A number of people have asked ‘why’ we’re doing this. There are a few goals behind the Tour:

* The game days are designed to introduce new customers to the great game stores in each town. So goal #1 is to get gamers into game stores so they can play and buy games.

* The pictures and videos and blog/vlog content is meant to affect a sense of community, not just at the local level but across the country. By celebrating gamers and games our goal is to reinforce the positive view gamers should have of themselves and their hobby, and to bring that positive light before those outside the hobby as much as possible.

* Part of the goal of the events is also to give local gamers an opportunity to meet local industry people and media (podcasters and bloggers). On the flip side, it gives these local industry people a chance to promote their games to customers – who I hope will them buy them from the store.

* I also hope to learn from each retailer. On my ‘test Tour’ from Seattle to LA two months ago, it became clear to me that all retailers are not the same (no shock there), but also that they can learn from each other. A store in one state may be doing something that could help a store on the other side of the country. One of my goals is to document these ‘good ideas’ and share them with participating retailers.

What kind of games?: I personally enjoy board games and tabletop RPGs the most, but am game agnostic in general. I don’t know much about wargames, for instance, but hope to visit some heavy wargaming communities as well. I don’t play a lot of video games, but plan to visit some LAN centers on my Tour.

Are they my games?: No. I don’t publish or manufacture any product of my own. That said, 60 days on the road is not a cheap endeavor, so I’ve enlisted a few companies to help me shoulder that cost. A couple of them have really stepped up and I would love a chance to personally show each store owner their products, so they can decide if they are a good fit for the local gamerati.

- Ed