MOOSE JAW — When former Salmon Arm, B.C. residents Aaron Soltys and Anup Hazuria were travelling across the Prairies and stopping at gaming stores along the way something got their attention — a drive around Moose Jaw revealed that there was no shop fitting the description.
The couple quickly remedied that gap in the marketplace with Sanctuary Games, which opened on Oct. 5.
“We were just on a road trip,” Soltys recalled recently. “My partner and I drove around Alberta and Saskatchewan and stopped at game stores in every city. Then, when we were coming back on our way through, we came to Moose Jaw.
“We drove around for like an hour looking for the game store,” he said. “Moose Jaw is twice as big as Salmon Arm so we figured it had to have one, and it didn’t — so we decided to open one.”
Soltys described Sanctuary Games as being “a bit different than a normal game store” and said he and his partner like to “keep it really diverse.” The store sells not only board games but also manga, puzzles, models, art supplies, plushies, and Sanrio products including Hello Kitty merchandise.
“It was kind of spontaneous,” Soltys said. “I used to move every year, and then we’ve been in Salmon Arm for like six years. I was kind of itching to move anyways and it just seemed like something we could do.”
Soltys was drawn to the big, open Prairie sky and said it makes a welcome contrast to the mountains that shroud his former home.
“It (Moose Jaw) seems like a really friendly town. It’s got all the small town vibes, and people seem to like small businesses. Everybody has been nice so far,” he said. “It’s a lot… busier than we actually anticipated for being a new store in a small town.”
Soltys was first introduced to the world of gaming at an early age when he learned about Magic: The Gathering. He took a bartending job in Salmon Arm and overheard a group talking about that very game one evening.
“I just asked, ‘Where do you guys play in town?’ They said, ‘Well, we play in the grocery store conference room because there’s no game store.’” He then told Hazuria and she said, “Well, let’s open a game store.” The rest is history.
Sanctuary Games sells Magic cards, of course, and Soltys is now running Friday night Magic tournaments at the shop. When the shop closes at 7 p.m., the space transforms into an arena for tournaments and around 15 guests have so far been in regular attendance.
“It’s a much smaller store than we’re used to, so we just built everything on wheels so we can bring out tables in the evening,” he explained. “We close the store first and then we can host events.”
Everyone’s welcome to join and all you have to do is drop by on any given Friday.
Along with rare and hard-to-find wares including Hello Kitty desk clocks and unique Sanrio luggage bags “that you’ll probably never see again,” Sanctuary Games is an official Adventure League store for Dungeons and Dragons. “We have the alternate cover Dungeon Master’s Guide that only got printed once and only goes to game stores,” he added.
The latest development at Sanctuary Games has been the introduction of a reward points system where adults get five per cent cash back and students gain 10 per cent back.
Sanctuary Games Moose Jaw is located at 11B River Street West and can be reached at 306-691-2025. For more information visit or follow ‘’ on Facebook.
