The annual Game Grove family photo has become a yearly tradition.
The crew at Game Grove are thrilled to be celebrating their third year of serving the local gaming and nerd community. The popular game store and hangout, which is located in Putnam Village Shopping Center, commemorated this momentous occasion on Saturday, February 21. The all-day event featured a checklist of twenty-eight activities participants could do at the store, with the first two people to complete the challenge receiving a $100 gift card. The shop was divided into multiple immersive sections which represented the different gaming communities at the Grove – Magic Mountain, Pokémon Paradise, Fighting Game Grotto, Smash Slopes, Boardgame Borough, and Wargame Warehouse.
Guests were invited to tour the shop, participate in activities, learn how to play new games, and complete tasks on the checklist. One of the new features in the store is a special Dungeons & Dragons room with medieval inspired décor and walls which have been painted to resemble stone. The special gaming chamber is still a work in progress, and guests were welcome to come check out everything that has been done so far. In addition to the activities challenge, there were free raffles all day long, and the annual Game Grove family group photo later in the afternoon.
Ramsey Harki, store owner, reflects upon all of the things which the Grove has achieved over the past year with a sense of pride. The store has added Warhammer 40K mentorship tournaments for new and returning players; ran Dungeons & Dragons games for players ages 6 to 86; heralded in numerous Magic prereleases and gave away more than fifty special Game Grove dog tags to winners; offered multiple Smash Bros and fighting games events; helped organize the inaugural HurriCon pop culture convention last September; and hosted a winter themed faerie masquerade murder mystery ball in November.
“The more we do, the bigger events we want to put on,” said Harki. “The best way to do that is get the community to come out and see what we’re about. This is not just a game shop, but a nerdy community center. That was always the goal, to connect the nerds in the community and share the joy of gaming and hobbies. Every person comes in with their own interests and hobbies and they brighten the room with their uniqueness.”
In addition to a new year of events at the shop, Game Grove is also planning larger scale community events which go beyond the walls of the brick-and-mortar store. Game Grove is one of the organizers of the upcoming Hurricane Renaissance Faire, which will be held on Saturday, May 23, at Valley Park. They are also making plans for the second annual HurriCon, which will be held in September.
