Sentry Box

This is definitely THE place to come for Magic cards. If you have something specific in mind, they’re very likely to have it. Great selection and the staff are knowledgeable and helpful for the most part. I only play casual format so I can’t review their tournaments and/​or game nights. One star off for the sometimes exorbitant pricing.

I am from Edmonton and so only visit once every 3 month or so… Have been in the habit of spending around $ 200 on Magic cards each time. Not this time i went on Easter Saturday and behind the counter was some young male I didnt recognize. When i asked for a particular card I got a sardonic «and???» As i did not know the set. He made no effort to look it up, or be friendly about it, just waited. I guessed at the set and he thumped a book down in front of me, still with no effort to walk the one yard to his right to look up the set. I finally had to ask him to help me and look it up he said «ok», then preceded to continue filing cards for a good 30 seconds before doing what i asked. Clearly i was a bother. I checked another card, and by then i had had enough and left.
It is really disappointing. Brenden has been a great help to me, but i will now be sticking to Phoenix NW for my Magic cards

Great Hobby shop reasonable prices Murray Choran, Great for nerd I like the staff

Obviously the best boardgame selection in the city (quite possibly the country). What I love even more is the bookstore inside the store dedicated entirely to sci-​fi and fantasy novels! A great place to spend hours browsing around in.
My only complaint is the staff — it’s like night and day each time I visit. Sometimes the staff are helpful and friendly, other times you get the stereotypical crusty, snobby gamer type who almost seems disdainful of non-​expert gamer customers.
Luckily, the selection is so mind-​blowingly awesome they could treat me like dogshit every time and I’d still probably shop there.

Blahhh! My inner nerd literally had a heart attack when my friend said there was a ‘nerd shop’ in town, and then just went and died when I actually saw the place! Biggest board game store in the world is quite a title to live up to, but you’d agree if you ever saw this place!
From board games and cards, to books/​comics and figurines. With a section of tables set up, its the perfect place to spend an afternoon playing and discovering games! They even had vintage games and consoles, including Genesis and NES! Man, does that bring me back!
Staff were very friendly and helped whenever you needed it! Prices are a bit higher than whats I expected for some games, as they are converted from USD.
A huge store for my inner nerd is exactly what I need in my life! Too bad this location is not exactly in my neighbourhood! If you’re into anything remotely ‘geek or nerd’, this will be your heaven, or Valhalla, or Zion… (You catch my drift? Hehe)

The Sentry Box has tons of games and books of all types. I love browsing through all the games. The have a good selection of Fantasy and Sci-​Fi books in the back. Their website does need updating though. I love dropping in to the Sentry Box.

Located near the Greyhound bus depot, the Sentry Box is the go-​to place for board games and tabletop gaming. The store itself is huge, with a massive sci-​fi/​fantasy library in the back (organized alphabetically by author), large board game selection in the centre, and all the tabletop gaming, warhammer pieces, and cards you could want. If you go up a staircase in the back, there is an entire floor full of military models and books that span hundreds of years of combat.
There is also space upstairs to play games, and I saw plenty of posters advertising tournaments and other events. If you’re into board games and tabletop gaming, this would probably be a good place to make friends as well.
If i had a complaint, it would be that the staff seemed to stay behind the counter, instead of walk around and ask if anyone needed assistance. However, the store seemed to be organized well enough that you could probably find what you were looking for without help.
In terms of hobby shops, the Sentry Box is fantastic. Definitely check it out.

I love Sentry Box and have for many, many years.
For decades it has been THE place for geeks to get their fill of board games, CCG’s, Warhammer, graphic novels, and other such geekery.
Not only do they have a huge selection of everything, they have an area to play the games they sell. They run tournaments regularly and you can just hang out to paint your models or chat about the latest whatever.
The staff are very knowledgeable and can pretty much tell you what you’re looking for by giving them the vaguest descriptions. They’ll also help you find something new if you’re bored with the board games you’ve been playing.
For the serious geek, they offer a discount if you spend a minimum of $ 300. So get your friends together and split the total.

