But where do you game?

But where do you game?

   So we were talking about what happened when I came back from the convention in 2004.  There was a website for Heroclix that had a store locator on it, and I used that to see who else in the area played that game.  That is how I found "The Game Room" in Toledo, OH.  The Game Room is a store that meets a lot of geeky needs for me.  It is both a comic shop, and a game store.  In it current form, it is split into thirds, with a comic book section, a large gaming area with a lot of miniature models for sale on the wall, and a smaller gaming area with board games on the walls.
   Now we may as well stop and talk about The Game Room for a minute.  Ever since the first night I visited that store, it has become the central place where I game.  It is also the place where I eventually met the game group that would bring me in and has since let me to some of my best friends.  When I first visited, it was in a smaller location then it is now, and on a night when more then one game/tournament/group was in the store, it could get really cramped.  Imagine 20-30 gamers in a two section store that was maybe 24x24 for floor space, along with tables and product....it could get like a sauna in there some days, and not in a good way at all.  The new store is much bigger so when our group gets together, which can be 10-15 people on our own, we have some room to play and stretch out a bit.  I know that "The Game Room" will come up again as I talk, but lets move the story along, at some point I would like to talk about what I am doing/playing now....
   Before the first visit to the store I contacted a couple people who played Heroclix to make sure they were still actually playing and that Thursday nights (my normal gaming night to this day) were when they played.  After I got confirmation that everything still happened that way, I drove myself out to the store and met some new people so I could continue my old hobby.
   To say it was a great night would be an understatement for me to be perfectly honest.  You have to remember that I was 34 at this point, and when I walked in, there were not a lot of other people my age just hanging around playing that particular game.  Not that there were not other adults there, just not a lot playing Heroclix.  But there were a few, who are still my friends and occasional game players as well.  As I played and got to know all the people there (I lost all three games I played that night) some of then gave me tips to play, and a few even game me new models just as a way of saying welcome to the group.  Well I have to say that obviously I was hooked and kept playing Heroclix for about 4-5 years after that first night.  I don't play that particular game now, although I still have all the models I had then, I have just moved on to other games.  The way I was brought into that group from the first night really made me feel like part of a community, and that is the biggest reason to go somewhere and play games the way we do.  That is what gaming is to me, which is why I prefer social gaming over computer gaming any day of the week and twice on Sundays.  Because I felt so accepted right from the start it made me really change how important I felt gaming was to my life. 

  The "history" portion that I thought I would write has gone on for much longer then I expected.  Getting to talk about how I started back into regular gaming has changed my life in a lot of ways, including at its most basic, starting me writing this blog.  I will probably have one more history post where I will talk about the gaming group I hang out with.  It is called The Olde World Warriors (OWW for short) and they have introduced me to more kinds of gaming then I was ever involved with as a kid.  Once I talk about them, it will get me into what I am playing now, and that is really where I wanted this blog to go. 

   So until next time.......