Now we are very fortunate in Glasgow to have a wealth of stores that cater to gamers of all stripes, so it’s always interesting when another one stakes a claim on the turf. So how does The Merchants’ Guild look to stand out amongst what is, in many ways, a rather crowded field, not just in the city, but the city centre? The Merchants’ Guild is a new Retail & Café with wargaming space & open play area which opened last November. With its mantra of “Grow Games, Grow Communities”, it already hosts a wide range of regular TCG, tabletop and RPG events every day.
Well, for starters, it really is central, sitting in (unsurprisingly, from the name) the Merchant City, by Merchant Square (opposite Blackfriars) which is handy from pretty much anywhere in the Greater Glasgow area by train: 5 minutes from High Street, 15 or so from Central/Queen. But this is incidental, in some ways, to what it offers.
It’s more accurate, really to describe the venue as The Merchants’ Guild – Presented by Session Zero x Geekzilla ... but that’s a bit of a mouthful. Session Zero will be familiar to many from their pop-up nights across the city, building a buzzing scene for CCGs, including some Organised Play and great sealed events – alongside regular RPG nights. Geekzilla is a non-profit community enterprise that has been around a while, and whilst the name may not be familiar, if you’ve been involved in any way in Scotland’s vibrant Mantic Games miniature scene, or encountered the legendary Gofur, you’ve been Geekzilla’d. These combine together under the wider aegis of the Guild venue and concept.
As a venue, the upstairs of the Guild is a board game café and store space, with a range of RPG (D&D, mostly), CCG (a nice mix of MTG, Lorcana, and even more esoteric offerings like Universus), minis (GW) and accessories (paint, dice, etc) – pretty standard fare, with big tables you can book and a nice mix of games to choose from whilst you grab a coffee. There’s an excellent selection of pastries and other food, with a strong emphasis on vegan choices; we are blessed with some very good vegan bakeries here in Glasgow so it’s good to have somewhere you can sit and enjoy their wares! It’s good know that even in the city centre, you can park yourself, pull out a deck, and chill for a bit with a game anytime (the store is open 11am-11pm daily except Mondays, when they open at 5pm).
But it’s the ethics and the ambition of the place that are most interesting. Many venues tout their “community” credentials: The Merchant’s Guild has them front and centre. This is about making the hobby – all aspects of the hobby – inclusive. At £6pp table hire, there’s a huge supply of fantasy and sci-fi scenery, with space for you to come and play, whether learner or veteran; there’s even armies for everything from 40k to KoW, so you can always participate without the barriers of what can be a famously costly, and exclusive, hobby.
There’s a large 2nd hand miniature section also, for widening your collection without breaking the bank.
In this spirit, whilst it’s broadly featuring weekend Skirmish days by publisher, ccg nights by game, this is not ringfenced. Just because Thursdays might be Yu-Gi-Oh night, doesn’t mean you can’t rock up and play some Star Wars Unlimited.
On the broader hobbying side of things, there are regular weekend modelling and painting workshops, with Geekszilla’s 3D printing studio operating out of the downstairs. Alongside this, there’s also additional gaming space and, further down the line, both a private RPG room and community performance spaces are under construction (though guarded at present by a particularly fearsome Goblin named Gimble). Similarly, they work with Games Therapy UK to create supportive spaces and explore the wider benefits of board, card and tabletop gaming.
It is a lovely venue in a great space, which has enormous potential. I really hope it gets off the ground fully as it could be the heart of gaming in the city, a real destination for everyone. Long may they Geek!
About the author:
Sam blogs @big_geekingout and as part of bigcomicpage.com with an emphasis on dad-gaming and IP content. Recovering competitive card gamer, infrequent skirmish wargamer, and average boardgamer. Decent Modeller with a fondness for terrain. Enthusiastic if not especially capable miniature Painter. Media and English Teacher, which is a cover for being a movie nerd. Reasonable cook. Occasional Parent.
