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Longtime gamer opens store, Fate and Fury Games

By Robert Burdick for The Columbian
Published: June 14, 2016, 6:00am

Joseph Cochran, a longtime member of the Vancouver gaming community, has opened a new gaming emporium, Fate and Fury Games.

The new store, located in a modest strip mall just west of Northeast 112th Avenue and Burton Road, opened about a month and is drawing increasing numbers of players, Cochran said.

The shop is not a glitzy arcade filled with deafening video games. In fact, even with eight or 10 game players, the atmosphere is one of quiet concentration. Twelve tables slightly smaller than those used for table tennis are placed along walls and in the center of the room. A 3-D computer/printer used to manufacture various miniature figurines and structures hums in the corner. Gamers focus intently on cards and 20-sided dice. Quiet exchanges pertinent to strategy are held.

Fate and Fury Games is a venue for those who enjoy fantasy card games such as Magic: The Gathering, and role-playing or board games such as Dungeons and Dragons or Infinity, a miniature war game. It’s a place to meet and build gaming skills in heads-up competition, Cochran said.

With a growing inventory of game cards, rule books, figurines and various miniature props for military games, such as storage containers, oil tanks and platforms, Cochran said he is dedicated to building an environment where gamers can expand their skills and meet others with similar interests.

Cochran’s personal collection of more than 300,000 Magic cards is now part of the store’s inventory, he said. Rare Magic game cards from long-past issues of the game can be worth thousands of dollars to avid players and collectors, he said. Making his personal collection available for sale at affordable prices is one way Cochran hopes to promote and serve the gaming community.

Leagues, tournaments

Open 3 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 3 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays, and from 3 to 10 p.m. Sundays, Fate and Fury Games sponsors a number of leagues and tournaments weekly. Those include a Dungeons and Dragons Adventure League on Wednesdays; the Infinity League on Thursdays; Friday Night Magic at 6 p.m.; and Late Night Commander from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday.

Up to 30 people regularly participate in these games, and more are coming in each week as word of the new business spreads, Cochran said. The business website is www.fateandfurygames.com.

Cochran started gaming in 1993 with Magic: The Gathering, and has been involved in all aspects of gaming since. In 2004, he opened his first eBay store while working full-time as an apprentice ironworker in Portland.

“I started selling game content from games I played, such as ‘Ultima Online,’ ‘World of Warcraft,’ ‘Star Wars Galaxies’ and ‘Diablo 2,’ ” he says. “I then started to sell toys I picked up over the years at swap meets, conventions and other hobby shops. And subsequently I began to sell items such as Micro Machines, Star Wars, Transformers and GI Joes.”

Cochran, now a journeyman ironworker, decided to start Fate and Fury while on extended disability leave, the result of a workplace injury he suffered while building a rounder crane a year ago. He has been undergoing intensive rehabilitation therapy and hopes he can return to work within the next year.

He described Fate and Fury as “a true mom-and-pop shop that doesn’t believe in competition with other gaming stores — just good people and fun play.” He said he’s interested in building the gaming community as a whole, especially now that more and more gamers are comfortable identifying with their interest in gaming.

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