[Brick & Mortar] Gamma Ray Games

Gamma Ray Games
Address: 411 E Pine, Seattle, WA 98122
Phone: (206) 838-9445

RPGs: small selection
Indie RPGs: small selection
Used RPGs: unknown
Miniatures: small selection
Boardgames: good selection
Gaming space: 3 tables (above main store)
Comics: limited to none

Family Friendly: yes*
Knowledgeable Staff: yes*

Overall Rating: Good*

* based on a 15-20 minute, first-time visit.

Gamma Ray Games is located on the south side of East Pine, between Crawford Place and Bellevue Avenue, down the hill towards I-5 from Seattle Central Community College. The shop is between a bookstore and an alley, and has a small retail space but a neat spiral staircase leads up to the gaming area, about three tables worth of space (when I went it was full of gamers playing D&D 4e).

The proprietor was friendly and helpful, without being pushy. He was also dressed like it was a business: nice slacks, shirt, tie and vest. The retail space had a good selection of board games and card games but a small amount of RPGs, mostly D&D4e, but also WHFRPG 3e (including the Adventurer's Toolkit and Dice Accessory Pack), Serenity RPG (plus most of the supplements) and several Indie RPGs. A local product, How to Host a Dungeon, was prominently displayed. Business cards were a variety of gaming cards (Magic cards, Twilight Struggle, old Everway art cards, etc) with stickers with the store info on them. This was a nice touch.

I talked with the proprietor (didn't get his name, sorry) and he seemed pretty knowledgable. He noticed my interest in his admittedly limited Indie RPG stock and mentioned trying to get more in from Indie Press Revolution. I didn't see any used games (or used RPGs - my usual reason for going into a game store), but the man behind the counter said that he was interested in trade. Also, I asked about ordering games and he was more than willing to do so. However, check with the store to make sure I got that right.

On a whim, I bought How to Host a Dungeon (I had been looking at it online for a while now) and the Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen (unfortunately the Wives and Servants edition).

All in all, color me impressed: a nice little shop with some good stock in Seattle.