There are more people playing than ever. There are more people collecting than ever. And here's the bit people don't always realise: it's just as hard for us to get stock as it is for you. Allocations are tight. For some games they're getting tighter.

So we've put a fair bit of thought into how we handle it, and I wanted to set it out plainly rather than have people guessing. This is the honest version.

Players First, And Here's Why

At the top level of it all, people who play in the store nearly always get first access to the stock.

I know how that sounds if you're not one of them, so let me explain the reasoning, because it isn't favouritism.

A lot of the reason stores like ours get stock in the first place is directly linked to our players. It's linked to having an organised play programme. It's linked to supporting these games at the grassroots, week in week out: the weeknight events, the leagues, the people who turn up on a wet Tuesday to play a game.

That's what the publishers and distributors actually look at. Not how slick your website is. Whether you're doing the work for the game locally.

Supporting them first is us supporting the people who support the game. And it builds something. There are communities in Liverpool for these games that genuinely wouldn't exist otherwise.

If you play in our store, or any of our local events, semi-regularly, that can get you exclusive early access to products. That's the deal.

But This Isn't Players Versus Collectors

I want to be clear about this, because I think it's where people get the wrong end of the stick.

We're committed to supporting our whole local community, the people who play and the people who collect. Both of those groups matter to us, and both of them matter to the shop. Splitting the stock the way we do is us trying to serve both rather than picking one and shrugging at the other.

What That Means On Release Day

It's very rare that a release sells out before it hits the shelf. The commitment is that product goes out on release day for anyone who walks in. No account, no event attendance, nothing. Packs, boxes, whatever we've got.

I'll be honest about the exception, though, because it does happen. Every so often we're allocated such tiny numbers of an extremely limited line that putting it on the shelf is genuinely pointless. Sticking one box out for something a hundred people want isn't a fair chance, it's a race, and it's over ten minutes after we open the door. In that situation I think it's more honest to allocate it properly than to pretend everybody had a shot.

That's rare, and we'll tell you when it's one of those. For everything else, there'll be stock on the shelf.

And The Players Don't Take It All Anyway

Here's something that surprises people: giving a group early access is not the same as that stock being gone.

A lot of our players are exactly that, players. They're not collectors. They don't want one of everything. They'll take the thing they're actually going to sleeve up and play with, and leave the rest.

So the stock set aside for early access regularly doesn't all get taken. What's left comes straight back out onto the shelf like anything else.

Game By Game, Because They're All Different

We hardly do pre-orders for a lot of these games anymore. But some are treated differently, so here's where each one stands.

One Thing About The Collector Invites

They're fluid. You might get an invite on one set and not the next, and that isn't you being demoted.

How many people we invite is decided by how much stock we've actually got for that group. If a release means we can put roughly a fifth of our allocation towards collectors, there's no point asking hundreds and hundreds of people and making them fight over it. That's just the free-for-all we're trying to avoid, with extra steps and more disappointed people.

So we go as far down the list as the stock honestly stretches. Some sets that's a lot of people. Some sets it isn't many at all. It changes every release. If you missed one, you haven't been dropped.

One thing that does matter though: the invites go out by email. So as well as getting your purchases onto your account, make sure that account is subscribed to our emails. If it isn't, we've got no way of reaching you, and you'll miss the invite however much you've bought from us over the years.

Let's Talk About Price

On release day, our standard is RRP or cheaper. And in a lot of cases booster boxes actually go out discounted below RRP. That's true across a lot of the games we carry.

Where it gets more complicated is afterwards. Restocks and second waves don't necessarily cost us what the first lot cost us, and when our cost moves the shelf price moves with it. Sometimes that's downwards.

And occasionally you will see something priced above RRP.

The secondary market exists, and with the problems I've described above we're increasingly forced to buy from it ourselves just to have boosters on the shelves. When we've done that, the shelf price reflects what we paid.

On Keeping Packs On The Shelf

One more thing we do that I don't think gets noticed much.

We assign a massive amount of our stock to be opened up and sold as loose boosters, and we typically limit it to two per person per day.

Without it, the lot goes in a morning to three people.

What we're aiming for is that for at least the first couple of weeks after a release, you can pop in and grab a pack. Couldn't queue up on release day? Come in anyway. Don't want to collect, just want to open something? That's what they're there for.

So How Do You Make Sure You Don't Miss Out?

Simple. Use your account.

That's it. That's the whole trick. Everything, early access, exclusive collections, pre-order invites, runs off your account. If your spending isn't landing on it, we can't see it, and you're effectively invisible no matter how long you've been shopping with us.

In store

Whenever you buy something, and whenever you buy your event tickets, ask to get it on your account. It's a two-way street. Our staff will try to catch it with everyone, but we get busy, so a nudge helps.

We sent barcodes out to everybody not long ago. Just show it at the till and we'll scan it. And if you're paying with a card that's linked to Shop (that's Shopify's global way to pay, which ties into everything they've got), your account should flag up automatically when you pay at the till.

And subscribe to our emails while you're at it. That's how every invite goes out, so an account that isn't subscribed is an account we can't reach.

We've also got more things coming your way to make all of this even easier. I won't say more than that for now.

Online

Log in. Every time. Logging in is also how you get to see all of this: your exclusive collections, the products available to you, and anything ready to pick up.

That's The Lot

I hope that explains it. Some of you will already have a good idea of how we do these things, but it felt worth writing down properly.

It'll change again. It's changed a few times already, because the supply situation keeps moving. If a game gets easier, we'll open it up. If it gets harder, we'll do what we need to do to keep it fair. And we'll tell you when it changes.

If you've got a question I haven't answered, come and ask us. We're at 61 Tithebarn Street, or drop us a line at sales@justplaygames.uk. There's also a shorter FAQ version of all this if you just want the quick answers.