Business Monday: Gam3Escape in Hilo on the Big Island building community through gaming

Shortly after Gam3Escape opened 6 years ago, owner Marsha Chose remembers a boy who suffered from social anxiety, hesitant to enter her Pāhoa gaming shop without his parents while his family stopped in to check out the various card games, board games and collectibles.

Six months later, after several visits, she noticed a change in the boy’s behavior. He was coming into the store by himself. Becoming a member of the Gam3Escape community had eased his anxiety.

Chose could likely fill several inventory sheets with stories like that from throughout the years since she opened her shop, which is now located in Hilo, as it has become not just a hub for the East Hawai‘i gaming community but a pillar of the Big Island community at large.

“The store is really community-focused,” she said. “It’s about building a community.”

Whether you’re a wannabe orc, goblin, elf, dwarf or just a human in a Dungeons & Dragons world, looking to battle with your Pokémon cards or cast a few spells in Magic: The Gathering, test your deck out in a Yu-Gi-Oh match or even try out a tabletop RPG, or role-playing game, you created, Gam3Escape has since 2017 offered a fun and enjoyable home away from home for all gamers.

The store offers a large play space available for tabletop role-playing, trading card and board games; a knowledgeable staff and volunteers who have or still play the games, including Chose; and all the accessories and collectibles a gamer could want.

It’s your gateway to adventure and, as its name suggests with the “3” mirroring the “E,” an escape from the stresses of everyday life.

Gam3Escape got its start by sharing a love of gaming.

Chose is a middle school math teacher by day. In 2016, she was teaching at Pāhoa Intermediate and seeking something for the keiki to do during free time at recess and lunchtime, so she started a tabletop gaming club. The students were more interested in trading cards than dungeons though and told her they wanted to play Magic: The Gathering.

So she learned how to play and found a store called Game Knights in Hilo, where she could get Magic cards and accessories. Game Knights went out of business just a few months later.

At about the same time, however, Chose found a small available retail space in Pāhoa.

So in 2017, she decided to open Gam3Escape, originally in an effort to support the school gaming club with game materials and accessories while raising money to purchase shirts and other items for the kids.

During the 2018 Kīlauea eruption, much of the player base, Chose’s customers, moved out of Puna. So she decided to move with them, opening a new location above Hilo Lunch Shop, across from Edith Kanaka‘ole Multi-Purpose Stadium. She was there 2 years before moving to the other side of town to the ground level at 305 Wailuku Drive, behind the Hilo Public Library.

Everyone is welcome at Gam3Escape, newbies and experienced gamers alike. Tabletop RPGs and trading card games have no typical players.

“There is no social stereotype,” Chose said. “I think that’s why I love them so much and why I want to share them with other people.”

Chose, who is now 55 years old, started playing D&D when she was in college and still plays. When the gaming club at Pāhoa Intermediate started, there were equal numbers of football players, National Honor Society members and people who enjoyed playing chess all sitting at the table.

There are even moms who now lead D&D games as dungeon master, coming up with game play scenarios and steering their own children and others through fantasy worlds and situations.

“I find the value in these games is when you teach them to somebody, you can move anywhere, find a game store, and find a community to automatically join,” Chose said. “If you don’t know anybody in a city, you can find a game store and, hey, look, it’s my people.”

The store hosts various tabletop game-related events throughout the year, including summer youth camps, pick-up D&D games and even a “chaos” session where multiple D&D groups play together, along with tournaments to support the various games it carries.

Gam3Escape offers opportunities such as a “Session Zero,” where people can learn how to create a character and get introduced to the gaming world. It also has miniature character painting sessions and other events for people of any age and any skill level.

The popularity of the types of games Chose’s store specializes in also has risen since the COVID-19 pandemic, as so many people were stuck at home and in need of something to do. More people started playing the games — in person and online worldwide — and collecting cards.

Chose, who now works at Kea‘au Middle School, said there’s also the nostalgia factor, playing a game that you haven’t for years and remembering the times you got together with friends to go on campaigns or have card battles — or even reuniting with that group to play in person. Parents also enjoy introducing the games they love to their children so they have something to do together.

The role-playing aspect of many of the games, being able to create and play a character that might not be anything like yourself, also is a big draw for some and can even help people become less shy or conquer other social anxieties, just like the boy who eventually no longer needed his parents to come with him to Gam3Escape.

It boils down to a craving for human interaction, Chose said, and Gam3Escape doesn’t reserve that for just the gaming community. Regardless that her favorite class to play in D&D is ranger, where she can stay at the back and “pew, pew” to take out enemies, Chose and her store are on the frontline of building community at large.

The store hosts and sponsors a variety of events for the Big Island community, including back-to-school supply drives; fundraisers, including one now for victims of the Maui wildfires; an Entrepreneur Day for keiki vendors; a huge candy giveaway for Halloween; and others.

“What I’m doing is community-based,” Chose said. “We have a lot and we do a lot of community stuff. That’s what we’re about.”

To learn more about Gam3Escape, including its hours, visit the store’s website. You can find additional information about upcoming events and tournaments and how to join on the site’s events page.

You can also call the store at 808-498-4095, email to [email protected] and find it on Facebook and Instagram.