I was just reading a thread speaking about some pretty horrible venues. I wanted to strike a balance and maybe create a resource for clixers.

I live in San Diego and a former New Yorker. I moved out here only 8 months ago. Hero Clix has actually been extremely helpful in helping me make friends and build a life 3000 miles away from what I knew.

SAN DIEGO has about 5 venues I've played at.

Game Empire ***** 5 Stars
Game Empire on Clairemont Mesa Blvd. is the best IMHO
About 12-20 people show up every Monday night. games begin at 6:30PM. Last week off the month is a DC event and Marvel rules the roost otherwise. Ages of participants range from 10 - 50 years of age. I'm 29 and honestly the kids here aren't bad behaved. they are polite and extremely bright.
The venue observes strict no mixing rules in terms of DC, Marvel.

Prize support is always LE's but boosters are always broken out and everyone gets a pick of a figure including uniques if they are pulled. Worst score gets first pick (not bad in my opinion) Fellowship is drawn randomly upon a dice roll. Also gift certificates are given to 2nd and 3rd runners up.

Well run, really nice venue with tons of space, nice players always glad to see new players and they are welcomed warmly.

Game Town ***1/2 3 and a half stars
Great Judge (Chris), great store, Gets a good crowd but the venue is simply too small. Located in quaint Old Town San Diego.


Wizards of the Coast Mission Valley Mall ***1/2 stars
Lots of space, friendly judge (Gavin) My only real complaint is that there is really no plan in what game will be played. Will there be a scenario? Is it constructed or sealed? What the point value? Nobody knows till you get there. That's a pain bringing your entire collection with you.

Cosmic Oddessy in National City *** 3/4 3 and 3/4 stars
Extremely knowledgable judge Shane runs the venue at a small yet comfortable comic store. Not a huge turn out but it tends to have interesting scenarios that change from week to week. Scenarios create interesting and fun gameplay.

Game Keeper in La Jolla -* (NEGATIVE STAR)
I cant speak badly enough about this venue. I played and came in second place during the Clobbering Time Marquee and still dont have my LE's I had also traded the winner my Nick Fury I had pulled during the sealed event. I still see that player and he still hasn't gotten his LE either so I got screwed twice. The venue treats clix players like garbage in comparisson to how they treat Yugi-Oh and Pokemon players.
This is all on the ocassion that they even go through with the event after sceduling it. Grrrrrrrrrr. I really hate this venue.

Name of the Game **
The First venue I played. Unreliable judging. Workers seem to care less about the event and therefore the clix customers.
They did give me the first place LE Dimitri for the Xplosion when no one else showed up. I had won Shadow cat the day before at Wizards of the Coast. I hear they're getting some new judging so perhaps they will improve. One can Hope.

I recently moved to Fresno Ca, and they only have one real "game store" here - Epic Worlds.

I have not played in any official tournaments, but the guys that run the store (it is a comic book store and a game store sharing the same space) are very friendly, fair traders, and run good stores.

They have a closet full of scenery for you to use when you play, and a half dozen tables that they make available to anyone - free of charge. I know they run tournaments (the recently had a Mech Clix one) and the people who come to play seem pretty cool too - no bad experiences yet.

Hey in central Texas one of the best comic/gaming stores that I have been to is Heroes and Fantasies-New Braunfels. The staff is great and they the issue of space that is not a problem there, they have a seperate store just for tournaments and open play.

Paladin Gaming in Bakersfield is a really great shop running tournaments once a week on average, sometimes twice. Official prize support won't hit until the start of July, but there have been some great tournaments with anywhere between 16-28 players showing up. The judges are fair and try to find the most reasonable solution should an issue come up that isn't clearly covered in the FAQs. As far as atmosphere, the store has a ton of space and can easily accomodate as many as 30 players. They have snacks and soda stuff available which is always a bonus as well.

I feel way shill-tastic after this post, but in the two months this shop has been around it's really been a blessing to a town starved for any sort of RPG shop for years now.

Lets give some places on the other side of the world some credit. The best place I've played at is Unlimited Hobbies Blacktown. It's a gaming shop that also has a resident gaming club so they have their own terrain, tables etc. Food and drink provided, lots of space, good staff and judegs. Heroclix tournaments are held there every two weeks with other players around for friendly games all the time. They charge 5 dollars entry for constructed events which goes towards buying extra prizes. That way everyone who plays gets something. Le's for first and fellowship and sometimes second place too. Fellowship is based on a voting system, you give your opponent a score of 1- 10 after each game with the highest scorer over all getting fellowship. Lots of good players with a variety of skills go here. Usually 8 to 12 players at each event, no cheesy teams, nobody I hate playing against. ***** rating

I live out in the middle of nowhere in St. Marys, Georgia. The only place here is called Wajawant Comics Plus. This place is great, they always have tourneys (at least one a day since they play so many different games). The owners are good people who trade well and give bulk-rate prices. The coolest thing, though is that on Mondays the shop is closed, but if you ask Jason he'll open the store to play what we call "Life-Sized MechWar". (Basically, the shop stays closed and we use the whole place to play 2000 point games of MW with up to 8 people.)

