Weekly Store Update: 6 March

By Stone Valley | March 6, 2022

Okay, the weather is so nice here it's hard to stay inside! Oh, what sacrifices we make for the hobby we love! While the game influx was a tad light last week, we more than made up for it with lots of other activities. Not to mention, our March board game giveaway is ending soon - jump on it now! See that, and other exciting store news. Check it all out!

INTRO

Happy tidings, and welcome to our weekly newsletter! For our new readers I'm Eric, and Wendy and I run Stone Valley Games. This newsletter is our way to discuss both local and world-wide gaming news of interest that popped up last week. It also provides our customers, both local and remote, some information on the going's on around here so everyone feels like part of the action! At the bottom of this newsletter we show you our restocks, new items, and preorders added to the store last week. Easy enough, right? Let's get to it!

BOARD GAME GIVEAWAY

Our March board game giveaway ends at the end of the week! CLICK HERE to go to the sign in page and find out more about it!

Some customers were talking about our giveaway of Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition and didn't realize it was a standalone game. Easy to understand, as Terraforming Mars has a slew of expansions. So, in case you were holding off thinking this is an expansion, know it is a reimagined game using cards to make the game much easier to tackle, but still keeping nice strategy throughout. It has been a hit with everyone reporting back to us on how it plays!

Even better, we are teaming up with Meeple, Myself and I for this giveaway. That means instead of one lucky winner, there's going to be two! We don't partner very often, so if you want to grab this game for yourself or to gift, sign up today, your chances of winning couldn't be better!

MEEPLE, MYSELF AND I: TOP 100 #85 - 64

Speaking of Meeple, Myself and I... Jason has recently transitioned from completely written reviews to podcast format, and there's nothing quite like it out there. In a good way! Jason continues his journey of his top 100 previously rated games. He's trudging thru the 'it's fine' section now. Also, he provides, as he always does, some exceptional insight into gaming, his own place in the universe, and solo gaming specifically. You can check it out here on Board Game Geek or search for Meeple Myself and I wherever you select your Podcasts.

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME

As I have been hinting and nudging, the weather here is turning warmer and warmer every day. We're at that wonderous seventeen seconds between the relative cold of winter and the stormy season. As Spring is hurtling toward us like a fastball, we took notice when a local team participating in the Cal Ripken Baseball league (ages 5 - 12) reached out to us for help. As the costs to participate keep rising every year, it's harder and harder for families to sign up.

Well, their request met several of our requirements. It's supporting the youth, it helps folks do what they love, and it's a wholesome activity that we'd be more than happy to have our name attached to.

So, we said yes! Here is a photo of the coach and her husband accepting the Stone Valley Games donation check from me in the store. Ultimately, our donation covers the team's uniforms for the 2022 season.

Not only does our donation help defer costs for the families involved, but also ensures any of their additional fund raising goes toward the team's donation to the North Alabama Foster Closet. You'll hear more about that a bit later in the year, as it's another worthy project! I have to say, it is your support that allows us to help others...and for that we're extremely grateful!!

PLAIN WHITE ENVELOPE +1

I saw a recent review that put it into perspective for me. They said that their delivery from Stone Valley Games was like a LGS in a box, and they couldn't be happier. LGS? It stands for Local Game Store and is one of many acronyms we like to throw around in our hobby. It basically means they feel like they're getting that LGS experience in how we processed and packaged their items.

Well, that's what we're aiming for! We want to bring our small-town gaming store swagger to everything we do, even our web sales. That means a little extra attention and TLC to the items going out.

To continue supporting that effort, I mentioned a few weeks ago that we were going to start adding some bling to our physical presentation for outbound shipments, and we just finished the first one.

The inspiration came from Wendy and I rewatching Game of Thrones and how all the houses use those wax seals on all their important documents. I thought something similar for Stone Valley games might be neat. I wanted something a bit distressed, visually interesting yet simple, and using our obelisk. And there it is.

I've added it to our plain white envelopes, which have immediately grown in power to Plain White Envelopes +1! Hey, gotta have fun with it, right?! You'll start seeing these in your packages, and we hope you enjoy the little bit of extra bling as much as we do!

THE WRAP UP

Okay, enough news for this week! Below are the Restocks, New Items, and Preorders added to the shop last week. You can click on the item to learn more, and many of the products have review and gameplay videos so you can see the game in action. If you're visiting our page and you'd like to keep up with our giveaways, sales, new products, and articles like this one just create an account here. Once created you will be subscribed to our newsletter and become enrolled in our loyalty system, instantly earning 50 Stones that you can use on your very first order. A Stone? One Stone is equivalent to One Cent. That doesn't sound like much, but you earn 2 Stones for every dollar spent and 5 for each product review, so though it may seem small, those savings add up fast! Redeem your Stones upon checkout, and they can save you up to 10% off your cart total. Loyalty Matters!