The Sentry Box boasts a number of product lines of interest to a wide range of clientelle, from sci-​fi hobbyists to serious military researchers.
The store is divided into several sections; I’m most familiar with the military section, which includes a large showroom for military/​wargame themed games (both wargames and miniatures) which include both current titles and a very good selection of vintage games dating back literally decades. As well, an excellent collection of Osprey Men-​at-​Arms, Elite, Campaign and other reference book series, as well as a selection of military hard and soft covers both new and used, including very hard to find titles from publishers such as J.J. Fedorowicz and Militaire. The owner, Gord Johansen, has been part of the games scene in Calgary for decades as well and is extremely friendly and knowledgeable and will take time to answer questions, research inventory, and acquire products for you — just ask.
There are large sections of the store devoted also to sci-​fi/​manga/​fantasy books, games, miniatures, associated supplies such as dice, paint, etc. as well as space set aside in the store for game tournaments and other in-​house events.
Staff are friendly and generally knowledgeable, sometimes a little shy, and some of the vintage products are not always priced — this is the downside of shopping in a FLGS. The upside is that great prices can often be found from shopping in-​store — check out the bargain bins of vintage magazines and bagged games if you are a collector of such — much better prices than shopping online.
And speaking of which, all new inventory can be searched in their online catalogue before coming down to the store if you really don’t want to browse the shelves.
Last of the big hobby shops that lives up to its well-​deserved reputation.

The Sentry Box is a great place to come for your nerdy needs. The store is absolutely massive and packed full of stuff. They’ve got hundreds of board games, animé, pen & paper gaming books and supplies, sci-​fi and fantasy novels, warhammer figures, magic cards, etc.
Their staff are a little hit and miss sometimes unfortunately. There have been a couple times when I’ve gone to pay and gotten the silent treatment. It’s reallllly uncomfortable to deal with a salesperson that literally does not say a single word to you. Having said that though, this is usually not the case so I can’t really knock the store for it. Plus I’ve worked in retail, I know that sometimes you just want every customer to GO AWAY lol.
They also have gaming tables set up upstairs where you can play privately or join in one of their events. I haven’t utilized any of this because my friends don’t like to play here, so I can’t really say what it’s like.
Recommended if you’re in the market for any of this stuff, although you might want to have a general idea of what you’re looking for because this place can be overwhelming. It’s also definitely recommended for Warhammer players who want more than what Games Workshop offers. Sentry Box has loads of the metal figures, older stuff and even forgeworld.

Best and largest game store in the world. Fair prices, friendly helpful staff, selection beyond belief of games of all sorts, sci-​fi and fantasy novels, animé, and so much more. A manager imported from overseas is always around to make the store warm and welcoming with his intelligent and witty conversation. The owner is a generous supporter of the community without equal, as friendly and helpful as his staff, and a good person with a heart of gold.

What in the world is this place? I was across the street at Mikey’s for lunch and figured I’d stop in since I was in the neighbourhood. I’ve always seen the Sentry Box. I remember the Unilocal list popping up, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what it was.
If I knew more about games, I’m sure I’d be in heaven. But I don’t, thus the three stars. How can I give it a higher rating when I don’t really know that much about the subject? Granted, the rating may have been higher had someone actually approached me… but then again, maybe that’s not how things work in these types of stores?
At any rate, I soooo wasn’t expecting the store I walked into. First off, I thought it looked rather small from the outside, but when I walked through the doors, there was a half level up top with some tables (I’m guessing for games and tournaments and things?) and then a full set of stairs into a level below. This place is humungous! Games, games and more games. Game pieces, instructions, maps to things I’ve never even heard of. And then an entire back section full of books — an entire bookstore inside of the games store. Woah. The hieroglyphic sign on the wall was really cool though. I give the sign five stars.
I walked around to check everything out. This girl was overwhelmed. There’s an entire subculture I know nothing about, and I’m pretty sure a lot of happens at the Sentry Box. Do I dare venture back? I think yes. I’m now curious.
April Underdog Challenge: ⁸⁄₃₀

