World Games of Montana: State’s Largest Game and Puzzle Retailer Keeps Things Kooky, Challenging and Cool

World Games of Montana

State’s largest game and puzzle retailer keeps things kooky, challenging and cool

By Brian D’Ambrosio

Steven Matthew Read’s life is all fun and games. And challenging jigsaw puzzles. And amusing gamer tournaments. And friendly competitions and board game demos.

That’s because, for Read, or “Smat,” as he’s known in gaming circles and by customers, engaging in activities that provide entertainment and merriment, is all in a day’s work.

See, Smat (the nickname Read acquired while in the Peace Corps a few years ago) manages World Games of Montana, the state’s largest game and puzzle store in the state, now in its fourth year of operation.

Indeed, Smat knows games like a sassy surgeon understands complex anatomy. From the particular style or manner of playing a game, to the way a game functions or flounders, he’s well-acquainted with every product in the store.

Believe me; I tried slipping a few scrutinizing shots past this game-loving goalie the Monday morning we’d met.

“What’s this Industrial Waste game?”

“It’s a game based on economics in which players try to produce as profitably as possible, but they also need to keep an eye on their waste output.”

“How about Louie XIV?”

“This is my favorite game right now, involving the bribery of French officials. It’s about power and influence in the French court at the end of the 17th Century. It’s an excellent time and a high level of tension is guaranteed.”

Hmmm..the fellow knows the inventory, doesn’t he? In fact, Smat started coming to World Games of Montana last year to participate in various game nights, and he was asked a month ago by store owner Jeri Fisher, to, well, hop on board.

And the store still offers plenty of extracurricular activities for a variety of different skill levels and interests: Tuesday is cribbage night; Thursday is strategy board game night; Friday Mahjong and Goa are played; Scrabble contests, gamer tournaments and chess matches are frequently held.

What’s most interesting about browsing the wide selection of options at World Games of Montana: it seems that today there’s more to game life than the unstimulating and wimpy offerings of decades past, like Chutes and Ladders or Candyland. Things have gotten intricate and complicated to deal with in toy land – in a fun sort of way of course. “Our focus is to bring people together, something not so easy in an electronic age. We try bringing people together in new, exciting and creative ways.”

There are many rich and interesting games available on the market using objectives that include excavating artifacts, discovering wind energy, running a new colony, and earning money with electrical power. One such game is Deflexion.

Deflexion combines lasers with classic strategy for an experience enjoyed by players of all ages. Players alternate turns moving Egyptian themed mirrored pieces around the playing field, and fire their low-powered laser diode with the goal of illuminating their opponent’s pieces to eliminate them from the game.

“This game involves armies and strategic configurations and capturing the pharaoh. It’s a modern day chess game. It’s a lot of fun.”

In the game Puerto Rico all the players are plantation owners in that country during the days when ships had sails and Columbus was curious. Players grow five different kinds of crops: corn, indigo, coffee, sugar and tobacco; they must attempt to run their fledgling businesses more efficiently than their close competitors.

“With Puerto Rico you make your own economy. Everybody is doing the same exact thing and the person that does it the most competently wins.”

Another ‘economy based game’, Settlers of Canaan takes place in the territory of Canaan, off the coast of the Great Sea. Each player represents a tribe of Israel as they seek to settle the land of Canaan. The game uses pieces and events similar to the historical scenarios. For example, players build the wall of Jerusalem by contributing bricks.

“Settlers of Canaan is bulldozing its way across the world. It’s like the new Monopoly,” says Smat.

If you like being presented with difficulties needing solution by your own ingenuity or patient effort, you’ll be mighty impressed with the store’s inventory of puzzles. Many of them are based on the artistic works of European masters. One puzzle has over 13,000 pieces.

If your brain has the necessary concentration components, you may be able to assemble a true masterpiece in the form of a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Mona Lisa, perhaps the most famous paining in art history.

Clementoni puzzles are sold at World Games of Montana, too. Using quality materials, beautiful pictures, elegant packaging, and a richness in printing, these exclusive collectors’ items come from the most avant-garde puzzle company in the world.

M.C. Escher was a Dutch graphic artist, most recognized for spatial illusions, impossible buildings, repeating geometric patterns, and his incredible techniques in woodcutting and lithography. The puzzles based on his work have intricate repeating patterns, mathematically complex structures, and spatial perspectives requiring a “second look.” In Escher’s work what you see the first time is most certainly not all there is to see.

Indeed, there’s a seemingly infinite array of silly and perplexing products to be discovered lining the shelves at World Games of Montana, from abstract strategy games, to classic games, to zany card games for kids.

And consequently, for Smat, there’s always a newfangled and funky game waiting to be opened and then experimented with. And then demoed and discussed.

“There are so many good games being invented all the time and I’m excited to learn about all of them. I’m looking forward to sharing that knowledge and enthusiasm with others.”