Hi Everybody,

Due to the new rules that came into effect in Liverpool in the early hours this morning, JustPlay's gaming tables are now temporarily closed and all in-store play and events are cancelled. Opening hours will be updated to reflect this. The store is still open for business as usual, serving all of your gaming and hobby needs!

Whilst Liverpool Council's Website states that Covid-secure venues (which as anyone who has visited the store will know, we are, and have been since) are exempt from the new rules, the government website on new Liverpool rules which were published with very short notice lastnight make no such exemption. Therefore, due to the large fines for businesses that break the rules, we have no option but to close our tables whilst we seek further information on this confusing guidance.

Any in-store event that you've paid for which is affected by this will be transferrable or refundable as you prefer. Contact us at your leisure to get this sorted. There's no time limit on this, though, so feel free to just ask to knock it off your next purchase or a future event entry at the time if you prefer!

We hope that you continue to support us and shop with us, even though you're unable to game with us right now. We lose a significant amount of our custom when we're not able to open for gaming, so we'd love you to continue shopping as you normally would, it would help us out a lot!

Regards,

Ritchie, Ian and Team JustPlay

Hi Everybody,

Our in-store play and covid19 page has been updated to reflect the government's latest guidelines and the "rule of six", so we thought we'd just take a moment to explain how this will work for our events.

First the simple changes, following government guidelines:

• You must only attend the store in groups of 6 or less
• You must not play or socialise with people from other groups - social distancing rules apply as usual.
• We require fully up-to-date contact information from you by law if you are playing in-store, so please make sure your account on the website is up to date (including name, address, email address, and phone number)

How does this impact events with pairings and multiple rounds?

We understand that events may still go ahead with numbers of people greater than 6 partaking in the same activity, as long as groups within that activity are limited to a maximum of 6. Therefore, effective immediately, all of our events will have some simple structural changes to accommodate this. Here's a couple of examples:

Magic events will be played within swiss pods of 6 people, with prizes distributed on a per-pod basis.

Warhammer Tournaments will be paired within groups of 6, with the overall winner of the event being decided using usual tiebreakers.

Magic: Commander Wednesday nights will still operate as usual, except both games on the night will be played with the same 4-person group

Check your events or consult with the staff member running the event for further info.

In Summary

These simple changes will keep events mostly intact and you'll still get largely the same tournament or event experience that you would have had before. All these changes do from a gaming point of view is slightly change the scoring dynamics and prizing, but in these unusual times we're sure you'll agree that being able to play and enjoy yourselves safely is the most important thing!

As ever, please let us know if you have any questions, concerns or feedback via the usual channels.

Regards,

Ritchie, Ian and Team JustPlay

Hi Guys,

Initially when we reopened the store after lockdown, we decided not to put on any weekly events, as we wanted to see what impact having the store open would have with only casual play taking place. We wanted to see how the new layout and safety measures would work for customers and staff, and decide if we were happy that our store was meeting Covid-secure guidelines. We're happy to announce that this has gone really well, and the procedures that we've implemented have been well understood and followed. In addition, the government guidelines have evolved, and we now feel that we're able to safely open for card gaming whilst adhering to the guidelines.

Initially we will be welcoming back our Magic the Gathering - Commander players on Wednesdays starting 2nd September, and the store opening hours will be updated to accommodate!

To maintain Covid safety and ensure that adequate distancing is possible, the event will be capped at 16 players each week and places must be booked online in advance - there will not be any tickets available "on the door". Games will be played on our 6x4 foot tables to ensure a covid-secure 1m+ distance between all players. Masks will be mandatory, as always. Please read our Covid guidelines and make sure you stick to them - our staff will be enforcing them rigorously.

You can find more information about the events and book your tickets here:

https://justplaygames.uk/products/commander-weekly-1

We look forward to seeing you back at the store!

Cheers,

Ritchie, Ian, and Team JustPlay

If your game or event isn't on our schedule yet, please be assured that we're working as quickly and as safely as we can to get back to normal. We'll post more updates as soon as we feel we can safely add more events to our calendar!

Hi Everybody!

We're happy to announce today that from next week, Thursday 30th July, JustPlay will be once again be open until 10pm Thursdays and Fridays and 10am-6pm Sundays.  These extended hours will also see the return of the much-beloved Paul Scott to the store (did you know he has a Twitter account?), and we're looking forward to having him around again!

Many of you have asked for these changes, and we heard you. If these hours work out well and we have a good turnout, we'll look at extending hours on other nights too until we eventually get back to "normal" opening hours.

Remember, though, that this is still an incredibly tough time for retail and we're no exception. We want the store to be open longer hours for you to use, but that can only happen if you use the facility that you've asked for, so please take advantage of it!

How about a little teaser to finish off? With the pending release of Indomitus and 9th edition Warhammer 40,000, we're soon going to be announcing a very special Warhammer 40,000 Crusade campaign, so get your armies ready! We'll also be announcing competitive leagues for both Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 and more events as capacity allows. It's been a real dark age for gaming over the past 4 or so months, and we're looking forward to blowing the cobwebs away and getting some games in, we hope that you are too!

