Who says traditional children’s entertainment is just for children?
A growing number of central Ohio businesses certainly don’t. They’ve found ways to present the things we loved as kids in ways that hold appeal for adults today.
Toys
From Barbie and Cabbage Patch Kids to Star Wars and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Big Fun can connect to just about anyone’s favorite childhood playthings.
The toy store specializing in all things retro opened in the Short North in May 2013. It’s the third Big Fun overall; there are two others in the Cleveland area.
The idea is to give customers the feel of an independent toy store or small department store from 20 to 30 years ago, with plenty of personality – and, of course, a wealth of toys from those eras.
“Nostalgia never goes out of style,” says Jason Williams, who co-owns the Columbus store with Steve Presser. “It’s the idea of traveling back in time a little bit and finding stuff that you’re not going to find at the big-box stores.”
Star Trek, Transformers, the Six Million Dollar Man, Wonder Woman and Jem and the Holograms are just a small perce
ntage of the toy franchises that have caught customers’ eyes, Williams says.
Video Games
The action-packed video arcade of days gone by lives again at 16-Bit Bar + Arcade, albeit with a more interesting menu of drinks and entertainment and without so many wasted quarters.
The downtown Columbus “barcade” opened its doors in late August 2013, offering a solid line-up of games from the 1980s and 1990s – think Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, X-Men and Mortal Kombat – as well as a pervading 1980s nostalgia theme.
The drinks are named after celebrities (“The Don Johnson,” “The Molly Ringwald”), movie nights offer up screenings of Teen Wolf and Back to the Future, and the walls are adorned with giant images of the likes of Hulk Hogan and Mr. Spock, drawing what manager Kyle Hofmeister calls “a very large cross-section of people.”
“You get people who come in here and play video games that they haven’t played for ages, and then you get people who come in here and go, ‘Oh, I didn’t even know Tapper was a thing,’” Hofmeister says.
Board Games
Kingmakers calls itself a board game parlor, but don’t jump to conclusions; here, Monopoly and Clue are just the tip of an iceberg big enough to sink the Titanic a dozen times over.
The parlor, which also serves beer and wine, opened in January in the Short North.
Its main attractions are its collection of 400-plus games and its small staff of what owner Malika de Silva calls “board game sommeliers.” Their job: to figure out which games are the best fit for your group, explain the rules and let the good times roll.
“Our mission is to showcase this … great world of board games to people who are not as familiar with it,” de Silva says.
Though the likes of Battleship and Sorry! are on the shelves at Kingmakers, the sommeliers try to guide visitors to try new things, from putting-items-in-order card game Timeline to Jack-the-Ripper-hunting board game Mr. Jack.
Garth Bishop is editor of CityScene Magazine. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
