Nick Hughes
Opinion Editor
There is a game store in Lancaster called FarboCo, owned by husband and wife, James and Kate Farbo. The store was on East King Street in Lancaster city. In August the Farbo’s moved locations to a new spot on Grant Street.
Before their move, the Farbo’s had a small but cozy space. Their patrons used for playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) and Magic the Gathering (MTG). These are two of the biggest attractions at the shop. There are plenty of other games to play there too. The new shop location is right across from the north side of Central Market. There is a lot of room for patrons of the shop to do a lot of activities, such as the DnD and MTG, but also wargaming, workshops, writers groups and much more.
A previous Snapper article, elaborated on how Mr. Farbo started the business with his then-fiance, Kate Farbo. Mrs. Farbo helped out with a lot of the store businesses and continues to do so after their wedding. The couple strives for inclusiveness and acceptance at the shop. To promote this they have a code of conduct for customers to adhere to. The shop rarely finds itself embroiled in issues, this being due to the inclusiveness that the Farbo’s have worked to promote at the shop.
That is one of the best features of FarboCo, being able to be yourself. Both Mr. and Mrs. Farbo care about this issue. There have been complications at the shop, but the Farbo’s are adamant about taking care of these concerns with compassion and care. Mr. Farbo is a caring individual and it shows how he tends to the shop. The same is true of Mrs. Farbo. With their leadership, the shop has grown and prospered a cool place to hang out and be a nerd.
Speaking of being a nerd, the shop has a label of being a general nerdery. Like a general store, customers can find all their nerdy needs at the shop. A lot of charm is in the shop and it shows every time that customers are in there. Varied events happen at the store day-to-day.
The shop is open from Tuesday to Sunday and the Farbo’s have off on Monday. The shop usually opens at 11 every day. On Saturday and Sunday, the shop closes at six and closes at nine on the other days.
There is the traditional DnD days and traditional MTG days. MTG gets the whole day of Friday. This is for Friday night magic (FNM). FNM is an event held at local game stores (LGS) hosted by Wizards of the Coast (WOTC). FarboCo patrons love a format called Commander and they will play that on Saturday. Mr. Farbo has a unique system for Saturday magic that acts like an old 80s style arcade.
DnD features on almost every day at FarboCo. There are various homebrew games that dungeon masters (DMs) officiate. The Farbo’s work with the DMs to coordinate times to play. On Sunday, FarboCo has Adventures League (AL). The shop is currently on hiatus for the usual AL and has open play for role-playing games (RPGs). Some of the other RPGs that get played are Dungeon World, Pathfinder, Starfinder and Monster of the Week.
The shop has a website with their events. There is a wealth of information about the shop and products that they carry. Mrs. Farbo created a lot of cool products alongside other local artists. Handmade crafts and hand painted models are at the shop. There is a lot of talent for painting in the Lancaster area. FarboCo became a place where miniature painting is a fun activity to take part in. Millersville’s own board game club goes there every now and then to paint miniatures.
The walls of the shop have a great number of original art pieces on them too. All the pieces either hand painted or in the form of giant stickers. One of the coolest murals is one transferred from the old shop to the new one. It’s in the main game hall. The main salesroom is in as soon as a patron walks up the stairs and there is a private game room as well as a workshop.
The workshop is still in progress at the time of this writing but will be ready soon. The private game room has podcasting equipment. Customers can rent and record their very own podcasts.
Whatever nerdy activity that customers may want to do, it is almost a guarantee that FarboCo might have it. Call in to check and look forward to entering a world of Nerdery.