I nearly squeaked a bit when I heard about the Sentry Box.
EVERY game in print? EVERY? I didn’t believe it. I’d looked at the standard ‘games’ places for Ticket to Ride for my husband and I… with no success. That’s when I knew. I knew it was time for my first trip to the Sentry Box.
Now, fair warning, when you walk in you’ll have to make your way through a hoard of people who are part of games meetup groups. Don’t be intimidated though — just down those stairs is the answer to every single awkward dinner conversation!
We found Ticket to Ride (3 versions) no problem, and had to fight temptation to buy everything in the store.
If you’re looking for a game and don’t know where to find it, go here.

You know those stores that seem to have something for everybody? Those stores that you can walk in with a big group of people of all different tastes and interests, and everybody will leave with an experience that put a smile on their face?
Well sadly, Sentry Box is definitely NOT one of them.
Yeah, this is a total niche market store, catering almost exclusively to a level of nerd-​dom that almost assures most of it’s clientelle spent many an afternoon inside a locker in their youth. But if you’re one of those people, this place might as well have big pearly gates and a floor made of clouds.
Essencially the idea of Sentry Box is catering to the world of role playing, trading card, and certain niche board games. (We’re not talking Scrabble or Operation here.) and if you’re into that kinda thing there’s a 90% chance this place has what you’re looking for, most likely organizes playing sessions for you meet others of «your kind», and undoubtably have the most knowledgable and (usually) friendly staff you could ever hope to find.
Take myself for example. In high school, I got sucked into a trading card game that I hadn’t played since… but after looking at a few cards of the latest expansion set, my curiosity was peaked, so I headed down to Sentry and into the lower level to the card desk. At the time, they had a tournament going on and the sole employee of this department was catering to one of the largest gatherings of players in the city WHILE running the desk by himself. He still found time to answer all of my naïve, rookie-​like questions, give me a bunch of great advice on how to get started back (I gave away all my cards when I gave up the game the first time), and gathered every item from their stock he thought might interest me and laid them all out on the counter for me to peruse at my leisure. I’ve been to a number of stores that handled these kinds of games over the years, and NEVER recieved that kind of service.
Now, as for pricing I can’t really speak for the rest of the store, but as for the cards department I can say this much. If you’re buying in small ammounts you’ll pay pretty much what you would anywhere else… however, I’ve found that if you buy in the bigger product packs you will actually save a few bucks. It’s much, but it’s still a plus for ‘The Box’
All in all, if you play these kind of games and haven’t been to TSB… go. If you don’t? Drop by and check it out if you’re in the area. It’s still a really cool store in a fascinating building that I can only describe as a library of all things nerd. Just don’t expect to do a lot of shopping.

One of the best stores ever. You can find whatever you want here … and if, in a very rare circumstance, the Sentry Box doesn’t have it, you’ll see that they’ll order it in for you without a problem.

Calgary doesn’t do super well in the awesome indy shops category, but at least we have this place. I’m not into most of the things this place sells (honestly!) and I still feel welcome here and love visiting. Browsing at the Sentry Box makes me wish I were more into sci-​fi novels and fantasy games.
I do like board games sometimes, though, and their collection of quality board and card games is huge, so if you’re into german-​style board games, check them out.

I’m a geek, but not really a Sentry Box kind of geek. Even so, I still think this is one of the coolest stores I’ve ever been to. This store is huge, and it’s definitely the largest one of its kind that I’ve ever seen. They carry all sorts of RPG games (including military), cards, and accessories. They have tons of models and little miniatures too.
The book section is rather large, and they sell everything from science fiction to fantasy. They even carry Harry Potter, if you’re into the more mainstream stuff like me.
They have a lot of space here for people to play their games. The few times I’ve been here, there has always been some people playing either card or other RPG type games. I know they also hold lots of events that happen almost every day. You can check it out on their website:
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I don’t know if this matters much, but they sell chocolate bars and chips here too, so I guess if you’re hanging out, you’ll have something to munch on.