Gaming in Peterborough is a face-to-face phenomenon
It was just a regular Wednesday at Retro’s Esports bar, a downtown hangout for those who want to play video games together – until a celebrity walked in.
Mustafa “Ice” Akcakaya of Berlin is a world-ranked competitive gamer; he’s a pro in the game Super Smash Bros. Melee and is considered by some to be the best in all of Germany.
In Peterborough, there’s a significant Melee community. They know Akcakaya and are huge fans but, he says, he doesn't want to be put on a pedestal - he just wants to be seen as who he is, a normal 26-year-old guy.
Some local gamers knew the German player was in Peterborough for a few days in March, just before making his way to a twoday tournament in Toronto. But they didn’t expect to play alongside him.
The people housing Akcakaya had a friend who works at Retro’s and figured it might be fun to have a little tourney with local gamers, some of whom were starstruck when presented with the opportunity to play against him.
Peterborough is a hotbed for gamers, particularly those who like getting together in a public place like Retro’s to play.
Just ask Jimmy Reedyk. For 26 years he’s operated his parents’ store, Chumleighs, a go-to place for used and vintage video games.
Reedyk is also known as Jimmy Lightshow, for the different colours he dyes his beard. Like dying it green for St. Patrick's day.
“It's essential that young people have a hobby and I'm glad that it's video games,” he says. “It's great for the brain and educational purposes, it's also great for bonding.”
Reedyk says the gaming community is strong in Peterborough and that it's thriving with the all the new gaming shops popping up.
It’s not just for kids, either: Reedyk remembers asking a couple who came into the store who were in their 80s if the Playstation 4 games they were buying were for their grandchildren.
The husband said, “No, they're for us. I have a PS4 and she has an Xbox One.”
But Chumleighs is only one of many gaming-related stores in the city: there are five others in downtown core alone, including Iceman Video Games, Dueling Grounds and Grey Guardian, which caters to the tabletop and
trading card and collectible card games market.
Dodrio Anime Café & Game Lounge, at 404 George Street N., is another such place where gamers can go.
Rising out of the ashes of the defunct DoDo bubble tea shop, Dodrio offers fans of anime (Japanese animation) and gamers a place to interact.
Dodrio has the latest in virtual reality gaming with the HTC Vive developed by Steam and Playstation VR.
“People are staring to organize themselves,” says Dodrio owner Josh Johnston. “We've had game days here where people will bring in their consoles go downstairs
and just hook up as many screens and monitors as they can.”
Johnston thinks the gaming community in the city is becoming increasingly social again. Never mind the facelessness of online multiplayer games, he says – in Peterborough, gamers love getting back to face-to-face interaction like back in the days of LAN (local area network) parties.
“I think people are finding it more enjoyable to pass the controller around with friends than to be playing by themselves,” Johnston said.
Back at Retro’s, people can play not only play classic games like Street Fighter in a faux cabinet and on classic consoles like the Super NES on but also play more modern games on systems like the Playstation 4 and even computer games in their dedicated space.
As fingers flashed across blue, silver and orange GameCube controllers all night long, everyone had the time of their life playing alongside one of their heroes.
Meanwhile, “Ice” was gracious.
“The gaming community in Peterborough is very nice, I have had a great time down here playing and talking with them,” he said.