BY ANDREW BAILEY
BG Independent News Correspondent
Bowling Green has a new trading card store, and it’s for enthusiasts, by an enthusiast.
Dustin Shammo opened Black Swamp Games on July 19 at 124 W. Wooster St., Bowling Green, after running his business through a website and at stands at markets for a year.
“I used to run that as ‘D’s PokéStop’ (named after the locations in Pokémon GO). I’d just sell all kinds of cards. I built my brand up kind of naturally that way,” he said.
The former Pokémon Trading Card Game competitor used to buy and resell cards to fund his participation in tournaments. After the coronavirus pandemic dampened his job search, he began buying and selling even more cards, which led to him making Black Swamp Games an official business.
He leased the location on July 1 after the previous mixed martial arts store had to close due to COVID. Shammo knew the space was perfect for hosting the tournaments and selling hundreds of cards.
Shammo has achieved his dream but hopes to continue growing with community support.
“Now I’ve got my spot. I have plenty of space to hold tournaments. Not huge ones like I want to eventually, but this is something for the next two years at least, I’ll be able to comfortably grow Black Swamp Games,” he said.
With the brick-and-mortar store comes more shelf space too. Previously, he could only sell Digimon, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Products. He’s since added Cardfight!! Vanguard, Dragon Ball Super, Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and various board games.
He hosts tournaments five days a week too: Pokémon on Mondays, the Commander format of MTG on Tuesdays, Digimon and Dragon Ball Super on Wednesdays, Yu-Gi-Oh! on Thursdays, and Draft Night for MTG on Friday.
He said his first large tournament will be for Digimon on Aug. 1, celebrating the prerelease of a new set of cards.
He plans to host sanctioned MTG tournaments as soon as his store is certified with the Wizards Play Network, which provides promotion of events and products, prize support for tournaments, and a spot on the WPN website.
It takes about three to four months and verification of the store’s viability to receive the certification, Shammo said. But once he gets it, he’s ready to take his store to the next level and draw even bigger crowds.
And he hopes a mural covering an entire wall will contribute to the draw too. The mural is divided into six sections, with each section commissioned from a local artist. It features each artist’s unique flair, depicting characters like Mario, Kirby, and creatures from the cards he sells. The mural also has the store’s mascot, Humphrey the Fat Knight, inspired by a design Shammo found online, with his pig sidekick Waddles from the TV show “Gravity Falls.”
“Every artist put their own touch on it, and it’s coming out amazing,” Shammo said. “It’ll be a great backdrop for tournaments, and just something that people can look at every inch of and find their favorite characters.”
The mural should be done in time for the grand opening on Aug. 7 and 8, he said. Starting at noon each day, there will be tournaments for various games running until “whenever. We could go all night if we have to,” Shammo joked.
There will also be raffles, space behind the store for people to eat and hang out, and a cosplay contest judged by the Lord of BG, who dresses in their own costume as a knight.
As a self-starting businessman, Shammo said he’s proud of how far he’s come from using his own money and getting support from his friends and family. And the avid players of various trading card games help reinforce that he’s where he should be.
“BG has big communities for D&D, Magic, and other games, there’s a lot of people around here who love all sorts of trading card games,” he said.
Beyond the grand opening, Shammo said he’s excited for the future of Black Swamp Games and to continue to grow. For now, he’ll keep flipping decks, and evolve his business one card at a time.
