Who? What? Where? When? Why?

WHO:
Hi, my name is Blake Leasak and I am the sole owner of The Gaming Vault in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. At the end of the day I am just a guy who has played tabletop games on a semi-competitive level since a very young age (Probably ~10 years old or so). I’ve lived in Red Deer the majority of my life, only living in Calgary while I went to University. After school I ended up moving back to help my parents with their business. I entered this adventure with a friend, Bryan, he’s a great dude/friend and that’s where the last four years of my life started. We opened a store a while ago and here I am still going at it.

My favorite game right now is too difficult a question to answer. I think it needs to be broke down a little bit and given some context:
– Trading Card Game: Force of Will, FOW, is probably my favorite TCG, trading card game, at the moment. Followed by Magic the Gathering, MTG, and then most likely Yu-Gi-Oh.
– Board Game: Argent the Consortium!!!!!! I love this game. It’s basically an upgraded version of Lords of Waterdeep and I think it’s wonderful!
– Miniatures Game: Guild Ball or Warmachine. These are the most fun at the moment! Imperial Assault is also amazing!
– Role-Playing Game: Dungeons & Dragons or L5R (I really enjoyed this, but didn’t ever get to play it much)

WHAT:
This is the website for The Gaming Vault, I made it originally not only to be a place people can check out updates for my store outside of Facebook, but as a community hub that people in the Central Alberta Gaming Region can grow to use, love and communicate with one another. We’re aiming to put up content, and I want a lot of it. I want content for everything: games, painting, terrain, how-to’s, play-throughs, events, etc. If you’re interested in being a writer send me a message! We’ll almost always be looking to add something new to our content!

The store has been a passion of mine for a long time. I wanted it to be somewhere that I would shop. I look around at a lot of similar stores and it’s hard to justify the cost of things. I want to aim to make gaming affordable for everyone. We want people to choose us because our communities are great and we give amazing value for the money you work hard to earn. I will always aim to keep my prices low, that is my goal as a store and my commitment to my community. Money may not be everything, but everyone needs it and I want you to get the most from yours!

Almost all of our events are free. I want to build playing communities of people who are fun, respectful, new player welcoming, and excited to hang out with people. If you want to try something new, just show up and we will hook you up with what you need to play to test out the game before you buy it!

WHERE:
The Gaming Vault located at #130, 100 Kent Street, Red Deer, Alberta, T4P4E5. Central Alberta focused!

WHEN:
We’re going to be aiming to start putting up content as soon as possible. It’s a great project, and I hope the great writers I’ve recruited are as excited as I am to push out content. From our hearts to yours we hope to keep you informed and answer your questions!

Check out our events page for events at the store: Facebook & Website

WHY:
I wanted to open a game store originally because no one else in our city, Red Deer, would host or cater to any game outside of Magic the Gathering. I didn’t open my store with a ton of money. Bryan and I worked incredibly hard and long hours to get where we got to. When he wanted to pursue other things in life is when I decided I wanted to keep doing this. And ever since then I’ve been steadily increasing my inventory and growing my business.

This is an interesting question. I want to add a large community content portion to my website because I think it’s important for our city, our local meta, and our players. People enjoy reading articles and having access to information. It’s great for new players wanting to look into something new and fantastic for veterans who want a new look on things. Not only is it informative but it’s entertainment that I want to provide to our community for free! Remember that our content creators are mostly volunteer and they put a lot of heart and effort into what they write about.

~Blake