By Liam O’Kennedy, News Correspondent
More than 50 people showed up at downtown bar Good Life Tuesday night for the second-ever Game Over, a night of Nintendo 64, Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering made sweetly effervescent by booze and nostalgia.
Many nerd subcultures sent their finest delegates. They were an affable sort, the kind of people that make you feel like being different is a blessing, not a curse.
A golden Triforce emblazoned on a woman’s t-shirt, and on the back of the black Nintendo DS her friend was playing, marked fans of The Legend of Zelda. The legato FightStick strikes of a Street Fighter match rapped from the far end of the room, where two monitors cast a pale blue glow out of the darkness. Four people played Mario Kart 64 on a flat screen TV hanging above the bar, on a Wii, with GameCube controllers, three generations of Nintendo consoles accounted for in one strange amalgamation of gaming hardware. In cushioned booths, clusters of Boston 20-somethings huddled around tabletop RPGs and board games, striking up light conversation with people they’d just met.
The man behind the night’s revelry is 24-year-old event planner Scott Trano. Trano has been organizing the Boston Zombie March (people dress like zombies and march through the streets of Boston) for four years, and helped kickstart the city’s BarCraft scene (people watch live streams of StarCraft 2 tournaments at bars) last summer.
“We’re still trying to figure out what people are showing up for,” he said. “[Game Over] needs to evolve and develop, and as it gains revenue we can reinvest it into the event to survive.”
Trano got the idea for Game Over when he was trying to figure out a way to weave a little Magic: The Gathering into the already crowded Barcrafts at The Greatest Bar. He contacted Good Life and got the go-ahead to use its downstairs bar on Tuesday nights, posted some info on the event on the Boston subforum of social news site Reddit, and let word of mouth take its course. The Reddit post acted like a virtual lighting of the Beacons of Gondor, and forth from the ends of the Metropolitan Boston Area the nerds came, board games strapped to their backs and swinging controllers like maces.
Some people just wanted to unwind after work with a casual night of drinking and gaming with like-minded people. Others have come to compete.
At a table in the middle of the bar, eight men played in a Magic: The Gathering tournament that unfolded throughout the evening. They thumbed through packs of freshly opened cards, building decks of spells and creatures among glasses of Blue Moon and Narragansett.
One of the eight was Jason Jaskolka, a freelance iPhone developer. Jaskolka, 25, brought two binders full of valuable Magic cards with which to barter.
“This one’s worth about $30,” he said, pointing to a black-bordered “Bonfire of the Damned.”
Jaskolka took his love for the card game to the high seas last year when he decided to go on a Magic: The Gathering themed cruise from Seattle to Alaska with his girlfriend.
“I don’t think most of us would necessarily fit in at a regular bar,” he said.
Trano said he hopes to be able to line the walls with TVs and games for future events, but if the bar doesn’t see a big enough profit, Game Over runs the risk of fizzling out.
“We want to go weekly eventually, but we’re never gonna get anywhere if no one supports us,” he said. “This is the only place in Massachusetts doing this, so buy a beer dammit.”
For now, Game Over will be held every first and third Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. at Good Life. There’s no cover, but it’s 18+.
