Players find competition, camaraderie at Northwest Side spot

The weekly “Super Smash Bros. 4” tournament was still about an hour away, but several video-game buffs had already gathered at the Game Arena to warm up on Wii U consoles.

The mood at the Northwest Side e-sports facility was jovial as the players — most using controllers brought from home — commanded Mario, Samus and other Nintendo characters, trying to knock opponents off virtual stages.

“I used to play this game all the time when I was a kid,” said Wade Daniels, 28, a Hilliard resident playing as Toon Link from the Zelda series of games.

Daniels has been competing in the Thursday night “Smash” tournaments since the Game Arena opened in February at Mill Run. He said he’s usually outmatched by the more adroit players, but he nonetheless enjoys putting his skills to the test.

“You think you’re the best when you’re playing your friends, and then you come here and get smoked,” he said. “The nice thing is that everybody is friendly.”

For a $10 entry fee, competitors of all skill levels can vie in a variety of e-sports tournaments hosted almost daily. The game rotates between combat fare (“Fortnite” and “Counterstrike,” for instance) and sports fare (“FIFA 18” and “Madden 18,” among others)

“It’s giving a real pro experience to normal people,” said Justin Kogge, owner of the facility.

Daniels and seven others registered for the recent one-on-one “Smash” tournament, but Kogge said that most events attract as many as 25 players.

At the start, three matches were played in the lounge area and a fourth took place in the “arena,” a soundproof room featuring audience seating, a projector to display tournament games, a commentator booth and individual cameras trained on each competitor. The gameplay is then streamed on the Game Arena’s Twitch channel.

Jerod Biggs, 18, placed second, his best finish since • Hours for the Game Arena, 3570 Fishinger Blvd., are 3 p.m. to midnight Mondays through Thursdays, 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays, noon to 2 a.m. Saturdays and noon to midnight Sundays. For more information, call 614-808-3434 or visit www.game-arena.com.

he started playing at the Game Arena after learning about it on Facebook.

“It’s a lot easier to make friends here than at school because you already have something in common,” said Biggs, a senior at Dublin Coffman High School.

Such camaraderie is precisely what Kogge had in mind when he started planning the business five years ago.

The Hilliard resident recalled many weekends during his teenage years when he would spend hours playing console games at a buddy’s house. He thinks some of that magic was lost amid the proliferation of online gaming.

“I rarely ever remember