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What's new in January 2022?

Not a whole lot yet, so this will be a short post.

Like many, I was hoping that we were through the worst of the shipping issues and materials shortages, but it's still been very difficult. Quite a few of our favorite companies aren't taking orders until March. In addition, Sage and I will be out of state from the 17th to the 24th, so I had to put ship dates for the end of the month for what purchases we could make.

But, we plan on quadrupling our selection of Usborne books and doubling our board game section. We also hope to greatly expand our arts and crafts section. Ever since Karen's Crafts closed, Alton hasn't had a store dedicated to Arts and Crafts. We're going to try to fill this gap as much as we can.

We do have two new games on display, and they're both really really fun.

The first is Super Stadium Baseball. This extremely detailed game pits two players against each other. The fielding team can arrange each of their fielding players in different configurations. Pitching also has a lot of depth, in the form two levers that enable the player to make a variety of pitches (curve balls, fast balls, slow balls, etc.) For expert play there's also the "Miracle Pitch", where a ramp opens up underneath the batter. All the batter can do against these pitches is quickly decide not to bat and get a "Ball".

The batter has to use quick reflexes to decide if a pitch is hittable or will be a "Ball". They can also choose their batting angle, and if they want to swing righty or lefty. It's been a huge hit with the kids, and during this slower post-holiday season I've had a lot of fun being player two.

The second is Crokinole, a Canadian and upper-Midwest classic. It's sort of a mix of billiards and shuffleboard. Two players or teams take turns trying to get their pucks in the center to score as much as possible. The twist is, a player must bounce one of their pucks off of an opponent's, or their disk is taken off the board and scored as a big zero. The boards we carry our made in Canada, and are super quality. There's also a checkerboard printed on the backside of the board, so you get two games in one.


That's about it! Keep up with us on Facebook/Instagram or check back here next month. The next couple of months will be exciting ones.

~David