I live in San Luis Obispo and there is only two venues that I go to. Games Exchange in Los Osos and The Game Room in Grover City...err Beach. Both are really cool and I haven't had any problems. I've heard that the Santa Maria Kids cheat, but I haven't been able to play them yet.

Memphis Tennessee... Big Tom is awesome.

agreed, the new braunfels venue has a great judge and very friendly players. I've only been there once, but it was a great venue and i hope to come back soon for good competition.

although the $7 entry fee is the steepest i've seen around these parts to enter a heroclix tournament.

hey xavier the thing about the 7$ is that 5$ goes into a "pot" to buy boosters and all for 1-4 places, the more people that show up, the better prizes are offered. Thats why this place ROCKS!! ANd Xavier come down every Saturday. Sorry to everyone else.

I have played at a few in the Atlanta area. Here are my ratings for them.

Age of Excalibur (Jonesboro) 4 stars
-My regular venue, I am the promary Judge throught the summer, giving the regular Judge a break. Aside from a lack of space, a small store, everything is great. And I make sure everyone goes home with something.

T & T Toys (Gwinett) 5 stars
-Everything about this place ROCKS! Huge playing area, great prize support and friendly players. Only wish I lived closer.

Champions (Smyrna) 3 1/2 stars
-I have only played there once and it lasted only 2 rounds (came in third). Limited space (tables are rather narrow) but good support from the owner and the players are very friendly.

The Dragon's Horde (Stone Mountain) 2 1/2 stars
-This place, only played there once, gets a lower ranking due to atmosphere...or lack there of. The players and the Judge were great. It seemed that the store was a WWII left over though...eww.....prize support? Yeah...OK.

haha i wish i could, but new braunfels is a bit far of a drive, but you can expect me or my brother coming down in a few weeks for sure.

good venue: xcalibur in San Antonio, Texas
judge: top notch, probably the most well versed judge concerning the rules in SA. He ALWAYS runs tournaments that are not rushed and have ample rounds. also he follows the official rules EXACTLY. no screwy house rules that only long time venue players know about. this makes it extremely easy for new people that play to join in. tournament always runs without a hitch, on time and very fun thanks to this judge.

store: amazingly nice and cooperative. unlike other stores they seem to realize that the more hospitable they are, the more loyal customers they get. the store has lots of place to play and sometimes throws in a booster or two for the 2nd and another random player. NO CHARGE FOR THE TOURNAMENT... i've found it quite disturbing that some stores (especially a chain of stores in SA that will remain nameless) charge money to play for free LE's... but maybe thats because i'm spoiled by xcalibur.

competition: probably the best comp in SA. i'd say an average crowd of 15 or so. some of the players i noticed do take the game a little too seriously, but overall the atmosphere is fun while being competitive between players. i'd say almost every player is moderate to advanced skill level, insuring a challange every round.

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for anyone in SA or coming in from out of town for the weekend, definitely hit this place up for top notch heroclix comp.

Two venues in Victoria, BC, Canada:

Yellowjacket Comics: **** Four stars. Lots of tournaments, no entry fee, always have prize support, very friendly staff, knowledgeable store envoy and very supportive of the players. They lose one star only because they very rarely get tourneys started on time and their gaming space is very crowded because their store is quite narrow.

Curious Comics: **** Four stars. Again, lots of tournaments, no entry fee, always have prize support, very friendly staff, knowlegeable store envoy and very supportive of the players. They lose one star only because they schedule some really weird times for some of their tourneys (like 5:30 on a Sunday evening or 1:00 pm on a Friday afternoon to attract the kids during the summer, making it hard for us working stiffs to attend).

The local non-venue envoys are also really great; Jon is the town's 'main' envoy for many WK games, including HeroClix, and he's very knowledgeable and fair. Jeremy does some judging of HeroClix events at Curious and, again, is very knowledgeable and fair. And sometimes if they're not judging, they'll play, and both are great players, too.

Really, we've got it all in this town.

Two venues in the Orlando, FL area stand out

Every Saturday at 1 at "The Gathering Place" in Casselberry, FL - Great Judge Hideyoshi, usually have between 8 to 10 people, always have LE's.

And "Coliseum of Comics" in Orlando, also another great judge Todosi, usually 2 tournaments a week Saturdays and Wed/Thur during the week, you pay a small fee here to play but most of the people playing usually walk away with either a LE of booster, great place as well.

I'm going to second Termin8r's five-star rating for T&T Toys in Duluth. Without question the best prize support I've ever heard of, and a really great store staff. The place is louder than a Chuck E. Cheese fulla kids having birthdays, but there are some great folks playing good games.

I'll also agree that Champion deserves 3-&-a half. I'm not wholly pleased with the gaming experience there, but the prize support is pretty darn good. Heroclix clearly isn't as important to the shop as MechWarrior.

Great Escape gets 4 stars from me. While one of the worst comic shops in north Georgia, they do a fabulous job with tournies: lots of silly themes and scenarios, a good number of prizes, very friendly folks and a really great play area -- a vacant space once occupied by a travel agent with isolated rooms. Also, your $3 entry fee goes into a fund to laminate the maps and buy chairs.

Finally, despite being the best comic shop in tha ATL with the best staff, Dr. No's gets only 2 stars for its stinktastic prize support. If I did not live two miles from this shop, I would not play here.