In our 10th year, Great Escape Adventures is a family owned Friendly Local Game Store with 4 Community Locations, and an annual Board Game Convention and Geek Adventure Camp in Upstate, NY!
Thousands of items to choose from! Tabletop Board Games, Roleplaying Games, Collectible Card Games, Games Workshop, Dice, Paints, Gaming Accessories, Puzzles, Melissa & Doug, and so much more to be found at Great Escape Adventures! Comics & Escape Rooms *Arnot Only Currently* If we don't have it, we'll do our best to get it for you!
Our Online Store features exclusive sales, preorder opportunities, and online-only discounts you won’t find in-store.
We also offer in-store only specials as well! Look for our monthly sales flier!
We are an annual fun-for-the-whole-family tabletop board game convention and geek adventure camp located in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate NY. In addition to tabletop games, LARP, and RPG’s, there will be other engaging activities, including collaboration with board game designers, workshops, attendee-led events, and board game playtesting. This event also includes primitive woodcraft, axe throwing, climbing wall, Finger Lakes nature trails, wading creek, archery, miniature painting, leatherworking, disc golf, pickleball, corn hole, GaGa ball, giant lego construction zone, and more. Join us for the whole event or join us for any day that works best!
New for 2026 will be a tabletop board game design contest – rewarding things like a free mentoring session with published industry experts, such as Rob Dougherty, CEO of Wise Wizard Games! In addition to tabletop games, LARP, and RPG’s, Great Escape on the Lakes includes collaboration with board game designers, workshops, attendee-led events, and board game playtesting.
The Y at Watson Woods is a YMCA 400-acre family event and retreat center. Corning, Watkins Glen, and Hammondsport are just minutes away, serving as the perfect places to enjoy Seneca Lake, Keuka Lake, Wineries & Cider Houses, Watkins Glen International Speedway, Watkins Glenn State Park, the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning’s Gaffer District world famous for glass blowing, and the natural beauty and rolling hills of the Southern Tier.
Join our Discord & Facebook Communities!
4 Community Locations in Upstate & Western, NY
Each GEA community location has its own Facebook. Please click below, and like and follow to stay connected:
Discord – Connect and chat with other players! Be sure to self assign roles for the store location and channels you wish to see.
Our tables are provided free of charge 7 days a week for all to come and enjoy their favorite game, or play one from our gaming library. Feel free to bring your lunch. Tables are first come, first serve.
Events – Join others for casual and “casually competitive” organized play in games catered to play with a community. Since each store varies, you can find a calendar for each location on the drop down above.
Escape Rooms
We have an ESCAPE ROOM at our Arnot Mall, Horseheads, NY, location.
Currently this is our only location, and the Mark Twain Escape Room is our most current escape room adventure. We are always working on something behind the scenes and have future dreams for more!
An ESCAPE ROOM is a fully immersive adventure game where groups of up to 8 people work together to interact with objects and clues to solve ciphers, riddles, and puzzles within a full size room or series of rooms.
The objective of the game is to attempt to solve the mystery and escape the room in under 60 minutes.
Have you ESCAPED lately?
Our Story
Great Escape Adventures (GEA) is a family-owned tabletop board game store with a passion for adventure and a heart for community. Today, GEA has grown to four community locations across the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate and Western, NY, and has thousands of board games and accessories available. We also lead an annual Board Game Convention & Geek Adventure Camp with a strong focus on LARP (Live Action Role Play) in a medieval and fantasy genre. We invite you to join us as we actively build an ever-expanding world, year over year, centered on the Kingdom of Dragonia. This world is loosely based on, and contributes annually to, an unpublished book being woven together by Ken. We are also designing a tabletop board game based on this same world!
We (Jen and Ken) grew up in Horseheads and Corning, NY, and have three children. On a family vacation “out west” many years ago, we happened upon an escape room. At the time, escape rooms were popular in Europe, but we had never heard of them. Intrigued, we traveled an hour out of our way to play, having no idea what to expect. We failed miserably that first time, but we had such a great experience that we couldn’t stop talking about it during the hour-long drive back to our hotel! Jen suggested we build one for our community, and a year after returning home, we began designing and building our first immersive escape room at the Arnot Mall in Horseheads, NY.
