Rammstein plays over the speakers, German phrases intermingling with the hum of 10 top-of-line PCs.
The smell of fresh paint and carpet fills the air and a few big-screen televisions sit like sentinels at the back of the building. Welcome to The Lounge.
Across the street from campus and caddy-corner to the Popular Culture building, the newly opened LAN gaming business was started by two University students on a whim.
“The whole thing was done in a spat”the whole idea was started two months ago,” explained Spencer Marugg, senior. “One day we were like ‘Let’s start a business’ and we did it.”
Alex Merced, junior, said that the planning for the store was the beginning and the past month has been putting finishing touches on the building itself.
“It’s also been a series of really good fortune,” said Merced. “It was just a bunch of random things that happened out of nowhere and just worked out really well for us.”
The Lounge is not only about PC LAN gaming, although that is a huge part.
“We’ll be starting with 10 computers and were hoping to expand to 16 by the end of the year,” said Marugg.
The PCs themselves were built in-house, and this is a service they want to offer customers
as well.
“We’ll building custom, gaming workstations like Alienware, so people can come in, specify what they want and get a tricked out machine,” explained Marugg.
Using these machines and a high-speed Internet connection that eliminates lag, according to Merced, they hope to become a beacon for people looking for a good place to play.
“You won’t find a more safer, faster, secure, more stable place to game than here,” said Merced.
The systems are loaded with some of the most popular first-person shooters and massively-multiplayer online role-playing games currently out on the market.
The Lounge will also offer comic books, strategy board games, console gaming and Magic: The
Gathering Tournaments.
For those looking to get started in the world of competitive table-top RPGs, the Lounge offers the largest selection of Magic cards in Ohio, according to Merced.
And why a LAN lounge?
The pair’s motivation for the creation was simple: They both love video games.
“We’re both big gamers,” said Marugg. “I’m excited because it’s such a great environment. You couldn’t ask for a better place to be working.”
The Lounge is having its grand opening today and will be offering its customers passes for $4 an hour, passes for open-to-5 p.m. for $8 and from 5 p.m. to close for $15.
Merced said there will be an opening-week deal going on. Gamers can stop into The Loung where an hour of gaming is only $2 an hour until May 7.
The lounge is located at 902 East Wooster Street and their phone number is 419-352-0531.
