Great selections, clean store, good general player base and staff, unfortunately one of the direct (1/3) owners supports Trump to the point of only allowing pro-Trump or no political discussion, polite or not, on premises- I received a lifetime ban for politely asking and adding that I was deciding where to spend my money, as someone supporting my and loved ones rights being taken away is not somewhere I'll shop.
Genuinely a shame, I've been a customer for over a decade, I've run events and would otherwise recommend anyone go- unfortunately if you're LGBTQ or not into Trump, I cant recommend it anymore.
EDIT NEXT DAY further info: to be specific since a second owner reached out for context- I personally have had an event organizer as well as a player say directly harmful, objectively untrue alt-right insults and slurs to my face about me and my loved ones. I have had that event organizer ban me from a game league and local chat for pointing out his -objectively and excessively- sexist or problematic behavior-
I politely greeted most of the players around the store since it had been a while, honestly due to this sort of behavior before- I selected some purchases ~$130 and approached the employee in charge.
I asked directly for my personal friends and acquantances, Ray Prado and his co-owner, and politely told him after being asked how he could help that I would like to know if the store itself offically, or either owner publically in their role as owner, endorsed Trump in his actions specifically towards the LGBTQ community- myself and my loved ones are losing our human and basic rights as citizens directly due to these policies- and touched lightly on the multiple severely negative experiences I had personally had or witnessed- mentioning that while I was able and excited to step up as a game organizer again to take over for a mutual friend who'd lost his job, I needed to know that my friends and local store owners weren't supporting these actions that are directly harming me, and honestly would have my back if I directly called out the people and actions in the store that are -objectively- untrue and harmful- "all women are objectively weaker and dumber than men and can't win at any sport against them" was a direct quote from a player still allowed at the store.
I didn't speak directly about these previois experiences and dont recall naming any specific names, games,or quotes and tried my absolute best and was, as far as I'm aware, polite, relatively discrete other than "yeah I'm a queer gamer too just checking in you've had issues like that too here?" And nonconfrontational- I simply wanted the current official answers available to me as a citizen and patron of the store.
If Ray had been there I'd happily have discussed it with him as we've openly, casually, and generally productively debated and talked about these things before.
As it was, after answers of "we don't really talk politics while in the store but as far as I know no we dont support illegal stuff and yeah we don't allow bigotry in the store, if you point it out we've got your back" (rough summary, I don't recall their exact words) I happily made my purchase and left.
Roughly 5-10 minutes later on my drive home the War Room Games phone number called me, I answered happily and politely to Ray, asking me to confirm my actions. I did, absolutely expecting questions and dealing with my problems, as uncomfortable as it might be- I was then yelled at that I was disrespectful and impolite and that my official answer was "I'm not welcome back", I thanked him for the answer, denied to converse further given his volume, tone, and clear attitude towards the problem, and ended the call wishing him a good evening.
I genuinely would love if anyone from the store including Ray would reach out to me officially about this sudden apparent lifetime ban I've acquired for again, asking if the store as a public figure directly endorsed the objectively unconstitutional and personally harmful actions, as I have a right to- and if the store and people that owned it and worked it would help me deal with objectively problematic behavior and bad actors.
Again, a 2nd owner did reach out semi-officially, one I hadn't met personally before. I've assured him to the best of my ability that I hold no malice or even real upset towards War Room Games or Ray himself, and would be happy to discuss what could be done to resolve the issue at hand and try and rebuild communities, but otherwise no real offical reply.
Otherwise hey, it is Ray's store and he's welcome not to have me there. Oh well! read more