The EPI-log

  The Lost Adventures of Fblthp - entry 3 See previous entry here Fblthp has a new hospitality job? Lisa Cooke had finished her training and rushed off to her work at the local Hotel, she had only arrived when she went to grab her ID from her bag when she found a stowaway in her bag! Fblthp was busted, here is a photo Lisa sent me to report the out-of-control plushie. Now remember, I had thought Fblthp dead after I last saw him being carried away by a pelican, so to say I was surprised that he had gotten so incredibly lost and moreover harassing EPIC Ipswich's patrons, I did the only thing I could think. Like any homunculus who found himself without a job and indebted to someone or something (looking at you Azorious Senate), he was put to work. It began menial, helped Lisa and her lovely boss set up, placing cutlery and decorating tables. The menial task ran dry as both individuals realised a homunculus probably couldn't carry trays or walk around the floor when it was busy.  ...

The Lost Adventures of Fblthp - entry 2 See previous entry here First Aid trained Fblthp The Pelican swooped down and carried him to a new location. It flew higher and higher until it too was lost. Both entities could no longer see the water and only saw buildings below, with a mighty kick Fblthp indicated to the Pelican that he wanted to be dropped off. He stayed on the rooftop for a couple of days before someone went up to have a break, sneaking his way down into the building proper, he found himself in a seminar of some variety. Sneaking onto the computer he read up on some of the material discovering it to be none other than a first aid course. Adding his name into the system he was escorted to a chair beside one of EPIC's patrons Lisa Cooke. Lisa was enthusiastic enough to see the homunculus but couldn't understand his 'jabbering'. Not wanting to get picked for any answers he hid behind a workbook but was unfortunately singled out to answer questions.... fortunatel...

  Last weekend I went fishing with a mate. It started like any other fishing trip - I bought bait, snacks, gear and a nice chair. I went to put some bait on my rod and low and behold. THERE. HE. WAS. Fblthp had somehow ended up in my bag! I proceeded to do what any stand-up citizen would do when finding a homunculus in their fishing gear. I ignored him. This didn't satiate his curiosity, as he proceeded to steal my mates chair, sit down and start a conversation, taking in the view and scaring off the fish with his loud gutteral noises. Whoever taught Fblthp Mongolian throat singing, I will find you. I decided I'd try to calm myself as my mate caught the only fish of the day, I went to eat some of my packed snacks. He had eaten them before I could reach them. Agitated I went to put more bait on my line and would've proceeded to fish had he not eaten all the bait too. Annoyed I tried to use him as bait- admittedly this resulted in him singing underwater and scaring off the fi...

 Just when we thought Springcon would be the gift that has finally stopped giving (until next year), there was a surprise for us all on Saturday when our staff discovered that a local gaming podcast took an extraordinary amount of time from their podcast to sing praises about EPIC Ipswich. Most of the conversation that is detailed on their most recent trip to Springcon '22 was focused on telling their listeners about our store. The Benevolent Owners were so excited they even decreed that whichever staff member writes the blog should give them a shout-out to thank them for the plug. I just so happen to be that said staff member, and normally when I am so instructed it's accompanied by a sense of fear - this time I'm actually excited, these guys earned it. You may listen to the podcast here and if you ever get the opportunity, tell them EPIC Ipswich says thank you.  Your Friend and Ally, Lachy

Despite the age of this blog, I have still not written a blog for every event we hold, EPIC Crafty Creative Day is perhaps the most prominent one I've missed.  What is EPIC Crafty Creative Day? EPIC Crafty Creative Day started off as a concept way back when EPIC first opened, the premise was to combine Trish's Crafty Studio and EPIC on one day a month, where creative parents could craft whilst their kids could craft on minecraft (yes that was way back when we ran a minecraft server in store). Over time it transitioned into miniature painting for games like Warhammer, D&D and such using the paint supplies from crafty whilst the crafty studio adopted a crop day structure. Both retail and space for EPIC Ipswich and The Crafty Studio will remain open all day as per usual. The price? The price? oh riiiight, the price! Yes that'd either be your mortal soul or ownership of your first born child..... KIDDING! It's free with exception to hiring supplies and purchasing a mini...

