Two of the three owners of Myriad Games – Staten Island, an ill-fated retail operation that opened in January of 2013 and was closed around a year later, have sued the third in federal court, alleging fraud and breach of contract. 

The story began, according to the complaint, at a trade fair in April 2012, where Z-Man Games founder Zev Shlasinger, Myriad Games owner (and Game Salute founder) Dan Yarrington, and former Z-Man Games employee and eventual retail store manager Paul Gerardi met and laid plans to open a Myriad Games store, owned by the three, in New York City borough Staten Island.  Shlasinger was to invest $100,000, Yarrington was to invest up to $100,000, and Gerardi was to run the store at a discounted salary of $30,000 a year for the first three years. 

The partners signed an operating agreement in June of 2012 and formed Zap’d Games LLC, a New York limited liability company.  Zap’d Games then signed a Store Agreement with Yarrington’s Myriad Games LLC, which provided for Myriad Games to perform some services for the store and the fees for those services.

Things started to go bad almost immediately, according to the complaint, which alleges that over the course of the store’s relatively brief operations Yarrington’s Myriad Games LLC comingled funds for the new store with its accounts, opened a bank line of credit without approval, did not contribute its planned capital, under-ordered key products, fired Gerardi without authority, overcharged the store for its services, and unilaterally shut down the store sometime in December 2013 or early 2014.       

The lawsuit charges that Yarrington and Myriad Games LLC defrauded Shlasinger and Gerardi, or in the alternative, breached the agreement with the pair.  Shlasinger and Gerardi ask for damages of “over $100,000” each, and a jury trial. 

We asked Yarrington for comment, and received this statement. 

“We deny the allegations, but we will not try our case by press release.  We will present a vigorous defense in the courtroom, where the case will be decided on the facts.

“I have been in the industry for 20 years, since 1996.  Myriad Games has been doing business since 1999.  Neither I nor Myriad Games have been sued before.  We trust that our customers, suppliers, and vendors will rely on their own positive experiences.”