Many people have dreamed about having the ultimate "man cave" with all the amenities, but they may not have enough space, money, or "follow through" ambition, to create such. Well, San Angeloans, Nirvana does exist. "Level Up Gaming Center," located at 4114 Sunset Drive, across from the Sunset Mall, and in the same suite as "Tech Medics," has just about everything gamers could imagine to accommodate their inner "gamer."
Although the business has been open since October 2015, staff celebrated their official ribbon cutting ceremony Monday afternoon with the Concho Cadre and Chamber of Commerce members.
Kreston Bates and Aubrey Newton, gaming experts and managers at the Gaming Center, have created an environment to wow gamers in San Angelo. There are several rows of high-end PC's towards the front, and a huge 140" projection screen towards the back. Players can also enjoy free popcorn and drinks while they recline on huge, plush, sofas or very comfortable ergodynamic chairs.
"Cartoons and movies are on all the time," said Bates as he gently picked up his 3-year-old son Seth. "We want kids to get out of the house, and are looking to attract youth groups, as it is a supervised, fun place, for kids to interact. Three is the youngest of our players, and one man, who wouldn't state his age, said he is somewhere between 65 and 70 years old."
Bates also stated people of all ages are welcome, but children ages 10 and under should be accompanied by an adult.
The Gaming Center is open Tuesday through Saturday starting at noon, and Sundays after 2pm. The managers said it is a popular place for birthdays, "lock ins," and they have group, team, and military rates available.
PC, Console, and VR gaming, along with Multi Player, MMO, MOBA, and FPS, are just a few of the options available. The Center also had its first tournament that consisted of 15 participants, and 3 weeks later, the next one had 60 players.
"One particular tournament consisted of two 14-year-olds playing two other 14-year-olds, and lasted from noon until 10:30 p.m.," Bates said. "The kids ended up building a lasting friendship, and the parents even came in to play afterwards."
There is no membership fee, and when people visit for the first time, they are required to fill out a form and are given a user name to play that day and for future logins. The cost is $5 an hour and $20 for 5 hours and the fees don't expire, meaning gamers don't have to play the whole 5 hours at once.
Overall, this is the first video gaming lounge of this magnitude for San Angelo, and staff hopes to expand in the near future.
"You'd have to drive several hours to Dallas, Houston, or somewhere like Austin, to be able to have this type of interactive play as we are connected world wide," said Bates. "We even have an Oculus headset with 7.1 surround sound that simulates the full feel of the game."
Additionally, the most popular attractions at this time are "Black Ops" and the "Smash Brothers Tournament." Some of the other games and video game consoles listed include, XBOX Live, Halo, Call of Duty, PS, World of Warcraft, and Nintendo.
Gamers consider Level Up Gaming Center as the ultimate getaway, family oriented, relaxing, peaceful, entertaining, and best of all, affordable place. For more information, check out their website www.LevelUpGamingCenter.com, or visit them on Facebook at "Level Up Gaming Center."
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The article didn't state how big the building is that this place occupies... I would sort of be interested to know so that I can try and guess what the next business might be that moves in there once this place goes bust........
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