About MISSION: Fun & Games

MISSION: FUN & Games is a family owned store (a mom and pop and two tot shop) that began in 1990 in a small 750 square foot location on the south west side of St. Albert, Alberta, Canada.

CALL US TOLL FREE AT 1-866-379-1055, local call 459-1055

How We Began

When we started in 1990, MISSION: Fun & Games was a video game and movie store, dealing with the rentals and sales of VHS movies and Nintendo, Sega, and Gameboy games. John Engel, Tracy Robertson (now John's wife), Dan Matheson and Glenn Turkington built the store from scratch in the small vacant lease space in a strip mall on the south side of st. Albert. When Magic the Gathering was released in 1993, MISSION: Fun & Games took a leap from their current niche, and was the second store in the Edmonton area to carry it. They immediately began running events in the vacant space adjacent to the store and as the CCG category grew, the store became more a game store than a rental store. In 1996 the time came to move to a larger storefront and also give up the rental business entirely. This second location was 1050 square feet, and we had the space to begin carrying miniatures and role playing products also.

Only 13 months later, we moved across the parking lot to our present home, taking two 1200 square foot bays, and now adding even more board games, miniatures, and role playing to our selection. In February of 2004, another bay next door became available and we cut a hole for a door to the adjacent space. This became our main gaming area where tables and chairs are permanently set up. There is also a showroom for chess, poker, Go, mah jong, backgammon and cribbage in the new space. A special room for role playing and other unique use, about 8 by 12 feet, was set aside and renovated for use by role players in the new space as well.

In April 2007 a fourth bay adjoinign on the east side was added.  Mainly for shipping and receiving,  as well as inventory storage. 

The Mom and Pop and Two Tot Shop

When the store began, John and Tracy had been dating each other for a few years. John proposed to Tracy on a Scrabble board during a game on his birthday, and they married in September of 1991. They now have two daughters, Christa and Sharlene. Tracy is the avid role player in the family, while John is the nutcase board gamer. They both enjoy playing a lot of trading card games and classic games. John enjoys miniatures games, and occasionally role plays, and Tracy is vice versa. Sharlene and Christa are influenced by both their parents, and so are both avid boardgamers and love to role play like their mother. Christa and Sharlene enjoy playing Pokemon competitively as well. Sharlene, Christa, and Tracy all pitch in to help run the store significantly.

The Pokemon PT Cruiser!

In 2004, MISSION: Fun & Games was the only Canadian entry in a huge contest run by Nintendo. All hobby game stores in North America were invited to participate in the Pokemon themed event. The efforts of John and his family and friends, about 400 hours worth, went into a massive promotion they called T.E.A.M. Day (Tournament Event Aqua Magma) and they were extremely happy to be awarded the first place prize, which was the choice of either a Hawaiian vacation for 2 for 6 days with a rental car and $500 cash, or a PT cruiser that had been custom painted half red, half blue, with Pokemon signage and decor. The Engels chose the car!

The Staff of Mission: Fun & Games

Darren Skaggs

Darren has been on board full time since summer 08 and has incredible experience with most things miniatures,  roleplaying, and cooking.  He is a munchkin master,  dominating the Monday Munchkn events to the point that preplanned Skaggmann conspiracies.

John Engel

Store owner. 50 years old, tall, stark, and geeksome, John has a personal collection of too many + board games and card games. And no time to play them...hence the store logo, "so many games....So Little time".  Favorite game?   We you said he could have any number of players,  for any length of time, of any age group,  for any game,  he would say 3 -5 players fo Cosmic Encounter for 3 - 5 hours. Okay, 8 hours. Multi powers  Old school Eon edition round one, Mayfair Round two, Fantasy Flight games round 3.  Kickers in lucre in flares in, ...etc.

Tracy Engel

Tracy works part time at the store and has a great interest in Role Playing as well as board games, card games, and some CCG's such as Magic & Pokemon. She is a registered GM and often runs campaigns at the store.

Christa Engel (TOT#1)

Christa helped out around the store with daily duties form inventory to till transactions, store decorations to website data entry since she was about 10.  She became the master of the puzzle section of the store,  nurturing and maintaining its growth both in store and on the website.  In 2009 and 2010 she was a major contributor to counter sales,  inventory receiving,  and shipping.  She resigned at the end of January 2011 to focus more on her final year of grade school stufies,  among other reasons.  Along with her sister, she ran the Pokemon league on Sundays. Christa plays all kinds of games and came in 20th in her class at the Pokemon Worlds Championships in 2008 in Florida. She came in 3rd at the CDN Nats in Vancouver 2008.

Sharlene Engel(TOT#2)

Same as her sister, Sharlene helps out around the store with daily duties form iinventory to til transactions, store decorations to website data entry. Along with her sister, she ran the Pokemon league on Sundays. Sharlene came in 6th in her age category in the 2005 Pokemon CDN Nationals, and played in the Pokemon World Championships in San Diego in 2005 finished 34th. Since 2009 she has almost exclusively handled all work on the Dungeons and Dragons section in store and on line.  As of April 2011,  she is capable of almost any facet of the store's operation.  At 15, She is the most senior empoyeenow and Alex refers to her as "mini-boss".

 Richard Fisher

 Warehouse Guru and shipping expert, Richard is an old school and new school board gamer...whatever that means..He'll play almost any game,  any time.  His wife and 2 kids are avid gamers as well.  Despite his full time job, and busy family schedule,  Richard makes it out to Friday night gaming half the time.  Richard is a huge fan of our damaged , discounted games section.

 Dan Panamaroff

Dan is a teacher taking a break for his sanity. You can also find him on the boardgamegeek as "OrangeCat X", go give him a whistle. He is passionate about Flying Frog, Fantasy Flight, RPGs, Zombies, and campy boardgames with plenty of theme. If you buy the Zombie Jerky,  please do not taunt him.  This would be cruel and unusual punishment.