The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
TAKING GAMES SERIOUSLY
City man opens hobby store to share his passion
TORRINGTON — Eric Charron has turned his childhood passion into a business, opening Super Games IRL on Wall Street in Torrington.
This is the second store in the Games IRL line, Charron said Friday. He founded the first in Canton about two years ago with a partner, and as they considered expanding, decided to open a store in Torrington, his hometown.
The stores specialize in vin- tage video games and card games like Magic: The Gathering, Charron said, adding he enjoys sharing his knowledge and love of the games.
“It’s a pretty enriching lifestyle — to be able to benefit people, and to be able to benefit likewise, in return, from hanging out,” Charron said.
Charron said his interest in video games began in childhood. He received a Nintendo Entertainment System at age 4, and as he grew older, he became interested in creating games.
On the playground at Torringford Elementary School, he heard about card games — Pokémon, which became an international sensation near the turn of
the millennium, and Magic.
The card games became something he enjoyed. Using his knowledge and appreciation for the games, he became an expert in valuing cards and a resource to his classmates.
“It felt like I was part of a community, instead of just going to the movies or something, hanging out. You take a lot away from it — you get to break off a piece and keep it forever, especially the intangible stuff,” Charron said. “The experiences, I’ll never forget those, and I’d say most of the best friends I’ve made, I’ve made through Magic and Smash Brothers, and other competitive games I play.”
Charron said he found a sense of accomplishment and pleasure that comes with building a collection of games, improving his skills, meeting people and sharing knowledge.
When he was barely old enough to see over the counters, he asked for help to learn the games. People gave him cards and information. Now, it’s his turn to do the same, about the games and about life.
“Having people who come for gameplay advice, they start to come to me for life advice, and I kind of turn around and it’s like ‘Oh man, I’m an adult now.’ It’s very touching when people, they want to share the things that you love,” Charron said.
He said he hopes his customers will participate in tournaments at the store. He said he would be interested in working with local educators to start after-school programs at the store.
“Anyone interested should come and hang. There’s no pressure — you can play for free, there’s stuff we give away to new players, just to get them interested,” Charron said. “I like to think there’s something for everybody in this hobby.”
For information about Super Games IRL, including the tournament sched- ule and store hours, visit the store’s Facebook page — www.facebook.com/ supergamesirl.