S
urrounded by empty white walls, the cream-colored chairs and tables house the weight room of imagination.
There are neither screens nor electronics in this game room. To “see” the game, players must exercise their mind’s eye.
“We’re trying to get away from the electronic here,” Shannon Roloff, owner of WaveFire Games, said. “The only reason I have a computer here is to do inventory and do sales. This is more back to the imagination.”
“Imagination,” Roloff continued, “seems to be something of the past. We’re trying to bring that back.”
Shannon, along with wife Anita Roloff, son Austin Roloff-Tremain, son Lane Roloff, daughter Kahlan Roloff and nephew Tim Roloff run the new business at 106 S. Washington Ave. in Iola.
WaveFire Games is a new family business that provides fun, family-friendly activities for all ages, without the use of screens or electronics. Instead, the games at WaveFire are of the tabletop variety.
“Starting a business has always been a dream,” Shannon said. “We came across the idea of tabletop games … and thought it might be a good place to start.”
From simple board games such as Monopoly to complex card games such as “Magic: The Gathering” to the classics like Dungeons and Dragons, WaveFire Games has the customer covered.
In the front of the store is the merchandise; in the back is where the magic happens.
Here, on Friday night, was their first “Magic: The Gathering” tournament. In this back room, people may play the very games sold in the store.
“A lot of people buy the game here and play it in the back,” Shannon said. “And if they have any questions about the game play, they’re free to ask.”
Austin said stores similar to WaveFire Games can be found in Kansas City and Wichita, but Hornet Games in Burlington is the only other store in southeast Kansas that he knew of.
THE INTEREST in tabletop games exists in the local community, Shannon said.
“There was enough of an interest here — the college students, the high school kids, the middle-schoolers,” Shannon said.