Our whole family loves board games so we added a board game “gift shop”, procured some tables, and began to build a growing free-to-play board game library. We welcomed local artists to paint some murals, and invited folks to bring their friends, lunch, and come play any time we were open 7 days a week. That turned into something we truly enjoyed and have carried forward in all four stores. We also now have free community “take-a-card, leave-a-card” boxes for CCG’s in each location. If your location doesn’t have a free community box yet for a game you enjoy, feel free to ask a clerk to start one. Players can donate their extras, and everyone can build free decks from them.
You are invited to use our space for tabletop gaming, birthday parties, and gathering with friends. We are often asked if folks can reserve our space, and while it is free to use, tables are available on a first come, first serve basis. Feel free to check with your local GEA store to ensure it doesn’t overlap with any store-coordinated events that may be happening at the same – and then come have fun!
We are so excited to be a part of offering something healthy and fun for the communities we grew up in. Many across the country have also shared with us that they do not have an FLGS near them, and they are thankful for GEA being their “local” game store. We are thankful for your support and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful community of people.
We look forward to catching a game with you! ~ Ken, Jen, and family
WHAT IS THE COMMUNITY BOARD GAME NETWORK?
The Community Board Game Network is a not-for-profit humanitarian organization that utilizes board gaming, adventure, and creativity to add value to local communities. Check us out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CommunityBoardgameNetwork
Community,
Geek Life,
Board Games,
and Adventure!
Our focus is to enable community connection in creative ways such as Board Game Conventions and meet-ups, Community Organized Play, “Live” Real-World Escape Hunts, and Escape Games of all types; including Adventure-themed Leadership, Team Building, and Educational Workshops.
Community Board Game Network events are intentional about nurturing a family-friendly environment that is mutually considerate of all people. Our desire is to add life-giving events to people and communities.
Community Board Game Network derives its funding from event admission fees, donations from “rounding up to the next dollar” at your participating FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store), raffles, and corporate sponsors.
Funds are primarily used to add value to local communities by creating and sponsoring local community events, keeping ticket costs affordable to attendees, and providing a reward system for GM’s volunteering to lead at community events.
THANK YOU for Partnering with us!
Life is beautiful. Let’s adventure together!
Ken & Jen Yentzer and family, Founders, Community Board Game Network
We are a family-run board game, hobby, and collectible shop with 4 community locations in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate & Western NY.
Stay Connected
💬 Discord (all 4 stores)
discord.gg/s2xPPFGfT8
📸 Instagram
instagram.com/great_escape_adventures
🐦 Twitter (X) twitter.com/GEA_GreatEscape
Facebook Pages
Arnot Mall – Horseheads, NY
facebook.com/GreatEscapeAdventures
The Shops at Ithaca Mall – Ithaca, NY
facebook.com/GEAIthaca
Parkway Plaza – Vestal, NY
facebook.com/GEAVestal
Walden Galleria – Buffalo, NY
facebook.com/GEABuffalo
Online Orders & Preorders
All preorders are processed online through our website. Please visit greatescapeadventures.net/shop for current listings and availability.
For questions regarding online orders and preorders, or if there’s something you’re interested in that’s not listed on our website, please feel free to reach out to sales@GreatEscapeAdventures.net.
General Business Correspondence, Marketing, and Donation Requests
As a family-run business, we endeavor to personally respond to each email as quickly as possible, however due to the volume of emails we receive there may be a delay in response.
For solicitations, marketing, and donation requests, please include as much information for our consideration as possible.
Questions & Special Order Requests
Arnot Mall (Horseheads, NY)
(607) 873-7108
The Shops at Ithaca Mall – formerly Pyramid Mall (Ithaca, NY)
(607) 319-4520
Parkway Plaza (Vestal, NY)
(607) 296-4387
Walden Galleria (Buffalo, NY)
(716) 800-7389
Local stores can confirm in-stock items, and can submit a request for a special order or game request for our buyer to procure.
All online order and preorder questions are unable to be answered by the local stores and should be directed to sales@GreatEscapeAdventures.net.