GriffoNest Games to open next week in Woodstock

A haven for gamers is opening in Woodstock.

The newly established and family-owned GriffoNest Games plans to offer board, card and role-playing games in a friendly environment. The retail shop will sell games but also hold game nights, demonstration sessions, tournaments and weekly gaming leagues, owner Scott Rogganbuck said.

“There will be a lot of table space,” he said. “Not only can people purchase games, but it will be a gathering place.”

Rogganbuck is a teacher at Creekside Middle School in Woodstock School District 200, where he leads a strategic games club. His business seems to be a natural extension of that, and he said he wants to offer a place where younger people can go.

“When I was in middle school, gaming was kind of a safe haven from other things around me at that time,” he said. “And as an adult gamer, I don’t like that I have to drive a half-hour to get to a game store.”

The store will have a variety of games with something to appeal to everyone, Rogganbuck said.

“We have games in our store that will appeal to kids 6 years old and up that are very light, to really brain-burning games that take hour upon hour to finish,” he said.

The store has been a thought for years.

Rogganbuck floated the idea to open a gaming shop to his wife, Bree Rogganbuck, about a decade ago. She was on board, but the couple had two small children – daughters Alexis and Adrianna – and couldn’t afford the financial risk of a business venture, Scott Rogganbuck said.

Things changed earlier this summer when Scott Rogganbuck’s father died unexpectedly and left his son some money.

“It was a combination of having some money and life is short,” Scott Rogganbuck said. “I would hate down the line if I always talked about opening a game store but never acted on it.”

So the family got to work, and GriffoNest Games will hold its grand opening Friday. The store is located in a 1,000-square-foot storefront at 1400 N. Seminary Ave., Suite O.

Alexis, now a junior at Woodstock North High School, drew and designed the GriffoNest logo.

The grand opening will include a
6 p.m. Magic the Gathering tournament, as well as other game play and demonstrations throughout Labor Day weekend.

For information, visit www.
griffonest.com