  EPIC Ipswich was at Springcon this weekend! What is Springcon you ask? To oversimplify it, a bunch of gamers from Springfield got together one year, called it a convention and decided they'd host it in a school. After a lot of set up on our end - taking brochures, vouchers, stock, games, and some of our best staff and patrons to represent us. Saturday was a day filled with tables of community and competition. Star Wars Legion, Warhammer and your general games were played en mass. A lengthy day (9 AM - 5 PM) with the Springfield Gamers QLD and Beyond Blue representing our local gaming community. A massive thanks to Quentin, Bron and Gottie for assisting and representing EPIC Ipswich last weekend! Your Friend and Ally, Lachy

 There is a terrible terrible stain on my soul - As a long-time player of Magic the Gathering. I moved from standard and settled into Commander due to the ever-rotating legal cards in standard. It's the quick rotation of Standard that has made a lot of players and game stores cease their regular games of the Standard format. Whilst other formats have found little success outside of a few smaller communities, Commander became the main face of Magic the Gathering's community. Unfortunately, since the parent company of Magic the Gathering (MTG), Wizards of the Coast (WotC), have failed to sell their newest sets due to the failure of the standard format, their greed has destroyed what I'd argue as the last great format Magic has left - Commander. It all began with the concept of MTG Universes Beyond, a frantic cash grab to sell more products to fans of other series. MTG universes beyond introduces cards specific to fan bases like The Walking Dead, and Warhammer 40,000 and will ...

  It seems like a monthly tradition at this point - the store layout has once again changed for the better. The gaming wall is now one of the first things to greet customers when they enter EPIC for the first time.  Why the change? The Benevolent Owners agreed has enabled more efficient use of floor space and eye level. With board games, role play games and trading card games being the core part of the community we structured the business around - having the store's copies of games ready and available to play in a more accessible location further helps drive that point home. Plus it looks pretty neat too..... Your Friend and Ally Lachy

  TIKTOK on the clock but the party don't stop no ow-a-ow-a-ow-ow For those who follow the blog, you'll recall I may have mentioned that when the benevolent owners of EPIC Ipswich returned from their business trip, they were very changed people.... their eyes had shifted colour and they seemed to have renewed youth, resembling dashing figures in their late 20s - Needless to say I need their skincare routine but that's not what today's blog post is about. If you would like to read that article click here , however, if you would not like to read that article, you flatter me with your determination to read the words I am carefully typing as they look over my shoulder with terrifying smiles, full of joy, viscous fluids and sharpened teeth. No, today's article is to entertain you, today's article is about community and making 'fun' EPIC Ipswich's business. We now have TikTok Ladies and Gentlemen. Whilst it's early days, the benevolent owners were most...

You've heard of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, now make some noise for The Fresh Prince of Bell Street. The Benevolent Owners of EPIC Ipswich have been blown away by the love of our Lost-Friend Fblthp, we've even had people make fan art specifically for him (see the background of this blogs featured image). Well now, as part of this Blog, we are making a section dedicated to his adventures around our local community.  Expect to see him doing crazy shenanigans including beach trips and his run in with rival Plushie - Nicol Bolas.  To aid in our Fblthp-ing fantastic fanbase of locals - We even have a new facebook Page dedicated to linking everyone to upcoming blogposts, TikToks and facebook posts. The benevolent owners have even asked if Fblthp can accompany some of our most loyal and dedicated patrons on an adventure or two. Like and follow it now to stay up to date for fan-fblthping-tastic time (still working on it :P) https://www.facebook.com/FoundFblthp Your Friend and Ally, L...

