This past week I took my twin daughters, Rachel & Emily, on a Sweet Sixteen Daddy & Daughters trip to New York City over their fall break. It was an amazing and memorable road trip seeing the mountains in full autumn splendor, touring the mighty metropolis, enjoying fascinating museums, being enraptured by Broadway, and solemnly visiting Gettysburg on the way home.
During our wanderings in New York City, we visited the Compleat Strategist, an amazing friendly local game store piled to the ceiling with games. Everywhere I travel, I like to find a local game store. No matter what city in the world I am in, I instantly feel at home as I cross the threshold of a game store. Taking home a souvenir from a game store that reminds me of my travels makes the games and items even more special. In NYC, I picked up the New York 1901 board game. Now each time I play that game, I will remember the road trip to NYC with my daughters.
Thunderbirds in my hand and Mutant: Year Zero cards on the shelf to the left.A special revelation when visiting game stores is finding games on the shelves that I worked on as a freelancer. At the Compleat Strategist, I found Thunderbirds, Mutant: Year Zero, and Achtung! Cthulhu. There might have been even more, but my time was limited and the store had an eclectic organizational scheme. I did get to spend a short while talking with the proprietor about his store and my freelance work on some of the games he had in stock.
As a freelancer, you work on these games and see them available for purchase online, but seeing the games in stock on a game store shelf makes it all that much more special. It is then you know you know you truly are an integral part of the game industry and game community.
Where are some cool places you have found your freelance work?