My First Step Into a Smaller World, Part 3
I finally had my army all built and all painted and I was armed with and army list and a terrible grasp on how to play. I don’t quite remember the game of Warhammer 40,000 I played that first night but it was a larger multi person game and I barely did anything and I’m pretty sure I remember coming to the realization later on that my perfectly crafted army list was in fact illegal. I also remember that I was by far the youngest person there since none of my friends were present that night.
I’ll always credit those nights at Avid for helping me grow up. When I was dropped off every Tuesday I was treated like an adult and was expected to act accordingly. Brian, Dan, and Jarred, they were school teachers and they had to deal with kids like me all day. They weren’t at the game store to babysit me and nor were the owners of the store and they made that perfectly clear. And I got that message loud and clear after realizing I was that really annoying 14 year old that wouldn’t shut up for five minutes.
Tuesday nights at Avid would become a mandatory ritual for myself, Jake, and Rogers. We all ended up going to different high schools right after discovering this hobby which meant making different groups of friends and potentially drifting apart. But having Tuesdays to play Warhammer or Warmachine or whatever else allowed us to stay connected. I really don’t think we’d still be friends almost two decades later were it not for that.
Avid closed in August of 2008 and it only occupied maybe 4 and a half years of my life but they were some of the most formative years. Game stores become way more that a retail space or a hang out space, they practically become a place of worship and way more important than they have any right to be. We never found another local game store quite like Avid: The Game Store. Maybe the comparing every other store to my first one isn’t too fair.
Myself on the Left and Jake on the Right at Avid c.2005