Game on

Jason Banghart and Kevin Hana, both 33, best friends and aspiring video game developers, wanted a place they could work when not driving taxis. Instead of just renting an office, they opted to open their first business together, Game Cave Paradise (5923 Clark Road). The small shop offers a little bit of everything: board games and cards (including Pokemon and Magic the Gathering), comic books and manga, memorabilia, and consoles and video games, from shrink-wrapped new releases to used Atari and Super Nintendo games. But it’s not just a store; it’s also a place for people to hang out and play card and video games. An added bonus: Banghart and Hana take commissions for the shop’s 3-D printer and are able to make some console repairs. While most of their inventory is used or traded in, they test every game and console received, never putting out anything that’s in bad shape, Banghart (pictured at right) says. For more info, go to facebook.com/gamecaveparadise or call 762-2235.

Why a video game store?

Banghart: This is right up our alley. We grew up with video games and whatnot and both like them; we play them all the time. We have a lot of the retro stuff, and I’m really excited about that because I really want to introduce the newer generation to the older stuff. The young kids, they might look at the older games and go, “Wow, this is frustrating,” but there’s a certain element to those, I feel, that is very rewarding once you do kind of figure it out, how to play.

Hana: We wanted to do something different, do something that we really care about, ’cause I’ve played games all my life. I played a lot of Nintendo and Sega Genesis, so it was a lot of Sonic and original Nintendo with Mario Bros.

How’s business?

Hana: The community, they seem to be really loving it. They’re way more excited than I expected. There’s been a lot of people that lost the old systems and they come back here and it kind of restarts their childhood or brings back that nostalgia, and they love that. I love this stuff; I wasn’t sure if anybody was at that same level.

Is there a benefit of having this business in Paradise?

Banghart: There’s not much to do up here for youth. Social media, unfortunately, is not good in the sense of it kind of robs people of physical, social interaction, and people need that to kind of battle awkwardness, social anxiety and things like that. And this, coming in, playing the cards and whatnot, it’s a great way for [combating] that. People come in, they make new friends, and when we get video games up [and ready to play], that just adds a new avenue for that same sort of thing.