Kaohsiung Insider

Warning: This will be one of, if not, the longest reviews I've yet written here on Kaohsiung Insider, as Dwarf's Goldmine has a special place in my heart for many reasons, to be explained in the review. That aside, let's get to it.

Dwarf's Goldmine is a gaming store, and by gaming I don't mean video games. No my friends, this is a great place to come and hang out. They have a huge selection of board games (Settlers of Catan for example) to buy, as well as they have plenty of games you can use to play upstairs.

They also have a large selection of Warhammer Fantasy, 40k and Warmachine figures and models to choose from if that's what you're into.

Now as to why this place is so special to me. When I first moved to Taiwan, other than my wife and her family and friends, I didn't know anyone. After my first job here was a total disaster and I quit, I sat down and wondered what the hell I was doing so far away from home living in a place where I didn't have any friends.

Picked up a copy of F.Y.I. South and they had an article on Dwarf's Goldmine. I immediately saw the opportunity to meet some other foreigners, so started going to the store. As it turns out, many of my now best friends here I met because of heading to the store, and for that I'm grateful as now I'm thoroughly enjoying life in Taiwan, part of that is because I have such great friends.

Ok, enough sappy shite, back to the review of the store itself.

The owners of the store are young Taiwanese guys, most of them their English isn't too great but it's not difficult to communicate with them if you can't speak Chinese.

They're very helpful and friendly and will show you how to play any of the games you are interested in. They also have contests from time to time, including painting figuring contests as well as gaming contests for the different games.

The second floor has large tables and plenty of chairs to get your game on. Summer time can be a bit hot even though there is A/C in the room, especially if there are a lot of people playing.

Be aware it can get packed at times and it can get a bit noisy, but if everyone is having a good time playing games and hanging out, it's all good!

So whatever type of gaming you're into, head on down to the Dwarf's Goldmine. A lot of us used to be there on Saturday's but that's fallen out a bit, I'm hoping this summer to head back there each Saturday again to hang out, so if you see me there say hi!