Bingo has been a staple at EPIC Ipswich since it first opened, originally running 6 Games a week (3 in the morning and 3 at night during weeknights), now it sees over 100 people weekly for our Friday night Bingo and our end-of-month Speed Bingo, a late session after the normal Bingo held on the last Friday of each month. To the surprise of many, EPIC Ipswich merely provides the staff and venue for BINGO, it's actually organised by Shell's Team Cupcake, a not-for-profit organisation. But what is Team Cupcake and what is their mission? How did Team Cupcake come about? Team Cupcake Inc started out with a couple of friends and some family raising money to pay for a beloved friend's secondary cancer treatment. Along their journey, we discovered that there were many other people in Ipswich that need a little helping hand and sometimes just needed to know that someone was thinking of them and cared. And so Team Cupcake became incorporated so that they could help to ease the burden...

  Y'all ever heard of McDonald's? Maccas? Yeah the fast food chain. One man pretty much saw what they had done with their menu screens and asked himself "How can we make this better?". That was the point the cashier demanded Trevor pay for his McNuggets cause his daydreaming was holding up the queue. At least that's how that panned out in my head. Cut ahead to today and EPIC Ipswich has TV screens of the same quality around our Retail, Cafe and Greenzone in EPIC.  The screen in the cafe cycles through the different menu options we have available. The screen in the Green zone showcases the events we have on in our store throughout the week and as for the screen in the retail spot - it sits there and looks pretty whilst customers browse and occasionally look up at it, often thinking aloud "Oh hey, yeah, I'm in EPIC" before continuing to buy craft supplies or their newest set of pretty click-clacks (Gamer term for dice). So yay! New TV's. That's...

 THIS IS NOT A DRILL! THEY ARE BACK! Ladies, gentlemen, guys, gals and my non-binary pals. The benevolent and almighty owners of EPIC Ipswich have returned.  For those who hadn't visited the premises since last Wednesday, Trevor the Founding Father and Trish the Queen of Crafts, left EPIC Ipswich in the very reliable and most capable hands of their staff whilst they were out plotting... erm... I mean planning changes to the business in a conference down in Sydney. After the store nearly burnt down from a fryer being left on over the weekend and its panicked cover-up. The Benevolent and most gracious power couple of the store touched down Monday morning to say and I quote "Yup. That's a mighty fine store we have. Were the garbage bins emptied? Did someone eat my truffle? Did someone forget to feed the work experience people we have locked away in our office?". After finding all the staff members answers acceptable, they finally let me out of the cardboard box they'...

 It has been busy busy busy behind the scenes here at EPIC Ipswich over the past fortnight. Prep work for the Benevolent Owners shared vacation, juggling the change in the store's layout, new til systems, new television menus, and becoming increasingly popular. This isn't even factoring in the change in menu, or the upcoming events planned. We have been busy and you can trust I'll give you, loyal readers, a store update once we get time. In the meantime, our website has been updated by yours truly. When I first did the original website home page I had the essential elements, with a lot of my working hours, I've been making the website more streamlined and more friendly to our bandwidth. Please note, that the game pages are still to be updated to provide you more information about what we do here. In the mean time, anticipate big things on the horizon. I saw some streaming gear in the offices.... I suspect it will have something to do with videos on the social media end....

For those who have been with EPIC a long while you’ll recall ‘ Trish’s Crafty Studio ‘ was our sister business when EPIC originally stood for Events and Parties Indoor Center (Damn the owners really wanted that acronym). When EPIC rebranded so too did Trish’s transform into ‘ The Crafty Studio ‘ which is now our workspace that has a lot of the supplies in-store to purchase but is mostly a working space.  It is not uncommon to my ears that I have to explain that EPIC doesn’t have an Owner but rather Owners. Most our Patrons know Trevmeister owns it, yet I receive questions on who the other is – that other owner being Trevor’s own significant other and the wonderful creative bookkeeper behind both EPIC and The Crafty Studio – Trish! Today Trish turned the wonderful age of 29 for the somethingeth year in a row! How? Beats me, all I know is that she stopped counting and everyone else did too.  Trish, or as all the sacred paperwork in EPIC has her referred to, ‘The Almighty Trish’...