By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

It’s difficult to drive down Main Street in Monmouth without seeing the blue building with the words “My Mom’s Basement” on the front.
Within walking distance of Western, My Mom’s Basement is both a game store and a gathering place for people to come and play card games or board games together.

“We just had our seventh year anniversary last month. We’ve been here serving the community for all that time.” said Michael Haynes, owner of My Mom’s Basement.

“Magic the Gathering is the most popular game in the store,” said Haynes. “They have over 20 million people across the world playing this game. We offer a wide variety of singles and packs for the game and we also offer both sanctioned and unsanctioned events for people to come in and play, and we have regularly scheduled games that we play every week.”

Magic the Gathering is the world’s most popular strategy card game. My Mom’s Basement does weekly “Friday Night Magic” events every Friday at 6 p.m. For those interested in Magic the Gathering, there is an online version of the game called “Magic Duels” available for iPhone, PC and Xbox One to learn the ropes. My Mom’s Basement also offers a free welcome pack for those who’ve never played but it’s first come first serve.

“We also sponsor ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ on Wednesdays. That is the number one role-playing game in the world currently. We offer games, books, dice and all the accoutrements that go with it,” said Haynes. “We’re also entertaining other games that are gaining in popularity like ‘Yugioh’, ‘Pokemon’, a game called ‘Force of Will’ and other board games and card games.”

For those who have never played these games before, My Mom’s Basement is a friendly and welcoming place to come in and learn.

“We’ve pretty much always got somebody here that’s willing to sit down and play and teach, so just walk in the door,” said Chad Harrington, Western graduate and My Mom’s Basement staff member.

“We actually have games for people to come in, sit down and play. We have demonstration games. People don’t want to spend $80 and find out it’s a crappy game. They can come down here and say ‘I’ve always wanted to try that’, pull it off the wall and see if they like it,” said Haynes.

Haynes also stressed that My Mom’s Basement is a social place where people can get together and play. Coming with a group of friends is encouraged.

“A lot of these games get a bad reputation because there’s a whole thing of ‘nerds are so secluded and reclusive’,” said Haynes. “They have this really bad reputation of being non-social and that’s not the truth at all. All of these games, you have to be social.”

“You wouldn’t believe the kinds of people who want to come in and sit down,” added Harrington. “There are people from all walks of life here. We have firefighters, paramedics, people from all walks of life can get together and join in some kind of a fantasy.”

My Mom’s Basement opens at 12 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu