I often see board game enthusiasts talking online about their “Friendly Local Game Store” (FLGS) for short, and I can’t help feeling a bit annoyed that for all the stuff Southampton does have, an FLGS is one of the things that is distinctly lacking.

We have a Forbidden Planet, of course, which is a pretty neat geek superstore — though very expensive for things like anime DVDs and the like — and shops like bookseller Waterstones have now started selling board games as well as books. But we’re still short of an absolutely dedicated FLGS, and I feel like it’s something that’s sorely lacking from the city centre — or even one of the areas a little further out, such as studentsville Portswood.

I think back to my time in Toronto and the few visits we had to the board game café Snakes and Lattes and I wonder if such a venture could work in a place like this. I know that Southampton has a reasonably active board gaming scene — enough to support a regular meetup at a pub in the centre that I’ve not yet had the courage to go along to, for one thing, and I believe my friend Tim also goes to a regular meetup one night a week elsewhere — so is it much of a stretch to wonder if players in the area would respond well to a dedicated space for buying, talking about and possibly even playing board and card games?

I wonder if it’s a cultural thing. Near where my brother lives in California, there’s an excellent board game shop called Gamescape that has tons of the latest releases in the front, an ample collection of “classics” further back, plus roleplaying sourcebooks, miniatures, supplies and all manner of other things — plus tables with ample space for playing games at the back of the store. There’s always plenty of people in there on the few occasions I’ve been lucky enough to pay it a visit, and I’d imagine it makes a fair amount of money from enthusiasts. So why don’t we seem to see more places like that here, in built-up areas like Southampton?

If I knew anything about business, I’d contemplate opening one myself. Unfortunately I don’t, so I won’t. Which is sort of a shame, really, because I can’t help thinking that something like this is the kind of project that needs as much passion as it needs business acumen. And I certainly have one of those two things; it’s a pity it doesn’t really go hand-in-hand with the other.

Perhaps I should play more games about business. Who fancies a game of, uhh, Power Grid or something?