FFG Games Center

Yep, that's right, Games Center. The entity formerly known as the Event Center.

Their big announcement last night was:

• New name for the place.
• New location just south on County B2 in Roseville, right next to their HQ.
• Double the gaming space with a large flex area for events.
• Cafe with grills, ovens, deep fryers, fountain pop, beer, and wine.
• Separate eating area, but food is welcome in the large gaming area and vice versa.
• Expanded hours; same as the current hours but now open at 9am on weekdays.
• Slightly larger retail space with a slightly expanded selection.
• New and awesomely painted tabletop wargaming tables.
• Grand Opening November 1st.

All-in-all it looks really good. They showed the floor plan, some 3D renders, and some pictures. There are a lot of really nice small touches and details I didn't cover. It looks really well thought out, and we'll probably go check it out on opening day.

I'm North of the cities, but I've stopped into the event center before, I was surprised how small it was. Never made the effort to actual play a game there, but now that they sale beer, might be worth the hour drive.

I haven't spent a lot of time there, but I actually really like the existing Event Center location. Lots of windows, the cliffside view, plenty of parking, and a few blocks away from the heavier traffic in Roseville. Moving to the location right next to their HQ makes sense, but I guarantee fewer windows and less parking at that location. Maybe the food and booze will make up for it.

Shellhead wrote: Moving to the location right next to their HQ makes sense, but I guarantee fewer windows and less parking at that location. Maybe the food and booze will make up for it.

Note that their entire operation is moving to these two buildings (1975 and 1995 County Road B2). They'll have the whole parking lot between these buildings for themselves and patrons.

I went and snagged the building plans and they're on my desk now, heh.

Joel: never unprepared.

The website says they will hold Arkham Nights on Nov. 17th in the Event Center, since its after Nov. 1st, I wonder if this will be the old Event Center or this new Game Center?

Bah, should have waited:

On Saturday, November 2nd, the Fantasy Flight Games Center will have its first cause to roll into its flex space when it hosts the Plugged-in Tour for Android: Netrunner.
The next weekend, November 7 – 10, the world will have its chance to see the Games Center in action when it hosts the FFG World Championship Weekend. After that, we’ll see whether or not the Fantasy Flight Games Center is capable of containing an Ancient One as we host Arkham Nights 2013 and offer early previews of Eldritch Horror.

Okay, that will be more parking spaces. But it's going to be an older building with a lower ceiling, fewer windows, and harder to get out of during daylight hours due to traffic patterns. In other words, comparable to the setup over at the Source, only with better food and beverages. When I worked at FFG HQ, the only bad part of my commute was going home, making that left turn onto County Road B2.

Sounds good to me. More is better in this case.

Shellhead wrote: Okay, that will be more parking spaces. But it's going to be an older building with a lower ceiling, fewer windows, and harder to get out of during daylight hours due to traffic patterns. In other words, comparable to the setup over at the Source, only with better food and beverages. When I worked at FFG HQ, the only bad part of my commute was going home, making that left turn onto County Road B2.

For whatever it's worth, our inspector says it's a really nice remodel. I don't know all the details, but the property owner is putting a considerable amount of money into these buildings. It's not like FFG is just moving into it as-is and hiring the movers to bring over their office furniture!

Yep, the remodel pics they showed us looked at least as nice as the current building.

I believe all events that are scheduled at FFGEC starting Nov 1 are at the Games Center; that was the impression given at the presentation.

I just got back from the FFG grand opening. It was a success. There were at least 300 people there, and at least 50 of them were in the cafeteria style food line. I was stunned to realize how much FFG had expanded from their original space when I worked there 10 years ago. The only other business left in those two long buildings is a small auto parts store on the corner. Everything else is FFG, apparently mostly warehouse space. The Event Center takes up what used to be the entire business location when I worked there, converting both offices and warehouse to retail and two vast gaming areas. There were plenty of tables and chairs. 3/4 of the people there were gaming, and the rest were either shopping or talking, but not due to lack of table space. And there is also a large gaming library, covering a big section of wall with grand bookcases stacked up with games ready to play.

However, there were a couple of negatives. Even the significantly larger parking lot wasn't enough for this event, and might not be enough for the World Championship event next weekend. The Grand Opening started at 5 PM, and when I showed up at 6:15, there weren't many spaces left. When I left an hour later, there were no spaces left and four cars circling around in vain. However, there should be plenty of parking for normal days at the event center. The other minor quibble is the lack of windows. They did add windows to the site, but the previous event center had big windows and a view from the edge of a cliff. These new windows look out on the parking lot or a boring street. One of the two large gaming rooms is entirely windowless, though they will probably only use that room when there are big events. Still, all in all, this is a fine place for gaming.

I was there tonight too. Pretty impressed. The windows were nice to have, but that's about the only thing I'll miss.

Parking aside, I think their checkout situation might be an oversight as well. There are two checkout terminals that are for food, beer, and games. Tonight the food line was so long that we didn't buy a game that we otherwise probably would have left with. That probably won't be a common problem (overwhelming opening night), but it would be nice if there was a separate checkout spot for drinks and/or games.

Food was pretty good. Two sandwiches, a basket of fries, and two beers was just over $31 which isn't a steal, but the convenience was nice.

wadenels wrote:
Food was pretty good. Two sandwiches, a basket of fries, and two beers was just over $31 which isn't a steal, but the convenience was nice.

Yikes. Don't bring the kids.

S.

wadenels wrote:
Food was pretty good. Two sandwiches, a basket of fries, and two beers was just over $31 which isn't a steal, but the convenience was nice.

So you paid the chef's salary for the night.

Burger was $6, fries $2.50. Other sandwich was around $5 or $6 too I believe. Beers were $7/pint. Stick to water and you're fine.