Charles Picard
United States
Washington
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A recent visit to Ashland, Oregon to support my wife's work gave me a chance to see the real-world location of Funagain Games. I discovered that Funagain is a lot more than an ad on the BGG front page or a big, faceless e-tailer.
It was a couple of days into our trip when I managed to swing by during business hours. As it turns out, Funagain is only a few miles from the I-5 corridor on a section of Route 66.
The only thing that announces the location from the road is this rather unassuming sign...
And sure enough, past the cinema and opposite a used bookstore, sat the storefront...
I went inside and asked Nick (reaching behind himself for something in the next image) if I could take some pictures to document my visit. He said he was just fine with it, as long as he didn't have to stop working...
The retail space isn't very large, but I noticed right away that the stock extended into the back out of sight...
The small sign (on the right hand side of the picture) intrigued me. It said, "Please! ask permission before entering office/warehouse." I might or might not have asked to go into the back on my own, but this suggested that it wasn't such an unusual thing.
Again, Nick said I could go back for as long as I wanted, as long as I didn't try to re-shelve something I'd taken down if I wasn't absolutely sure where it came from. (This seemed an extremely reasonable request, given that they were letting me wander around in their warehouse!)
Even though the warehouse area doesn't give the impression of being huge, it contains an incredible number of titles. There's a path along the shelves of one wall that links the front and the back (where the packing & shipping happens). This paths links several rows of tightly packed shelves that dead end into the opposite wall.
This is a shot from one row end back toward the main aisle of the warehouse...
Each bin is numbered and game titles are, of course, tracked to specific bins...
In fact, I'd say it's all about the bins in the Funagain warehouse...
Stella, who I believe was the warehouse manager, took some time to explain their system to me. She said that they made sure that a title and its expansions were always separated from each other horizontally & vertically. (This is why the titles in the images above don't seem to relate to each other.) Apparently it's easy to go on auto-pilot and pull something from an order because one title is similar to another.
Funagain always hangs onto the boxes that the games come in, so that they can reuse them. During a slower time of the year, the box pile gets pretty big...
A few orders were hanging out waiting for items that were supposed to be in inventory, but that weren't... I can promise you they're working on it!
During the entire visit, everyone made a point of answering my questions and letting me wander around. So, I thought the least I could do was buy some games!
... and that's the source of another nice surprise. Even in store, Funagain gives discounts that are at least similar to those they give online. And, since they are located in Oregon, I don't think they charge sales tax (although businesses in downtown Ashland do).
I've followed up with Nick since my visit, and he reiterated that unless they're really busy, they're always happy to let someone who seems like they'd enjoy it check out the warehouse. Of course, around Christmas, when they're slammed, is probably not a great time to ask!
I don't know when I'll be back down in Ashland (it's quite a hike from Seattle), but it's definitely going to be a mandatory stop when I'm traveling the I-5 from now on. I recommend you visit if you get a chance. (Just be sure to check on their hours before you do!)
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Bonanza Zibardo
United States
Seattle
Washington
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It's nice to see how my husband stayed out of trouble while I was busy.....
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Charles Picard
United States
Washington
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RedEmma wrote: It's nice to see how my husband stayed out of trouble while I was busy.....:D
While this was, in fact, written by my wife. Her name is not actually Bonanza Zibardo. This is one of many goofy remixes of her actual name...
I've got to keep myself entertained somehow on those long roadtrips!
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I fought the dice and the dice won
United States
Vancouver
Washington
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I've also wandered the aisles when in Ashland for Shakespeare.
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Andy K.
United States
Norman
Oklahoma
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Original_CorPse wrote: And sure enough, past the cinema and opposite a used bookstore, sat the storefront...
A movie theater, a used bookstore, and a game shop! Where is this...heaven?
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Charles Picard
United States
Washington
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autumnweave wrote: I've also wandered the aisles when in Ashland for Shakespeare.
Cool! I don't know if you've gone this season, but Servant of Two Masters was brilliant.
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Eric L
United States
Seattle
Washington
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ACK ACK wrote: Original_CorPse wrote: And sure enough, past the cinema and opposite a used bookstore, sat the storefront... A movie theater, a used bookstore, and a game shop! Where is this...heaven?
I dunno, sounds a lot like Pine Street in Seattle to me...
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Charles Picard
United States
Washington
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inscrutable hahn wrote: ACK ACK wrote: Original_CorPse wrote: And sure enough, past the cinema and opposite a used bookstore, sat the storefront... A movie theater, a used bookstore, and a game shop! Where is this...heaven? I dunno, sounds a lot like Pine Street in Seattle to me...
It's a good long walk to that movie theatre on Pine.
