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

In the back on the left we have Sharlene, Christa, John, and Lanie, on the right we have Tracy, Darren, and Simon.

Darren, Simon, John, Sharlene, Tracy, and Lanie.

Simon Hil

Simon works full time and has three published articles on gaming by Polymancer magazine.  British by birth, Canadian by heritage, Simon is the store Board Game expert. He does, however, know something about RPG's and Card Games, and is the store geek when it comes to Anime.

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.

Lanie Giesbrecht

The latest addition to the staff, Lanie was a customer some 10 years ago here and now finds himself on the other side of the counter.  Lanie now manages the fort and almost puts in as many hours as John.   Both an avid video gamer and most anything else gamer,  Lanie is planning on being on the best under 50 bridge team in Alberta.....An avid CCG player too,  he occasionly get sin on the Chaotic and Pokemon action.

John Engel

Store owner. 47 years old, tall, stark, and geeksome, John has a personal collection of toomany + board games and card games. And no time to play them...hence the store logo, "so many games....So Little time".

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

Christa helps out around the store with daily duties form inventory to till transactions, store decorations to website data entry. Along with her sister, she runs 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 Floria. She came in 3rd at the CDN Nats in Vancouver 2008.

Sharlene Engel

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 runs 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.