Diversions Puzzles & Games

Full disclosure, I love board games. I am a board game fanatic. While the other boys would lay in bed dreaming of sports or cars or whatever it is normal people dream about, my dreams were filled with dice and cards and colorful meeples. Needless to say, I love checking out the local game stores whenever I visit a new city. I was therefore overjoyed to stumble upon Diversions during a recent visit to Portsmouth.
Having been to what seems like thousands, if not tens of thousands of game stores throughout New England, I can say with confidence that Diversions is the nicest of them all. They have games for everyone — games for families, games for kids, games for adults who act like kids, and games for adults who act like adults. They’ve got the basics, as well as more obscure designer games. I ended up buying a game here that’s been sold out on Amazon for a few months.
The place is well-​lit and well-​organized, with the retail area up front with the dedicated gaming space in the back. There were a few event schedules posted around, so it looks like they do plenty of organized game nights and things like that. On top of it all, the employees were very friendly and helpful. If you’re into gaming and you’re anywhere near Portsmouth, this place is certainly worth a stop!

We live about a block away from Diversions and always make a stop in for our monthly game purchase (this would probably be a daily game purchase if my significant other didn’t keep me in line) — the store is everything a game store should be.
First off, the selection is very good, across all age ranges and genres. There is a section that caters more toward the younger crowd, as well as some party games and the collector editions of all the mainstream classics (Monopoly, Risk, etc) — but we are regularly impressed by the variety of Euro and Strategy games here, including a smattering of lesser known titles that we pick up immediately whenever they come in. From popular titles like Catan, Carcassonne, Pandemic, 7 Wonders, MTG, and Netrunner, to the random scores like Magnate, A Fools Fortune, Biblios, Babel, and a slew of others, you’ll find the perfect game for your group.
Additionally, half of the bottom floor of Diversions is setup with tables for gaming, and they regularly host a number of events depending on your interest. The staff is also very friendly and knowledgeable — they’ll answer any question you might have, as well as order anything they don’t have in stock.
One last plus is the reward system — if you are a regular shopper there, your purchases count toward eventual store credit, which lets us feed our neverending game habit even more!
Very pleased to see them doing so well — as someone who spent a lot of time in my younger years in long-​gone places like Comic Adventures and Jumpgate playing MTG and D&D, it’s nice to see a place now where gamers can go as well. Buy your next game here!

Games and puzzle heaven! It was such a large store, with a huge variety of games — words, cooperative, strategy, trivia, games for young ones — you name it! The best part of the store was downstairs in the very back, with several large tables and chairs for you to spread out with your friends and play one of their awesome games. They have several shelves full of opened games for you to try before you buy! The three of us played two rounds of Bananagrams, though Magic was already out on the table before us. An employee came by and cleared it away and was so friendly about it, too.
Another cool thing was that they had a small jar of extra Scrabble letters. Take only what you need! I’m not sure who is so irresponsible as to lose their letters buuuut if you happen to, you know where to go for an odd letter or two. Suh-​weet!
Definitely stop by if you’re in the area!

Totally retro, not for video gamers.
I am afraid this will not last… try it before it closes.

Diversions is great. It has a nice, well-​organized variety of toys, puzzles, and games for the casual gamer, social gamer, strategy gamer, your kids, etc. The store is brightly lit, easy to walk through, and welcoming. I saw lots of parents with their kids in the store today.
And as you walk to the back of the store, you will discover the stairs going down to another large area with a number of gaming tables, a blackboard with the upcoming events, a lot more strategy games, and a big assortment of puzzles. Turn around to go back upstairs, and you’ll see a bookcase with many games available to open, peruse, and try out.
Their website is fun, but I’d like to see it get even better. It appears they regularly have survey questions you can take, and their event calendar is online. They detail lots of popular games, but not necessarily an inventory of what they currently have in stock — but I guess they’d rather you come in to look around instead, and I don’t blame them!

We love Diversions ever since we discovered it last year on the Portsmouth events calendar, where we saw that they host game nights couple times a month!
The people that work there are very passionate and knowledgable about all kinds of games. Their enthusiasm rubs off on you really quick.
We are not experts at a lot of games but are curious to try new ones, the staff is very good at gauging what you might enjoy and recommending something for you.
We’ve since played there a handful of times and bought a bunch of games and puzzles.
I always tell my friends with kids to take them to Diversions to enjoy the amazing atmosphere. It piques your interest from get go, instead of the cold industrial aisles of the big warehouse stores.
They have a lot of open games so you can try before you buy.
They also have a store loyalty system so you get a gift certificate after a certain amount of purchases.

My first impression of Diversions is really positive. If you’re looking for games and puzzles and the stuff at G. Wilikers and Treehouse seems to be aimed at kids that are younger than you’d like, check out Diversions. If you’re looking for stocking stuffers and brain teasers for the Sheldon Coopers in your life, you don’t want to miss this place.
I love those other stores, but they’re really full of kid stuff. Seriously, look around and see what you think. My only concern is that the rents on Congress St. are really expensive and businesses come and go because the rent is so high. If you like what you see at Diversions, support them because they’re a really positive addition to the neighborhood.