Visit Tipp City

Hosted at Tipp City’s newest downtown business, the Tipp Video Game Celebration hosted nearly 300 people today – children of all ages came to meet their Star Wars heroes and experience gaming on state-of-the-art equipment. Darth Maul, Stormtroopers, Clone Troopers and a pair of Tusken Raiders were joined by Marvel legends Wolverine and Spiderman to entertain the visitors and take photos with children. Every computer and game console in Big Robot was packed with players enjoying Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and a wide selection of PC games. Employees of Big Robot Game Cafe served free food and drinks and introduced to a totally new entertainment experience in Tipp City.

During the event, donations were accepted by Child Care Choices, a non-profit resource and referral agency started in 1987 as a community attempt to meet the growing need for child care and to improve the quality of child care. The mission of Child Care Choices is to identify child care providers for Miami County families and to provide child care information, training, and support for families and child care providers.

For more information on the Big Robot Game Cafe, visit their website at www.bigrobotgamecafe.com.

UPDATE: Here is the announcement in the Dayton Daily News.

Tipp City Herald: Game cafe to Open in Tipp City
The next time someone asks for something to do, Greg Enslen has the answer.

Enslen is turning the old Frontier Shop, 114 E. Main St., into Big Robot Game Café – a place where people can come to play video games in a social environment. “It’ll be a social, happy environment the exact opposite of a dark, creepy 1980’s arcade,” Enslen said.

Enslen said the gaming café will have a “coffee shop feel” and patrons will be able to play video games one-on-one or in groups. Popular game systems like the Xbox, Wii and Playstation will be available for patrons.

Enslen said he is thinking about having older systems like Nintendo 64 at the café as well. For customers who want to play video games alone, there will be 19′ flat screen monitors in rows in one section of the café.

For customers who want to play together, Enslen said there will be “pods” set up that consist of big screen high definition televisions in the center of the pod along with a loveseat or chairs around it. Enslen said he thinks the game café will provide young people and anyone else who wants to play video games to have something to do that’s social and safe.

“Every town is the same way,” Enslen said. “If you’re between a certain age, there’s nothing to do. You can go to the bowling alley or see a movie or hang out playing video games in someone’s basement. People are always looking for a place to hang out with their friends.

“Towns with outlets for high school kids to do something are better off.” Though not everyone is interested in video games, Enslen said he hopes people will be interested in seeing what the café is all about. That is why he is offering a little bit of everything for his patrons. “I don’t want people to be standing around bored and waiting for their boyfriend or kid to get done playing video games,” he said.

Enslen said he hopes people who aren’t interested in video games will come out to the café anyway and give the games a try, use the computers or go upstairs to the quiet room where they can chat with friends, get online using their own laptops or read a book.