EndGame

by Ken Tidwell, 20 November 2014

EndGame will be hosting the Oakland, California leg of the Global Pandemic Party.

Their shop is in the Old Oakland district of downtown surrounded by one of the largest concentrations of original 'post quake' buildings in the area. These elegant buildings were built after Oakland was destroyed in 1906 in the same earthquake that led to the San Francisco fire. EndGame is in the Swan's Market building, built between 1917 and 1940.

EndGame lives up to all this gentility with an elegantly appointed store brimming over with gaming goodness. Their range is admirable - children's games, card games, role-playing, tabletop miniatures and board games - but their depth is where they really shine. In the kids' game section they have obscure - and beautiful! - games from HABA. In board games they often have really unusual, small print run gems. This is a great way to bring back browsing!

EndGame's neighborhood is great, too. The Trappist is an old style pub with a big selection of beers on tap. Miss Ollie's knocks it out of the park with Caribbean food. And the convention center is just across the street (make a note to drop in if you find yourself there on business!).

Our host for the Pandemic Party at Endgame is Chris Hanrahan, co-owner of EndGame. Chris started playing games in 3rd grade with Dungeons & Dragons. He's now on his fourth decade of playing all sorts of games and has no intention of stopping anytime soon!

Chris sees EndGame as a 'clean well lit place to both shop for and play games.' Despite the pressures of being in a city center, the shop has managed to carve out a generous space for playing. They have something going on seven days a week. And they've recently Kickstarted a cafe to keep the players well fueled.

EndGame's play space is a great proving ground for game designers. Eric Vogel worked out the kinks for Zeppelin Attack there. Teale Fristoe hammered out his upcoming Shadow Throne there. Even one of Chris' co-owners gets in on the act! Chris Ruggiero co-designed Evil Hat's Race to Adventure!

EndGame's generosity doesn't stop with the gaming community. They host the Oakland Mayor's toy drive every year. And host many hunger related events throughout the year including game tournaments where the entry fee is a food donation.

And Chris is a Pandemic fan! Call him old fashioned but he prefers plain, base Pandemic. On the subject of the ebola outbreak, Chris says, "I personally am not concerned for myself, as we have the infrastructure to handle it. My concern is for areas of the world that don't. I hope this helps them."

Doctors Without Borders is all about beefing up the infrastructure in the hardest hit regions in Africa. They currently employ 263 international and around 3,084 locally hired staff in the region. The organization operates six Ebola case management centers (CMCs), providing approximately 600 beds in isolation. Since the beginning of the outbreak, they have sent more than 700 international staff to the region and admitted more than 5,200 patients, among whom around 3,200 were confirmed as having Ebola. More than 1,200 patients have survived.

And all that infrastructure takes money. Chris and EndGame have really thrown their shoulder into their Pandemic Party. They have contacted a few people in the city and some folks they know in the press to get the word out. And they have a ton of their customers excited and ready to come down to play!

Join those excited folks for a Pandemic Party at EndGame on December 7th

... and don't forget to donate on our donation page!