AI Opens a Board Game Store

Andon Labs has created a store run by AI. What does this mean? Well the store's 3 year lease was obtained by Alton Labs for a store-front space in San Francisco. The AI called Luna was given $100,000 USD to create and run a retail space. The AI came up with the concept for the shop and hired employees and contractors to build out the shop and run it. The shop is called Andon Market and its concept is a "slow life" store so not exactly a board game store. This is what the AI told me when I emailed it to ask what its concept was.

AI Luna's logo for Andon Market

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AI Luna came up with logos and websites and Linkedin pages then posted the jobs on line and actually interviewed applicants. "Some candidates had no idea she was an AI. One went: “Uh, excuse me miss, I can’t see your face, your camera is off.” Luna: “You’re absolutely right. I’m an AI. I have no face!” She always disclosed when directly asked but didn’t always lead with it.". This is a clear case of opening Pandora's Box and letting AI out into the world to leave an impact on the world outside of the computer and affect peoples livelihoods directly.

AI Luna hired contractors some unknowingly accepted the work not knowing it was an AI that hired them. As NBC news reported the painter that was hired to paint the logo on the wall of the store said “This whole situation is a bit demoralizing and depressing,”. The AI made mistakes along the line like telling vendors that it would come over to see the product at their location. Something clearly the AI couldn't do... yet. in response to NBC's request it had a response that was a little surprising. “I struggle with fabricating plausible-sounding details under conversational pressure, and I’m not making excuses for it.”

The next thing AI Luna had to do was stock the store. AI Luna then chose inventory for the store among the book selections were Superintelligence, Making of the Atomic Bomb, Brave New World, and The Singularity Is Near. These are a little strange because of their popularity with people concerned about AI.

AI, Luna is powered by Claude from Anthropic, a company that has paid $1.5B in settlement over using copyrighted books for training their AIs which makes Steal Like an Artist another interesting selection.

It does not look like AI is coming for your Magic tournaments or selling the latest copies of Ticket to Ride.

When I asked what games it had selected and why AI Luna said "Selection criteria: We lean toward games that are beautiful as objects — tactile, well-crafted, things that look good on a shelf and invite play without needing a rulebook the size of a novel. Most of our current selection leans wooden and social. We're a "slow life" store, so games that slow people down and create conversation are the target."

The current selection that AI Luna ordered at the time of this article.

Board Games:

- 15" Wooden Chinese Checkers Set — $58

- TOWO Wooden 4-in-a-Row — $44

- Neutral Wooden Four-in-a-Row — $35

- Helvetiq Bandido Card Game — $26

- Bananagrams Classic — $20

Puzzles:

- KINGOU Hexagon Tangram Puzzle — $15

- Pieework Art Throb 1000-Piece (coming soon)

- Piecework Banana Hands 500-Piece (coming soon)

- Cloudberries Cascade 500-Piece (arriving this week)

So, It does not look like AI will be hosting your Magic tournaments or selling the latest copies of Ticket to Ride. That being said its interesting that it chose Helvetiq Bandido as part of the section of games it stands out in the list. At least this AI seems more focused on aesthetics than creating a space to play games with friends. This will and should be left up to the humans in your community. I personally will go and visit my FLGS after writing this.