I'm not much of a board game person but some friends recently introduced me to Settlers of Catan and when walking past Hairy Tarantula I was thrilled to see a two-player variation on display in the window. Now, I'm used to spending time around a lot of really nerdy and geeky people on a daily basis, but the nerds and geeks I encountered upon walking into Hairy Tarantula on a Friday evening were of a totally different kind. There must have been around 15 guys - and one woman - totally and impressively engrossed in various card and board games gathered around a couple of tables and completely disinterested in us outsiders, except for one guy who loudly announced that his nipples were getting hard as we approached the back of the store with the proprietor, who was helpful and managed to find a unit of the game fairly easily considering how much stuff is crammed in there. There was also a sale going on (20% off the first board game, 25% off the second and 30% off the third) so we got a few bucks knocked off the price.
I'm a little perplexed at what I encountered when I googled the Hairy Tarantula website, though. Apparently the owner, Leon, uses it as a soapbox to express some views that I will generously describe as conspiracist. Example: "as barbarians continue to rain death from above upon Libyan citizens, the Hairy Tarantula would like to express solidarity with the people of Libya and Moammar Qaddafi." Criticize NATO, sure... but to express solidarity with Gaddafi and claim that "Libya was a free nation in the world with no bondage to the so-called New World Order"... well... I'm pretty sure those 1000+ people who were recently found in a mass grave might have quibbled with this definition of "free." I sincerely doubt the general staff of the Hairy T share the owner's worldview, but it's something to consider nevertheless.