GAMERS’ PARADISE DUNGEON’S END IN WEST DULUTH PROVIDES A SPECIAL PLACE FOR PEOPLE TO PLAY

STORY AND PHOTOS BY DAVID BALLARD

On any night of the week at Dungeon’s End in West Duluth, there are people gathered together laughing, cheering, clapping each other on the back. No, they are not watching a sporting event or a movie or a play. They are gathered around tables playing board games at the game store at 325 N. Central Ave.

On display at the front of the store, which is much larger on the inside than it appears from the outside, are a large variety of board games for sale. Mason Froberg, who owns the store with his wife, Alta Wickham, estimated they have several hundred board games, at least 10 role-playing games, puzzles, traditional games such as chess and checkers, hobby games, paintable miniatures and game accessories.

But it is the back of the store where the heart of Dungeon’s End beats.

A half-dozen rooms house plastic tables and chairs to fill the 3,000 square feet of the store, where all comers can play games. And every night, you will find anywhere from six to 40 or more people engaged in a game. And like a pair of maitre d’s, Froberg and Wickham watch over the action and sometimes play, too.

Interacting with customers is a big part why Froberg and Wickham are found in the store seven days a week. “Being able to have fun watching people playing games is the biggest plus of this adventure,” Mason said.

“We have seen people grow up here,” said Wickham, who relayed the story of one young boy who was brought to the store by his mom. He was having trouble reading, but loved the game Pokemon. She started buying him Pokemon cards, hoping his love of the game would encourage and strengthen his reading. “A year later, he came back in and was reading much better,” Wickham said.

Adult gaming has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years, and Dungeon’s End is a Duluth hot spot for people interested in gathering to play. “People want face-to-face gatherings” Froberg said. “There has been kind of a Renaissance in board games over the last 10 years.”

Froberg explained that gaming has evolved from Monopoly and Sorry to much more complex games. “Board games have really grown over the years as far as the different strategies and complexities of them,” Wickham added. “There’s a lot more strategy and educational benefits, and I think a lot people are recognizing that.”

These changes have fed the growing interest of people wanting to leave behind screen time and online gaming to play with others in person. “I think people over the years of playing online games and electronic games, have moved back to a more face-to-face experience. That is what people are looking for,” Froberg said.

That interest plays right into the mission of Dungeon’s End, open since November 2011. When discussing the store, Froberg and Wickham will make sure to tell you it is more than just a place to buy games. “We celebrate the social aspect of coming together and enjoying the company of friends,” Froberg said.

Behind the counter are a pair of shelves housing nearly 200 demonstration board games people can use without charge to play in-store. It’s one way for people to sample new games when they visit. The most popular among them are Catan, Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, and Splendor.

Selling and hosting games is only one aspect of the vision of Dungeon’s End. The store often sponsors various community outreach programs that attract a lot of families, Wickham said.

An employee takes a couple plastic totes full of games to other locations and, with the help of the staff, sets them up for demonstrations. The hope is to help encourage families to play games together. They have been to schools, the Valley Youth Center and University of Minnesota Duluth. They also have been to breweries such as Hoops Brewing, Bent Paddle and Duluth Cider.

The store also hosts up to 90 events a month, Wickham said, from game demos, tournaments, game pre-releases and specific game nights. “You’ll always find plenty of ways to have fun,” Wickham said.

Among the most popular events are the five sessions a week of Dungeons and Dragons, which can draw up to 40-50 people a week. Saturdays are the most busy, when you’ll see 25-30 children playing Pokemon, a dozen players playing a tournament of some sort, and people using the tables to play a variety of board games. “We have a good mix of customers. We get a lot of families who come in to play, we get a lot of little kids, a lot of adults too,” Wickham said.

The adult gaming community is a close-knit group. Froberg and Wickham know most customers by name and what their gaming preferences are. Matt Baert and Jeremy Baert are among those gaming regulars. They recently spent an hour talking about games while looking through Dungeons and Dragons books. “This is our second time in here today,” Jeremy said. “It’s a good place to hang out, and it’s the go-to place for adult games.”

Also hanging out in the store were Derek and Jess Hietala. The couple live in Cloquet and often make trips to Duluth to buy and play games at the store. “It’s a good community, and its unique,” Jess said.

They were searching through hundreds of trading cards from a game called “Magic The Gathering.” “We also come for the tabletop games, dice games and roleplaying games,” Derek said. “One of the great things of this store is that if they do not have a game, they can order it.”

That can be a tall order. Froberg estimates there are more than 10,000 games in existence and new titles being released on a weekly basis. But Froberg and Wickham are up to the task. They are real gamers at heart. “We often play games and do puzzles at home,” Froberg said, chuckling. “We like games.”

David Ballard is a Duluth freelancer writer and photographer.