Local game store brings big and small games to KantCon this year

By Brendan Howard

Editor's note (July 8, 2026): Since this article was published, TableTop Game and Hobby has withdrawn from KantCon 2026. Facing a staffing shortage, the shop is keeping its brick-and-mortar store open during the convention and has donated its booth space back to KantCon for use by other exhibitors. We're grateful for their continued support of the convention and the local gaming community.

Every year, brave, excited vendors at KantCon pack up their cars, vans, and trailers and shlep merchandise dozens or hundreds of miles to show off their stuff to attendees.

Employees of 2026 KantCon sponsor TableTop Game and Hobby, however, only need to make a small trek: Their brick-and-mortar store is just three miles away from this year’s convention July 16-19 at the Overland Park Convention Center.

“Yes, I run the friendly local game shop,” said Walter Stewart, the shop’s co-owner.

Like years before, Stewart said that TableTop Game and Hobby employees onsite will be happily talking about, selling, and running games during the three-day conference.

What has Stewart a little thoughtful and sad is the death of some smaller companies making products he liked whose finances couldn’t make it through the tariff changes in the past year or so. Companies that bought products or materials from other companies may have seen moderate or sizable increases in cost. Some could bear it, some couldn’t.

“It was kind of the last nail [in the coffin] for the folks who made Spirit Island, which is one of my favorite games,” Stewart said. “That was a real bummer. … I don't know how long they would've held on without [the tariffs,] but it certainly didn't help. There are all these passionate people making these cool games and then just kind of getting hit by this out of the blue.”

Spirit Island creator R. Eric Reuss announced the closure of his company, Greater Than Games, a year ago.

Over the past year, Stewart has also seen customers and companies pivot to smaller, shorter-length, less expensive board and card games. He doesn’t necessarily attribute that to tariffs or the economy, but just sees it as the evolving taste of gamers. The tendency for gamers to preorder and support every giant game on every crowdfunding platform, like Kickstarter, has eased up.

“We had that grand post-COVID Kickstarter [period] where everyone said, ‘We’re all going to release these campaign games for $400 with a gazillion miniatures and play them for 900 hours, which I love personally, but the pendulum is swinging away from that.”

The big games still have a market—Gloomhaven still sells—but Stewart says popular card games like Flip 7 are easy to learn, quick to play, and make great impulse buys. Moderately priced and moderately complex games like Azul and King of Tokyo are also easy sells to customers who come in and are asking for a fun night around the table with friends, but not necessarily a months-long commitment to a longer game campaign.

Stewart has been especially impressed by how many games Asmodee has produced from their licensing for Lord of the Rings-inspired games—card games, board games and more. The Hobbit-themed There & Back Again by legendary creator Reiner Knizia has been a particular hit. The game’s “roll and write” mechanic—where dice are rolled, and each player makes their own choices based on the same dice—has been popular in that genre of games as well.

Cozy games—with easy rules, cute animals and art, and less violent gameplay—are a hit, too. Stewart has enjoyed Cozy Stickerville.

That doesn’t mean tabletop role-playing books and miniature games are out. Warhammer remains a giant seller at the store, Dungeons & Dragons lives on, and even the indie-RPG shelf continues to grow.

It won’t be at the TableTop table this year, but Stewart also couldn’t resist calling out a local competitor he loves, Level One Games and Mugen Gaming in Kansas City, for their upcoming work on bringing Japan’s own D&D clone—rich in Japanese imagery and folklore—to life in English.

“Sword World is this popular Japanese fantasy role playing game for decades, and they are actually working on bringing it over to English speaking audiences,” Stewart said.

TableTop’s table at KantCon and store down the road will be worth a look—and continued looks into the future.

(Note: We interviewed Davis in 2024 for a podcast about how he turned from customer to co-owner and what he likes about running the shop.)

BIO: Brendan Howard is a freelance podcaster, writer, and editor based in Olathe, Kansas. He was recently ordained as a rabbi by the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute in New York City. His podcast is brendanhoward.podbean.com.