US board game stores seal another clean sweep in latest GAMA Power Retail Awards

US-based board game stores have sealed another clean sweep of trade association GAMA‘s annual Power Retail Awards, which aim to recognise outstanding excellence in tabletop game retailing around the globe.

Arizona-based Silver Dragon Games scooped Retailer of the Year at this year’s awards, adding to the Innovation In Games (Retail) and Outstanding Store Design titles it won at the same awards in 2024.

They were joined this year by Illinois-based Fantasy Books and Games, which won the Innovation in Games (Retail) award, Minnesota’s The Gamers Den, which sealed Outstanding Contribution to the Games Industry (Retail), and Wisconsin-based Oddwillow’s Game Haven, which won Outstanding Store Design.

More than 750 retailers were submitted for inclusion in this year’s awards, with nominations coming from Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS) customers before being voted on by a GAMA committee of retailers and emeritus ‘team retail’ members.

This year’s Power Retail Awards also saw a special prize presented to awards committee chair Jax Ward – declaring her a ‘Knight of the Order of the Brass Squirrel’ – for her long-time service to GAMA’s retailer members.

Ward, who owns Crazy Squirrel Games in California, is a former GAMA board of directors member and ex-chair of its ‘team retail’ segment.

GAMA said her continuing service to the organisation and the tabletop retail included revitalising the Power Retail Awards and “promoting a standard of excellence throughout the retail community”.

GAMA president Nicole Brady said, “These retailers represent the very best of the global tabletop community. Their dedication to creating welcoming spaces and growing the hobby continues to strengthen the entire industry.”

The result is the second time in three years that US-based stores have won every category of the Power Retail Awards – and means retailers from the country have scooped 17 out of the last 23 awards handed out through the process.

That total does not include the 2021 Retailer of the Year award, which was presented to every GAMA retailer member at the time to recognise and celebrate them having survived the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Just one non-US store was among the 19 finalists for this year’s Power Retail Awards – UK-based Eclectic Games, which was the sole non-US winner in last year’s ceremony. Previous winners are not eligible for categories they have won, according to GAMA rules, but may be eligible for other categories.

Last October GAMA set its sights on becoming the “epicentre” of global tabletop gaming through the unveiling of its first-ever 10-year plan, which includes expanding itself into a global organisation. That expansion is part of its ‘second phase’ of priorities, slated for between 2028 and 2030.

Such international expansion hopes are not new for the organisation. Brady’s predecessor as GAMA president, Eric Price, said in 2023 that he was focused on growing the organisation’s membership and adding more international connections, starting with European members and organizations.

At that time about 90% of GAMA’s membership hailed from the US, with just 5% coming from Canada and 5% from the rest of the world.

US-based GAMA’s other projects within the 10-year plan include boosting its membership within both hobby games and the mass market, shifting its finances away from their heavy reliance on the annual GAMA Expo and Origins shows, and leading the conversation on sustainability within the industry.

Editor’s note: GAMA is one of the sponsors of the BoardGameWire newsletter.