Thanks for reading,

Team JustPlay

From 6th July, JustPlay will once again be open for gaming during our new opening hours, which will be extended to 8pm. We're really excited to be opening again and we'll have details of some Covid-safe events and gaming opportunities coming up soon, so be on the look out for those!

To keep everyone as safe as possible during these unusual times, we've implemented some new changes and rules. You can find them on our In-store Gaming during Covid19 page, and they're also summarised here.

We have already implemented safety measures in the store for shopping, and we'll be extending these measures to gaming too.

General safety measures include

• Increased cleaning schedule with staff cleaning and wiping down contact surfaces regularly, including wiping down tables between games
• Hand sanitiser dispensers for staff and customers at the entrance and around the store
• Social distancing for all customers and staff, with visual aids to assist you in maintaining distance
• Facemasks are mandatory, for the protection of staff and other customers

In addition, the following measures are in place to make your gaming experience as easy and safe as possible

• 6x4 gaming tables will be available, which you may use for any game you choose. Normal seated tables will not be available as they don't provide adequate distancing. You are welcome to play Commander, D&D, or any other game at a 6x4 table as well as wargames!
• Up to 4 players may play per table, following social distancing guidelines (see below). There will be 4 tables available in-store.
• Table bookings are now available online. You don't need to book a table, but we'd advise doing so in order to secure your table.

Following government guidelines, all customers are responsible for observing the following rules

• Maximum two bubbles or households per gaming table
• Maintain 2 metres social distancing where possible, and 1+ metre at all other times.
• Please avoid touching objects where possible - this includes but is not limited to other peoples' dice, miniatures, cards, or gaming aids as well as terrain. Avoid touching your face where possible.
• Please wash your hands regularly and/or use the sanitiser provided.

We look forward to welcoming you back to the store, from a Covid-safe 1 metre+ distance!

Good News Everybody!

In line with government guidelines, JustPlay will be reopening on Monday 15th June and we wanted to give you some information on what you can expect.

JustPlay will be open for shopping

The JustPlay store will be open for shopping as "usual", between 12pm-6pm Mon-Fri, and 11am-5pm Saturday. These hours may be subject to some change, but this is what we're expecting.

We will of course be implementing safety measures in store, some of which we'd already implemented before the lockdown. These will be clearly displayed on a new website page (coming soon) and on posters in the shop, but will include:

• Increased cleaning schedule with staff cleaning and wiping down contact surfaces regularly
• Hand sanitiser dispensers for staff and customers at the entrance and around the store
• Social distancing for all customers and staff, with visual aids to assist you in maintaining distance
• Limit on the number of people in the store at any one time (pending government guidance)
• Facemasks will be mandatory, for the protection of staff and other customers

We will also be adhering strictly to any updated healthcare guidelines as they are published.

For local customers, we also have a new and improved store pickup ordering feature on our website. Unlike the old method, this new feature will send you an email or text when your order is ready to pick up, and give you clearer notifications as to what's going on with your order, enabling you to order online in advance and limit the time you need to spend in store should you so choose.

JustPlay will still be closed for gaming 

Government guidelines still prohibit the opening of cafes, bars, restaurants, and similar leisure venues. We know that "games store" and "gaming cafe" falls into a grey area in these descriptions and it is certainly possible to "rules lawyer" what's written in the guidelines, but we believe it is important for safety that recreational venues remain closed. As such we will be opening purely as a retail store for the time being. The government's reopening plan says "4th July or later" for leisure-type businesses to reopen, and we'll be watching this for further developments.

New store layout

Given the above, we've decided to have a major overhaul of the layout of the store. We'll be expanding the shopping area so that social distancing can be maintained more effectively whilst browsing, and to help us with having the space to implement safe queuing. We'll post some pics as soon as we have them.

We're also going to be stocking a hugely expanded selection of hobby products - more info on this soon!

We're looking forward to getting a little bit of normalcy back, but it is important for everyone's health and safety that we do it properly and carefully. It's important for us to protect our staff and our customers, and these measures will help us do that. Undoubtedly things will continue to change rapidly as they have done in the past few months, so please do keep an eye on our blog for any updated information!

Regards,

Ian, Ritchie and Team JustPlay

With the slight easing of lockdown restrictions, we figured that you guys may like the option to get your hands on stuff™ same day and/or without having to pay for delivery. Therefore, as our latest "innovation" we're introducing the option for completely zero-contact pickup at the JustPlay store!

Placing An Order

Ordering is simple - just place a order, and select the all-new "Pick Up" option when choosing your delivery method:

We'll get it ready for you to pick up within the hour. Pickup will be available between 12pm-6pm Monday-Friday, Saturday 11am-3pm (as per our store opening hours). Please note that you must place and pay for your order online - there will be no facility to pay with cash or card at the store. You can of course place another order online via your phone if you get to the store and realise you missed something!

