Tower Games

Tower Games is a tabletop game store in South Minneapolis that carries board games, collectible card games and miniatures. For card players, the draw is Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon, with a Pokémon League on Saturday mornings and a standing Magic buy counter. It also runs one of the larger youth Dungeons & Dragons programs in the area, so it suits families as much as singles hunters.

What's on the shelves

The core card games are Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon, and the staff also follow the Cyberpunk TCG. The store buys Magic cards any time it is open. Pokémon and other trading card games are bought whenever the card buyers are in, so a seller with a Pokémon collection may want to ask about buyer hours before making the trip.

Beyond cards, the stock covers board games, miniatures and Warhammer, with painting supplies to get a new hobbyist started, plus role-playing games and dice. Magic singles are sold through an online catalog. Special orders and preorders can be requested for items not in stock, with pickup at the chosen location, but the store does not take order requests for Magic singles.

Weekly play

The Tuesday and Wednesday sessions run until 8:30 PM, and the $25 is a monthly event fee covering a storyline that runs through the month.

Youth and teen Dungeons & Dragons

The Dungeons & Dragons program has run for four years and is the store's signature event. Tables are capped at 5 players so everyone gets time in the spotlight, and in-house Dungeon Masters run storylines that last the month. Every character is level 5 with no leveling up, which keeps new and returning players on equal footing. Sign-up is for a slot in a future month, and a waitlist is kept when tables are full. Players are asked to commit to most sessions of the month and to tell the store about any they will miss, so guest players can fill the empty seat.

The store provides premade and blank character sheets, dice and miniatures, so a child can show up empty-handed. New players are welcome, and arriving about a half hour early gives time to meet the Dungeon Masters. Guardians do not need to stay, and the Kingfield neighborhood has restaurants for parents who would rather wait close by. Guardians cannot play at their child's table.

Twice a year, in June and December, the stories from six months of weekly games end in a large dungeon crawl for all players from all tables, with prizes. It costs $50 per player.

Events and community use

A table fee of $5 per person applies on nights and weekends for open play. The store hosts community events on request, from tournaments to learn-to-play sessions, and the game room can be rented for youth events and parties: $50 per table for three hours, or $300 for the whole room for three hours. A party hosted by an in-house Dungeon Master costs $25 per child, and adult parties are available too.

A day camp for young players runs Monday through Friday, 12 to 4 PM, in three identical sessions across June, July and August. Details for 2027 are still to come.

Hours and getting there

The store sits on Nicollet Avenue in the Kingfield neighborhood, and a second Tower Games location in Bloomington keeps the same hours and runs its own Pokémon League on Sundays at 11 AM.

History

Tower Games carries on a South Minneapolis game-store tradition, following Little Tin Soldier and Phoenix Games on Lake Street.

The local scene

Comic Book College is the closest neighbor at 0.2 miles, followed by High Class Comics at 0.7 miles. Nokomis Collectibles is 2 miles away in Minneapolis, and Hot Comics and Collectibles in Richfield is 2.2 miles out. For a bigger floor, PokeConnect Card Show, about 14.8 miles away, next starts on November 6, 2026, and the Maplewood Mall Christmas Card Show, about 12.9 miles away, starts on December 18, 2026.