fun.

John

I was happy I finally had a place to play for every night of the week (counting Sunday Tichu's).

Not that I ever played somewhere every night of the week-- it was just nice to have the option.

I lived in Liberty Hill for three years and was always frustrated that there were no gamers in the area. Obviously, I didn't pay attention.

Philip-

We've owned a lot in Liberty Hill for a long time and finally moved here from Round Rock two years ago. We had seen you in the gamer database and were hoping to contact you after we got settled. We were bummed to find that you had moved way to the south.

We try to hide the fact...