Collecting Your Order

We take Covid-19 very seriously, so we ask you to follow these simple steps!

• Go through the big wooden doors and ring the bell - the inner glass doors will be locked. Yes, JustPlay basically has an airlock for an entryway. We planned for global pandemics when we looked at properties.
• Let us know your order number, then step back outside of the store and close the wooden doors
• A staff member will fetch your order and place it inside the "airlock", then return inside the inner glass doors

We'd love to catch up with you all when you pick up your orders, but we're operating on a very skeleton staff right now and very pushed for time so please don't be offended that we're not able to have a chat when you pick up your order.

Hopefully this simple offering will make things a little bit easier and more satisfying for you guys when you want to get hold of items quickly Frankly we're hoping it will also help us get back to some normalcy in terms of store sales too; as ever we appreciate your custom and thanks for continuing to support us as we figure out the best ways to serve you!

We'd be incredibly appreciative if you'd share this article (or the Facebook post or Tweet that you came here from), or otherwise let your friends and family know that justplaygames.uk is open for business

For any questions or feedback please get in touch on Facebook or Twitter, or join us on our Discord Server.

Regards,

Ian, Ritchie and Team JustPlay

Hi Everybody,

We've just received news that Games Workshop are working on reopening their capability to supply us, and they are now allowing us to place orders with them again! I'm sure you'll all agree that this is awesome news as we were all getting a bit jittery about our Nuln Oil supplies drying up...

This means that as of right now all Games Workshop items are again available to order on the Justplay site. That includes models as well as Citadel hobby products!

We don't have an exact date on when orders will be shipping, and we'll let you know as soon as we have any further information from Games Workshop. Given that many products have been sold out for a while now and that manufacturing has probably been impacted too, we're anticipating a large rush and that many products will go out of stock quickly - place your orders now to avoid disappointment!

If you want to get regular updates as soon as they are available, you can sign up to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter.

Happy shopping everybody, we hope this will allow you to continue your isolation projects!

With thanks to the incredible Astartes for providing the top meme of 2020!

Hi Everybody,

Just a quick update from us today - unfortunately due to the volume of home delivery requests dropping right off, combined with our skeleton staff, we're temporarily suspending our same-day delivery service until further notice.

It continues to be a very tough time to be a retail store, impacted significantly by the fact that some of our main suppliers are currently closed and so we're not able to get a lot of stock. This has in turn meant that our orders have slowed to a crawl. We're hoping that our distributors are currently working on their covid19 operating plans and will be reopening when it's safe to do so, and hopefully at that point there'll be enough demand for us to begin same-day deliveries again.

In the meantime, we are still shipping via Royal Mail with our usual speedy service. We've still got great stocks of Hobby Products, Card Games, Board Games, and Roleplaying Games and we're still getting restocks of most of these. Asmodee/Esdevium are still trickling out new releases, Battlefront (Flames of War) are still open, as well as many other distributors so there is still plenty to choose from - and maybe now is a good time to try a different genre that you've not tried before!

With your ongoing support, we'll keep going through this crisis. Hopefully orders pick up again soon. Remember, if there's nothing that you want right now, you can pick up a digital gift voucher. If you're of a mind to, please recommend us to your friends if they're looking for something that we stock!

Thanks for reading,

Team JustPlay

Ikoria Prerelease

As you may have heard, Wizards of the Coast have now officially moved the date of the Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths prerelease. It will now take place on 15th May.

In this time of uncertainty, it is unclear whether the current lockdown will have ended by 15th May, so at this time you can still preregister for Ikoria by picking up a Stay-at-home Prerelease Ticket here:

https://justplaygames.uk/products/ikoria-stay-at-home-prerelease-15-may

If the lockdown has ended by this point, we will convert these tickets into a normal, in-store prerelease ticket at no cost. If you've ordered these tickets and don't wish to play in-store, we'll still honour them as stay-at-home tickets and deliver the packs to you. So please do still preregister with confidence and you can will get to play this this exciting prerelease in whatever manner best suits you when the time comes!

Mystery Boosters

We've been waiting on reprint news for Mystery Boosters for a while (and indeed, a few of you have already preordered some) and the second part of this announcement confirmed that they will indeed be getting reprinted and sent to WPN stores. Wizards will be supplying us with some of these for free as a support effort for the WPN (for which we are deeply grateful!), and we're waiting on news on whether we'll also be able to purchase them through distribution as usual.

In either case, we've reopened preorders for Mystery Boosters and you can find them here:

https://justplaygames.uk/products/mystery-booster-booster-display

These will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, and we may disable orders if we get too much of a rush on them since we don't know how many we'll be allocated, so preorder away whilst you can!

Thanks for all of your support, and we'll keep you updated on any further changes as they happen!

Ritchie, Ian and Team JustPlay