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Creating Connections over a Game Board: The Gnoshery Opens in Sturgeon Bay

When Pat Fuge retired from 23 years in the military, he was left wondering what to do during the next stage of his life. After a discussion with his wife, Paula (affectionately known as Ms. Gnomer), they decided to open a board-game store – Gnome Games – in Green Bay in 2003. Their intention was that it would be a safe place for the kids in the community to gather to play games together.

Three stores and 18 years later, Fuge has opened his newest venture: a board-game cafe in Sturgeon Bay called The Gnoshery. For those who are unfamiliar with board-game cafes, they’re places to hang out with friends and either rent or buy games to play while enjoying refreshments. Although this is the first one in our community, board-game cafes have been growing in popularity in metropolitan areas.

“Our research and experience show us that the social experience of going out to dinner has evolved into, ‘Hey, I want to go out and play a game and have some fun,’” Fuge said. “People want to go out and experience things.”

And he believes that Door County – a place that is all about creating fun experiences and memories – is the perfect place for a business such as this.

The Gnoshery has a set of shelves where customers may borrow a game to play for free.

Not only is Fuge trying to create a fun atmosphere for his customers, but his focus is also on creating social fellowship and becoming part of the community – a goal he’s had from the start of his board-game career.
Fuge’s Green Bay and Appleton locations have become industry leaders in community outreach by working with schools, churches, Learning in Retirement and other groups by providing tabletop game experiences – something he plans to continue here.

After the busy season is over and The Gnoshery has a few more months of experience under its belt, Fuge will start offering family game nights and in-store event opportunities for local organizations. 

In addition, he plans to offer tournament play for some of the more popular tabletop and trading-card games. The Gnoshery is certified as Door County’s only Pokémon Play location and as a Wizards Premier Network location (he can offer sanctioned and unsanctioned Magic: The Gathering play). He’s also working on getting a Konami certification for Yu-Gi-Oh play. Of course, Dungeons & Dragons opportunities will also be forthcoming.

Although Fuge’s three other locations have seen great turnouts for competitive play – his single largest event seated about 6,500 people – he’s focusing more on social play at The Gnoshery, making it distinct from his other stores.

“What we want to look at very carefully in Sturgeon Bay is how we evolve that as a social-play experience rather than a competitive-play experience,” he said. “From the last couple of years, we’ve seen that while competitive play can draw big numbers, it doesn’t actually grow the community in many cases, and often it actually deters new players from entry into the game.”

As someone who is a casual game player, I was a little nervous the first time I went to play a game with a group of friends, but those nerves were unfounded. The staff members were very friendly and informative. On that night, employee Brady Witalison enthusiastically walked my group through some games to help us find something to play. He even lent us his personal game set to try out. 

As we sat down with our tea lattes and gooey grilled cheese (the cheese stretch was insane!) to learn our game together, we made sure to follow The Gnoshery’s Gnomish Code: a set of guidelines to foster fun and fair game play. We had a blast and found a new favorite game.

The Gnoshery’s kitchen offers tasty treats – sandwiches, bakery items and drinks – to eat while you play.

“I think this space has a lot of potential to become the kind of place where families can bring their kids and play some games, where a great first date can happen,” said The Gnoshery’s general manager, Kit Olsen. “So often, technology can be a big barrier to communication. Especially coming out of the pandemic, people are looking for that opportunity to communicate with people across from each other.”

The Gnoshery, 23 N. 3rd Ave. in Sturgeon Bay, is open daily, 9 am – 7 pm. Visit facebook.com/TheGnoshery to find out more.

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