What is it that you do or sell?
I’m the owner of MacGregor Historic Games. We sell board, dice and card games from the past as well as things like used tables that I “upcycle” with Celtic designs.
What got you interested in starting out in this business?
We began researching and teaching games of the past in the ‘90’s as members of a Scottish reenactment group. My wife didn’t want to be just a camp drudge cooking for 40 plaid-covered barbarians every event. But she didn’t know a period craft to demonstrate to portray other women’s roles. She did play Backgammon and Cribbage, and when we realized they both dated back to the period we were portraying, she started teaching period games to the public. I was working in a public library at the time, which helped with the research. Over time, people asked if any of the games were for sale, so we decided to design our own boards and began marketing them. We discovered an example of a board game printed directly on fabric in the 1790’s and we took the idea to create our own line of portable fabric games. After a couple years we were able to add our own line of historic and modern novelty dice as well as our own line of period playing cards. We bought our booth at MNRF in 1995. We now sell period playing cards to re-enactors around the world both retail and wholesale.
Do you travel and if so, how far will you go?
Usually the farthest we usually travel is a full day’s drive from Minneapolis. Currently our farthest show is an 18th century event in southern Indiana.
What advice do you have to give to others that are just starting out in this business?
Make sure your contact information is included on, or with everything you sell even if it’s just a URL.
What is your set up for your booth?
We set up several tables where people can sit down and learn to play various games for free in what we like to think of as a coffeehouse-like atmosphere.
Why Renaissance Faires or theme? What is it that made you so interested in this period?
My history degree was focused on Renaissance/Reformation Europe, and I grew up going to MNRF.
How else do you promote your wares?
In recent years I’ve been playing around with making some short YouTube videos art looking at my art process for larger works as well as our games and playing cards.
How did you find out about us?
The Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/18836104891/
How many Faires other than those you are vending or performing do you go to?
Currently we do 8 events a year, which works out to 14 weekends a year. The games fit a wide range of eras so we can fit in from SCA events up to 18th century and Fur Trade.
Plug your website or fan page here (or both)
Website: http://historicgames.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MacGregorHistoricGames
Tumblr Blog of work in progress and Celtic art/history: https://roseandpentagram.tumblr.com/
YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKIoVaAWsiRYTlmln0-ABcw
A/N – I actually interviewed these folks many years ago when I first started this page roughly ten years or more. I’m glad to feature them again! If you or your troupe/group would like to be featured, please reach out to us on the fan page – http://www.facebook.com/renperfmerch
