More people are playing and more people are collecting, and supply hasn't kept up. It's just as hard for us to get stock as it is for you to get a box. Allocations are tight, and for some games they're getting tighter.

People who play in the store. If you play in our events (weeknight events, organised play, league) semi-regularly, you'll get early access to products that are in short supply.

It's the honest answer to how this industry works.

A big part of why shops like ours get allocated stock at all is directly linked to our players, to running an organised play programme and supporting these games at grassroots level. Publishers and distributors look at what a store does for the game locally, not just what it sells.

So the players are a big reason the stock is here in the first place. Giving them first shout is us supporting the people who support the game.

No. We're committed to supporting our whole local community, the people who play and the people who collect. Both matter to us and both matter to the shop.

The way we split stock is us trying to serve both, rather than picking one and letting the other lose out.

Very rarely. Our commitment is that product goes out on the shelf on release day for anyone to buy. Walk in off the street, no account, no event attendance, nothing.

The honest exception is an extremely limited line. Occasionally we're allocated such tiny numbers of something that putting it on the shelf is pointless. Sticking one box out for a product a hundred people want doesn't create a fair chance, it creates a race that's over in the first ten minutes we're open. In that situation we think it's more honest to allocate it than to pretend there was a chance for everyone.

That's rare, and we'll say so when it happens. For everything else, including the big Pokémon releases, there will be stock on the shelf.

In practice, no, and this surprises people.

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

So the stock set aside for early access regularly isn't all taken, and whatever's left comes straight back out onto the shelf.

There's no application form. It's based on your buying history with us over time: how long you've been buying Pokémon here and how many sets you've bought into.

So the most useful thing you can do is make sure your purchases are actually going on your account.

And just as important: make sure your account is subscribed to our emails. The invites go out by email. If you're not subscribed we have no way of reaching you, and you'll miss it even if you're near the top of the list.

No, and this is worth explaining properly, because it catches people out.

The number of people we invite is set by how much stock we've actually got for that group. If a release gives us enough to put, say, a fifth of our allocation towards collectors, there's no sense inviting hundreds of people to fight over it. That's just a worse version of the free-for-all we're trying to avoid.

So we invite as far down the list as the stock genuinely goes. Some sets that's a lot of people. Some sets it's not many at all.

It moves every single release. Missing one doesn't mean you're off the list.

Not for a lot of these games, not like we used to. Where we can offer open pre-orders (Magic, Gundam, Star Wars Unlimited) we do, usually with a cap on quantity.

RRP or less. That's the standard.

In plenty of cases booster boxes are actually discounted below RRP on release, and that's true across a lot of the games we carry, not just one or two.

Restocks and second waves.

Once the initial allocation has gone, what we pay for a restock isn't necessarily what we paid the first time round. When our cost moves, the shelf price moves with it. Sometimes that's down, sometimes it isn't.

Occasionally, yes.

When allocations don't come through, buying on the secondary market ourselves is sometimes the only way we can get boosters onto the shelf. The price reflects what we've had to pay for them.

Yes, and we work hard to make sure of it.

We assign a big chunk of our stock to be broken down and sold as loose boosters, and we typically limit it to two per person per day. The limit isn't us being awkward. It's the only reason the packs last.

The aim is that for at least the first couple of weeks after a release, you can walk in and grab a pack. If you couldn't queue on release day, or you just want to open something rather than collect it, come in.

Not at all. There's product set aside for release day, several games have open pre-orders, and the collector route is based on buying, not playing. Plenty of our customers have never played a game in the shop.

And if you fancy giving it a go, you'd be very welcome. New players and tournament regulars get the same welcome here.

Almost certainly. It's changed a few times already, because the supply situation keeps changing. If a game gets easier to get hold of, we'll open it up. If it gets harder, we'll do what we have to do to keep it fair. We'll always tell you when something changes.

Ask us. Come and see us at 61 Tithebarn Street, message us on socials, or email sales@justplaygames.uk.