Where to buy board games in Cebu

The board game selection in the big stores here in Cebu are pretty bland. It’s mostly composed of the traditional abstract games like chess, checkers (dama), and such. The mass-marketed games from Mabuhay Games, a local game publisher, to which their most popular product is Millionaire’s Game, a cheap knock-off of Monopoly. And lastly, the usual suspects from Hasbro and Mattel, like UNO, Monopoly, Scrabble, Pictionary, etc. So you can pretty much ignore these stores when looking for the modern board games that we are after.

Play 2 Learn is a toy shop located in Ayala Center Cebu. They have a bigger selection but still almost limited to Hasbro and Mattel. Some time ago, they had a copy of Settlers of Catan for sale, albeit priced steeply but still, that’s better than nothing, although, I only saw it once. It’s good to check this store from time to time, as you’ll never know, a gem of a board game might appear in their shelves.

A nearby FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) would be pretty awesome to have around as these are hobby-centric stores that caters to board gamers. The nearest to a FLGS here in Cebu would be Neutral Grounds at JY Square. However, Neutral Grounds only stocks Magic: the Gathering nowadays. As I remember, they used to have board games when they were still located at Mango Square a few years back. From time to time, they also carry the current popular CCGs (collectable card games) and miniatures, like Mage Knight, HeroClix, VS, World of Warcraft TCG & Warhammer 40K. But all throughout, their consistent seller has always been Magic: the Gathering. There is one glimmer of hope though, in that they do accept orders for board game which is shipped from the bigger branches in Manila, which carries board games. Hurray for this! To know what’s in stock, you can ask Rod, the owner of the store, or you can lurk theFacebook page of Neutral Grounds Philippines. As they don’t catalog the board games, it’s not that easy to search for the games.

There are some stores that I missed out, like Next Star Hobby Store, which I have never been to and just recently read about in a blog. I will write about them as I go along visit or discover these stores.

This pretty much sums up the local stores for now and as you can see, there is no way you can buy any modern board game right off the shelf anywhere here in Cebu, which is frustrating for any board gaming hobbyist out there. But nevertheless, I stil managed to acquire board games thanks to online stores, which will be the focus in my next blog.

Until next time, may you find ways to acquire that board game you’ve been dying to own.