Nerd Pride Radio

So how did Target become the mainstream outlet for all sorts of cool board games? I mean, it's not like it's super-indie or anything, but they've got the most popular games that aren't your Hasbro/Parker Brothers stuff. Munchkin is all there. Ticket to Ride. Pandemic. I just saw One Night Ultimate Werewolf. Cards Against Humanity with all the expansions. A bunch of cool games from Blue Orange. And that's just a fraction of what's on the shelf at my local Target. How long has this been going on?

I've been noticing the same thing for quite some time. It's been at least a year around where I live, because that's where I purchased my copy of Pandemic, and noticed so at that time.

I think it's really cool. I saw an article that was in a lot of ways very elitist ("No serious gamer would be caught dead browsing the game aisle at Target unless they were doing it as a joke"), but the person made a great point: People were worried that the rise of Starbucks would be the end of indie hipster coffee culture. Instead, Starbucks was a gateway that introduced the great masses to coffee culture and as a result we've seen the rise of indie establishments as people look to explore deeper.

This person argued that Target could be the same gateway for board games. If Target can put Catan or Pandemic or Munchkin into someone's hands and show them that there's more to this world than Sorry and Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit, then maybe a few of those will start looking deeper.

I completely agree, and I applaud it. I mean, over the last year (that does seem about right) the "oddball game shelf" at my Target has tripled in size. It's a whole thing and not just a sideline.

At least the past eighteen months for games that you'd only see at your FLGS (Forbidden Island, Cards Against Humanity). Given that they and Walmart are the arsenals of choice for young folks making their own lives, it only makes sense to sell board games along with all the other entertainment options.

Ah, Target...that's where it all began for me...it was about 7 years ago when I got my first Settlers of Catan game from there