Glenwood’s New Game Café Is One-of-a-Kind In Southwest Iowa

Nachos.

Lemonade.

And a group of friends playing a competitive game of Monopoly.
No, this is not your childhood rec room.

It’s Game Knight – the recently opened game café in Glenwood that is the only one of its kind in southwest Iowa. Serving beer and wine, nachos and boba lemonade, it’s open to anyone hankering for a friendly (or competitive) game of anything from Pitch to Cards Against Humanity to Risk.

Located at 502 Sharp Street in the former Yume Dance Studio space, Game Knight is the brainchild of Christopher and Rebecca Stoll. Long time game night hosts at their home, the couple had the idea to turn that board gaming passion into a business on Glenwood’s Town Square.

Game Knight caters to game enthusiasts of all ages. It’s the gaming equivalent of a sports bar – only with board and card games and an interactive experience.

Game cafés aren’t new. They’ve been popping up all over in the last few years. The Spielbound Board Game Café is a popular hangout spot in Omaha’s trendy midtown neighborhood. The concept of a café for retro board and card games rose out of an effort to eschew electronic video gaming for the more analog feel of face-to-face gaming. But Game Knight is believed to be the first such game café in western Iowa.

The Stolls did get some funny looks from friends and families when they unveiled their idea to resurrect the rec room in Glenwood. But support, they said, had been tremendous.

“We liked hosting game nights at our house and that kind of evolved into hearing a lot of people talk about there not being a lot to do in Glenwood, and especially kids,” Rebecca said. “That sort of morphed into this idea of having a place kids could go but that could also be a place adults could go too. Groups of people who like to play boardgames and hangout and have a few drinks.”

The Stolls admit it was a big leap from hosting game nights to making a business of game nights. But Game Knight isn’t their first business venture. Rebecca, formerly Wendt, is a 2004 Glenwood graduate who owns and operates the Remedy Room Massage Spa.

Christopher, a Kansas City-area native, was working at Wal-Mart and looking for a career change when the Game Knight idea struck them.

“He saw the benefits and beauty of owning his own business and that appealed to him,” she said.
Christopher agrees.

“Working 15 years in retail, I wanted to take a step back and focus in on the important things and that’s family and friends. Was it a crazy idea? We went out on a limb for sure.”

Before proceeding with their new business venture, the Stolls visited a few game cafes in the region to get ideas. However, they wound up relying more on their own experience hosting game nights and bouncing ideas of friends and family when shaping Game Knight.

Their family was on board from the start.

“They saw the vision and they supported us,” Rebecca said.

“They (family) are entrepreneurs themselves here in Glenwood and they have a few businesses on the square of their own,” Christopher said. “So they know the benefit of owning your business and revitalizing the square, trying to get a night life here so people stay in town and don’t have to go to Omaha. We’re giving them options for things to do.”

The COVID-19 pandemic might not have been the ideal time to open a business, but Christopher said, their idea might just be a perfect treatment for the social isolation of the last seven months.

“It feels like a good time to allow people to sit down and socialize and get back to a little bit of normalcy,” he said.
Neither has any plans to quit their day jobs just yet – Christopher also works full time at the Mills County YMCA – but they know if the popularity of Game Knight continues to grow, that is a possibility. They’ve already discussed hiring staff.

Game Knight had a soft opening during Glenwood’s homecoming weekend and the response was good. They officially opened their doors last week.

They’re currently open Wednesday through Sunday with hours varying by day. On Wednesday and Thursday they’re open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to midnight and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For a modest $3 fee, customers have access to the space and more than 150 games. They take game requests and plan to add to their collection every month. Tables can be reserved in advance and the couple have already fielded calls about hosting  painting parties and themed game nights – bingo or bunko – and about donating board games.

The menu features a variety of nachos – the Kansas City-inspired pulled pork nachos are popular – and fresh-squeezed lemonade in addition to a beer and wine selection. They plan to expand the menu down the road.

COVID has limited Game Knight from hosting larger groups but the tables are socially distanced and hand sanitizer is available. Masks are optional.

The Stolls see the game cafe as a community space for everyone, Rebecca said, from kids to adults and everyone in between who love to play games.

“It really is a labor of love,” she said. “The last few weeks have been pretty crazy. We put in a lot of hours renovating and we had some help with that but it came together.”

“People seem to be loving it,” Christopher said of the early response. “They’re super excited there’s something for them and their families to do. From the traffic we’ve seen, we’ve gotten the crowd we were expecting. We’ve been received with arms wide open, that’s for sure.”