NEW HAVEN — More than two-dozen versions of Monopoly, a wide selection of indie and locally made games, colorful and vibrant decorations and a space that can seat 105 players at once: Elm City Games has all these.
“We kept growing and growing,” said co-owner Matt Fantastic. “We have continued to expand even in this space. Now, we fully have three storefronts’ worth of stuff.”
Initially the store co-existed with now-shuttered coffee shop Happiness Lab on Chapel Street. When more than 500 people joined the opening day in 2016, the owners quickly knew it was something the community needed.
The store now has about 3,000 items in stock and about 1,500 games in its library, but began with a simple concept: creating a space the owners would have liked to see when they were young.
“I want a 10-year-old me to walk in and just, like, jaw dropped,” Fantastic said. “So a lot of our decision making has been driven by, ‘well, if we were the people using it, how would we want to do it?’”
Fantastic just turned 40 and invited a bunch of friends over to play games at his store — “I don’t imagine too many people are excited to spend their birthday party weekend hanging out at their job.”
What the owners attributed as part of the success is the goal of facilitating the space as “a third place,” a social environment that’s separate from home and workplace.
As people become more disconnected, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fantastic said he made strategic business decisions so Elm City Games could be viewed by customers as just that sort of third space.
For example, the store keeps membership at $20 per month when a day pass costs $10 per day. He said that choice was to encourage people to get a membership and come in on a random Wednesday or a Saturday afternoon just to check out what’s happening.
“It’s very much that social club for a lot of people; we are their primary social outlet outside of work and home,” he said. “And we really do think a lot about that and that’s why I think we’re so community driven.”
Elihu Rubin, associate professor of urbanism at Yale University, said “a third place” usually is a “privately produced, public space” that allows people to follow passions or interests, meet people and engage in the social life of a city.
“In a post-COVID world where we’re coming back from the virtual world, physical spaces and physical meeting places are increasingly sought after,” Rubin said.
Besides Elm City Games, Rubin said most coffee shops in New Haven can serve as a third place, as well as Possible Futures, an independent bookstore in the Edgewood area that also aims to be a community reading space.
Rubin said these places can be free or can have a barrier of entry such as a cup of coffee, or in the Elm City Games case, a day pass or a membership. He added third places need to have a welcoming environment that’s accessible and accommodating.
That’s exactly what the board game store has been aiming for.
Co-owner Trish Loter said they tried to make the space comfortable for everyone, with nicer furniture and colorful decor, and make sure people know that gaming is for everyone — not just a thing that kids do.
“If you stand in front of our store, it is a very intentional decision to have Monopoly and Uno and all of those classic games that a lot of people are familiar with right out front,” Loter said. “So that when people want to come in, they’re not immediately intimidated by a bunch of stuff they’ve never seen.”
Fantastic and Loter said they wanted to create an environment for all-level players — meaning amateur players can expect to go to one of the play events and feel no shame or pressure for not knowing the rules.
“We try really hard to make sure that the staff we hire are very welcoming and like people that you want to be around,” Loter said. “When you come in, you feel welcome, you feel like you aren’t being gatekept against, you know, someone’s not going to immediately be a jerk to you.”
Fantastic added his place doesn’t conform with “historically unfair” misperceptions of a game store as a “weird nerd cave of judgy people.”
Asked how they maintain the casual, non-judgmental atmosphere, they said as soon as someone walks in, the vibe should be clear that they’re expected “not to be a jerk.”
If the environment is not for them, they said they’re happy to send their customers to other stores that would fit their needs or other places that carry games they’re looking for.
In terms of the retail side, Fantastic said it, too, has grown “significantly.” The store originally opened only as a game cafe. But he said the main focus is still with the community first.
“To us, money is a means to an end, to be able to continually try to pay employees more,” Fantastic said. “So when we make more money, that typically is just going right back into growing the business.”
He said the store carries most classic games, games made by local groups — Fantastic is a game designer himself — and indie role-playing games. The biggest thing for them is Dungeons & Dragons, he noted.
As someone who often travels abroad for gaming conventions, Fantastic said the store tries to carry imported games that are primarily or entirely in foreign languages.
Fantastic is going to Japan in a couple of months and said “it’s going to be very difficult for me to not come home with like 50 new games.”
Because Elm City Games’ fifth anniversary was during the COVID-19 pandemic, the store is planning to throw a big block party this summer for its 7.5-year anniversary instead. The party would be at the Ninth Square promenade in front of the store. They haven’t finalized a date or activity plan yet.
Elm City Games is located at 71 Orange St. It’s open Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. until midnight.