Page 7 of Gamers' Omega
“Eric!”
I looked around and spotted Beck waving at me. Even from across the store, it was clear that he was in his element. He had a huge grin and his eyes sparkled.
I weaved through the throng until I was standing next to him.
“Glad you could make it!” Beck declared.
“Me too,” I replied. “Is it always so packed?”
He laughed. “During the winter, yes. It slows a bit in the summer when people want to do things outside.”
I looked around as people settled in. “So what’s the process?”
Beck shrugged. “Each table has a different game. A few might already be full, but other than that just pull up an empty chair where you want to play.”
I glanced at the table beside us, saw an open box for a popular card game, and plopped onto a chair.
Beck raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you want to see what’s at the other tables?”
I grinned. “Next time! I’ve wanted to play this one for a while.”
He laughed. “Fair enough.”
Chatter died down over the next few minutes as people took seats, then a new energy filled the room. Beck reviewed the rules, and I could hear people at other tables doing the same. Finally, the game started.
Beck went easy on everybody in the first few rounds—fingers twitching when he had a good card. Then, about half an hour in, he started pushing everybody by playing more competitively. His timing was impeccable. We were all comfortable with the rules and ready to play in earnest.
Soon we were all laughing as plays were made and negated; people stole cards from each other’s hands, and players were slowly eliminated.
Beck was an excellent gamemaster—pushing us when the game lagged and enforcing rules as necessary. He subtly paid attention to everybody and made sure we all had fun.
I was knocked out third from the end—which let me watch as the game came down to Beck and a little girl. I couldn’t hold back a smile as he let her win, though he wasn’t obvious about it. We all spent a few minutes chatting between rounds as a few people wandered off to find a different game, and new players joined. There was another quick review of the rules, then the second game started.
We were in the middle of the fourth game when somebody clapped to get everybody’s attention. I turned to see an employee standing in the middle of the room.
“Hey everybody,” he announced. “I just got the call from the big boss, and he’s asked me to close early due to the weather. If you could finish within twenty minutes or so, we would appreciate it.”
“Got it,” Tony stated. “We’ll wrap things up.”
“Thanks, man,” the employee said before returning to his place at the register.
“Speed round rules for fifteen minutes,” Tony declared. “If you finish before then, have a nice night. If your game isn’t over, take a moment to figure out among yourselves who won. Drive safe.”
There was a moment of silence, then I turned back to Beck. Our eyes met, and he shrugged.
“You heard the man,” he said, breaking eye contact to look around the table. “Speed round time.”
The mood was still light, but gameplay turned serious as we shifted to wrapping up quickly. Beck revealed his competitive side, relentlessly knocking people out until he won. However, nobody seemed to mind.
People packed up and said their goodbyes. Soon almost everybody was gone, with only Beck, Ian, Tony, Freddie and a couple others putting games back into boxes.
“Do you guys need help putting things away?” I asked as the employee wheeled out a cart.
“You don’t have to,” Freddie replied.
“I’m here, might as well.”
“Boss said to just stack the games on the cart and get them to the back,” the employee said. “He’ll put them in the cabinet tomorrow. He wants everybody out before the storm gets worse.”
