attention gamers: The Battle Grounds just became your new hang out
Michal Elseth
Issue date: 9/24/09 Section: Focus
Attention gamers: the Battle Grounds just became your new hangout. Howell Street's new gaming store, which opened right downtown this June, sells gaming decks, board games and role-playing games.
The place has a quiet air, aside from occasional outbursts from players involved in heated games. Owner Sheila Fox said her husband's love for the game Magic the Gathering inspired her to open the store, and so far business has been good.
The hangout also features plenty of room to play games brought from home, with several tables along one wall under game posters.
"There's always someone down here wanting to play," Fox said. At one of the gaming tables, an evening game of Magic rages on.
"I'm going to kill him next turn!" one of the players says, as the others laugh and eagerly pull out their best cards.
This is a familiar scene to Fox, who said these particular customers come often to play against each other.
The store stocks a wide variety of offbeat games for purchase, including Settlers of Catan and every possible variation of Munchkin, a role-playing card game in which the players defeat ridiculous monsters with strange weapons like stinky feet and the hammer of ugliness. Some of the variations on the shelves: Star Munchkin, Munchkin Impossible, Munchkin Fu, Munchkin Booty, Munchkin Blender, Munchkin Bites - the list goes on.
The Munchkin game extravaganza lines the far end of one wall, next to card games, booster packs, and role-playing games with their manuals. Warhammer, Dungeons and Dragons, and Magic the Gathering posters adorn the walls, and a table of dime-card boxes sits next to the counter.
The rest of the store is given over to gaming tables.
Fox said the back room, dedicated to role-playing games, also gets a lot of use, especially on the weekends.
She said several customers are in and out every day, playing games, buying decks and even participating in tournaments.
The Battle Grounds attracts more than just Magic gamers, Fox said. One of her regular weekend customers brings her own board games for public use, adding to Fox's limited arsenal of board games available for customer use.
"We play Dungeons and Dragons, Magic, GURTS," said Hillsdale local resident Allen Ely, battling his son, Ryan, in the realm of Magic.
Fox said she has plans to add more games to attract people looking for a place to play games they might not own. This would allow a group of students to drop in on a Saturday afternoon and borrow a game for a few hours, try out new games, and have a place to hang out off-campus.
"It's nicer to lose against other people than just my son all the time," said Ely.
His son Ryan laughed. "We come down here whenever we get the chance," he said.
The store is open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 2-10 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 2 p.m. to midnight. Fox will also be hosting a pre-release party for Zendikar, the newest addition to the Magic the Gathering trading card arsenal, on September 26, with several events happening throughout the day. Registration opens at noon, and several prizes will be awarded throughout the day.
The place has a quiet air, aside from occasional outbursts from players involved in heated games. Owner Sheila Fox said her husband's love for the game Magic the Gathering inspired her to open the store, and so far business has been good.
The hangout also features plenty of room to play games brought from home, with several tables along one wall under game posters.
"There's always someone down here wanting to play," Fox said. At one of the gaming tables, an evening game of Magic rages on.
"I'm going to kill him next turn!" one of the players says, as the others laugh and eagerly pull out their best cards.
This is a familiar scene to Fox, who said these particular customers come often to play against each other.
The store stocks a wide variety of offbeat games for purchase, including Settlers of Catan and every possible variation of Munchkin, a role-playing card game in which the players defeat ridiculous monsters with strange weapons like stinky feet and the hammer of ugliness. Some of the variations on the shelves: Star Munchkin, Munchkin Impossible, Munchkin Fu, Munchkin Booty, Munchkin Blender, Munchkin Bites - the list goes on.
The Munchkin game extravaganza lines the far end of one wall, next to card games, booster packs, and role-playing games with their manuals. Warhammer, Dungeons and Dragons, and Magic the Gathering posters adorn the walls, and a table of dime-card boxes sits next to the counter.
The rest of the store is given over to gaming tables.
Fox said the back room, dedicated to role-playing games, also gets a lot of use, especially on the weekends.
She said several customers are in and out every day, playing games, buying decks and even participating in tournaments.
The Battle Grounds attracts more than just Magic gamers, Fox said. One of her regular weekend customers brings her own board games for public use, adding to Fox's limited arsenal of board games available for customer use.
"We play Dungeons and Dragons, Magic, GURTS," said Hillsdale local resident Allen Ely, battling his son, Ryan, in the realm of Magic.
Fox said she has plans to add more games to attract people looking for a place to play games they might not own. This would allow a group of students to drop in on a Saturday afternoon and borrow a game for a few hours, try out new games, and have a place to hang out off-campus.
"It's nicer to lose against other people than just my son all the time," said Ely.
His son Ryan laughed. "We come down here whenever we get the chance," he said.
The store is open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 2-10 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 2 p.m. to midnight. Fox will also be hosting a pre-release party for Zendikar, the newest addition to the Magic the Gathering trading card arsenal, on September 26, with several events happening throughout the day. Registration opens at noon, and several prizes will be awarded throughout the day.
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