I can see I'm going to be roped into doing a visit to Gamma Ray Games next... at least it's a shorter trip!
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Brad N
United States
Madison
Wisconsin
There are 7 games I want to play by March 31st, 2012
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Thanks for sharing this... pretty interesting. Funagain was the first gaming site where I really started to learn about the current state of board gaming (2 and a half years ago). I still visit their site now and then, but not often. Every experience I've had with Funagain, from buying games to commenting on their site to just asking questions, has been received very well. Top notch in my experience!
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Charles Picard
United States
Washington
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bnordeng wrote: Every experience I've had with Funagain, from buying games to commenting on their site to just asking questions, has been received very well. Top notch in my experience!
They were very cool in person and seemed happy to share their knowledge.
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Kris Wolff
United States
poulsbo
Washington
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Yeah. Every year when I drive all day to go to Funagain for a few days, the family comes along and sees some old-fashioned plays they put on in Ashland.
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Charles Picard
United States
Washington
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kristopherjwolff wrote: Yeah. Every year when I drive all day to go to Funagain for a few days, the family comes along and sees some old-fashioned plays they put on in Ashland. :)
Well put!
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Martin Bell
United States
Santa Clara
California
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ACK ACK wrote: Original_CorPse wrote: And sure enough, past the cinema and opposite a used bookstore, sat the storefront... A movie theater, a used bookstore, and a game shop! Where is this...heaven?
Fun Again is a few doors down from the dollar store. That keeps my wife busy while I check out the games.
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Pietro Del Mar
United States
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I go to Ashland at least once a year. The warehouse shelves at Funagain is a great place to lose an hour or two.
It's as much a draw as the Shakespeare festival for me.
*And to anyone going down there who likes BBQ- Back Porch BBQ in Jacksonville (10 minutes from Funagain) is the best BBQ in Oregon.
Hands down.
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Louis Centrella
United States
Illinois
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Enjoyed these photos! I would love to visit the store someday. May I suggest, use a photo editing program and axe the license plate numbers on the second picture... don't need that floating around the web.
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Richard Keiser
United States
Waunakee
Wisconsin
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So that's where all my money went?
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Robert Fox
United States
Tampa
Florida
Fear cannot be banished, but it can be calm and without panic; it can be mitigated by reason and evaluation.
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On that pic of the unshipped games, I'm pretty sure one of the stacks was my order! When was the picture taken?
Robert
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◟◞◜◝◟◞'◉⌃◬⌃◉'◟◞◜◝◟◞
United States
Plainwell
Michigan
Holy wah! This is an expensive place to put random crap! And further, please DO NOT FIX GeekQuestions tipping OR thumb counts. Both are a critical part of its charm (such as it is).
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Very cool idea! Thanks for the virtual tour
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Champion Eternal
Malaysia
Unspecified
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Cool! Thanks for the write-up.
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Charles Picard
United States
Washington
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FuManchu wrote: On that pic of the unshipped games, I'm pretty sure one of the stacks was my order! When was the picture taken?
Robert
Hmmm...
I think it was last Friday, so the 17th. I wondered if someone would notice their order.
Also, I'm very impressed that folks have being going to my gallery to check out the pics (and leaving some  's).
thanks everybody!
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Robert Fox
United States
Tampa
Florida
Fear cannot be banished, but it can be calm and without panic; it can be mitigated by reason and evaluation.
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Excellent. The stack with all three Race for the Galaxy boxes on top of Through the Ages is the one I'm waiting for! One more game to go before it ships.
I always make a large purchase right before a long business trip ends. This one has been four months long.
Robert
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Colin Kameoka
United States
San Gabriel
California
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This is a very nice write up. Next time I drive to/from Portland I'll have to stop by.
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Tony Ripley
United States
Birmingham
Alabama
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Well done - I'll have to check around in here...do we have a BGG Geographic Society? Nice write up.
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Charles Picard
United States
Washington
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rolnam wrote: ...do we have a BGG Geographic Society?
I don't know if there's one or not, but it's a great idea! It would be neat to see what stores, etc., in other areas, are really like.
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Charles Picard
United States
Washington
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Brent Case wrote: ACK ACK wrote: Original_CorPse wrote: And sure enough, past the cinema and opposite a used bookstore, sat the storefront... A movie theater, a used bookstore, and a game shop! Where is this...heaven? Add Lithia Park, and yes, you have heaven.
I don't know, that Lithia Water smells a little funny...
... I'd be curious to see if there are any Ashland/Medford locals that frequent Funagain. The people that we stayed with thought Funagain was just a hole-in-the wall game store.
I keep trying to imagine being a kid growing up in the neighborhood near Funagain. I'd have been in Geek heaven.
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