Terrain at Level Up Games Duluth – Immersive, Quicker, & Cleaner
When you walk into a game store excited to get in a game of Warhammer or an RPG, the last thing you want to deal with in your limited free time is busted up and mismatched terrain that is scattered about.
It’s happened to us all:
“Oh dang, I can’t find any more fantasy pieces, so… I guess I’ll use this Cyberpunk piece… with graffiti art…in my Lord of the Rings game…”
“Oh, this tree is missing half its branches, but I don’t have time to look for something else.”
We have heard these kinds of stories from our customers and event organizers here at our Duluth location. Of course, with hundreds of players enjoying the space, accidents are bound to happen. Pieces get forgotten, messy, and damaged.
After looking around for a solution, we settled on a new terrain system that other stores have used to fix these problems for our customers. Starting Oct. 7th, Duluth’s miniature table terrain will be fully shifted to an easy checkout system to improve your play experience.
How Does it Work?
1.) Pay your $15 deposit
2.) Get your box(es)
3.) Play
4.) Return your terrain
5.) Get your money back to the original payment method or put it towards store credit if you prefer
Easy as that!
Players will head to our checkout desk and select a box (or boxes if the terrain set is multiple boxes) with staff. Each terrain kit will be color-coded to match the pieces found inside (a colored sticker will be on the bottom of the terrain pieces).
A $15 deposit gets you your terrain, and that $15 WILL BE RETURNED to you if all pieces of terrain are accounted for in the condition you check them out in. Normal wear-and-tear is OK, including scratches from model movement. The purpose of this system is to reduce the amount of terrain that has become “unusable” or broken.
The $15 deposit can be used towards a purchase you make during your visit or returned to you in its original payment form – cash or card.
The Old System - Mixed Pieces and Mess Taking Up Space
New System: Matching Terrain with No Side Clutter
Each Piece is Color-Coded With Boxes
New System: Easily Tell what Boxes Go Together with Color-Coding
Why Are We Implementing this?
We all enjoy the immersive experience good terrain can add to our games. Broken pieces and mismatched terrain can take you out of your experience.
Also, much of our terrain has been handmade or donated by our community members, who spend large chunks of their free time ensuring organized play and events can happen here at LUG. It is only right that their items are left intact with us.
Secondly, having terrain organized and out of the way will allow our event runners to easily work with clean tables and set out game-specific pieces efficiently. Less stress on them is always a plus!
Thirdly, this new system will allow for more table space, as mismatched terrain will no longer take up valuable space where players can place tokens, dice trays, etc.
Lastly, players can start playing quicker, as an entire table of matching terrain can be picked from. You will not have to hunt down “proper”-sized pieces, let alone an entire table of terrain. There will also be general terrain sets as well as more specialized ones.
FAQ:
Q: Can I still bring my own terrain?
A: You are welcome to bring your own terrain or buy terrain kits at LUG. We ask you to take it home when you are done so it doesn’t get mixed in with our own.
Q: So terrain isn’t free anymore?
A: Terrain payments are simply deposits. They are “free” in the sense that you get 100% of your money back in credit or back to your original payment as long as the terrain is intact when you return it.
Q: Is this system being used at other LUG locations?
A: It is not.
Q: Are mats tied to terrain boxes?
A: Many of our terrain kits can be used on multiple mats. Players may select any avaiable mats to best fit their game.
