By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
Dungeon Masters, Shapers of the Cosmos and other such types have reason to celebrate with the grand opening Friday morning of The Citadel RPG and Gaming. Now they have a new place to play, or soon will.
Owners Andrew and Diana Nolen are busy remodeling the storefront at 343 Harding Way East in Galion they believe will be appealing and a haven for those fans of Dungeons and Dragons, War Hammer and other role-playing games.
For Andrew, the interest in gaming has been ongoing most of his life.
“It started off with me and my friends back in school,” said Andrew, who added it has continued and even led to meeting his wife.
“She (Diana) was a gamer too. I’ve got four kids and we’ve been gaming as a family for years.”
Andrew recently ended his nearly two-decade career with the Ohio Department of Corrections with plans for him and Diana to go into a business venture together.
“Our original plan was to open a gym,” Andrew said, explaining they simply were unable to come up with an appropriate location. He added with a laugh, “This was Plan B.”
His gaming friends from back in his school days have been helping with remodeling the store which isn’t completed yet, although they do have games and other items on display.
“We’re open for business, we’re going to have some tables set up for nightly games. The majority of the games are going to be run for free, unless we run tournaments. Then we’ll have an initiation fee, but of course they’ll be prizes after that. Anyone that wants to come up and buy some materials and then sit down and play some games for a while they can come up and do that,” Andrew said. “It’s more for kids and the community like when I was a kid. We played games at their kitchen tables which their moms and dads didn’t like that too well. Now they can come up here and play instead.”
The Citadel’s hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The website is www.thecitadelrpg.com.