Netherworld Games

If you go in expecting to find the latest and greatest in the gaming world, a friendly staff, and inviting atmosphere, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. The store is dominated by a bunch of folding tables that look like they were picked up for cheap at the local office supply store, the staff (if you could call them that) could barely be bothered to look up from their endless sorting of Magic cards to notice that I was trying to get their attention, and their game selection was what you would expect if a bunch of lazy people opened a store and bought the bare minimum replacement stock so they could call themselves a ‘game store’ with a straight face. Save yourself the trip and take your time and money elsewhere.

If you know me at all, you know that I play a lot of hobby board and card games. I have a bookshelf just full of hours of entertainment. When I found out that Madison has 5 hobby board game stores in town, I was pretty impressed and excited to check them out.
I wandered into Netherworld Games to poke around a bit one Saturday after the farmer’s market on the Square. The first thing I noticed is that it is very small and has a sort of «your mother’s basement» feel to it. The entire space smelled of body odor. In that tiny space there are about four folding tables that had multiple games of Magic the Gathering being played. There wasn’t much board gaming going on when I visited, but I didn’t really expect it on a Saturday afternoon.
The walls are absolutely covered with products, and I couldn’t seem to figure out a way in which it was organized. Behind the counter there is a large stock of Magic the Gathering products from the 1990s to present. If you are looking for something older I’m sure you could find it here. Of course, there is also a fridge full of energy drinks in the corner because yay for nerd stereotypes.
Any game that is new or popular on the shelf is being sold at the flat MRSP. You aren’t going to find any deals on games everyone wants to own here. I’m looking at you, Ticket to Ride, Catan, and others. If you’re looking for a deal on these types of products, you’re better off just getting it off Amazon.
The one interesting feature that I loved about the store is their bargain deals. The entire bottom shelf around the store is filled with games that have garage sale style stickers on them ranging from $ 1 to $ 20. These games are «bargain games.» We managed to pick up a steal for $ 2 while we were visiting.
So here’s my tl;dr for the lazy ones.
+ Good selection of Magic the Gathering Products
+ Awesome bargain «bin» for random junk you didn’t know you need
— Overpriced board games
— Very cramped and has very little play space
— Kind of smells like the high school boy’s locker room

Small place but has a nice geeky feel to it. They had some hard-​to-​find board games and a very nice selection of Magic cards. I did not like that they do not do refunds. I bought pack of Netrunner cards and when I tried to return them (unopened & sealed), they wouldn’t refund my money.
I did an exchange for the game Pandemic (which I wanted anyways) but it would have been nice to know their policy prior to buying anything.