This article was written in partnership with Old Guard Games.For years, Ben Checota knew he would someday open a tabletop gaming store. He imagined it similar to Napoleon’s, a Shorewood-based gaming shop he spent many hours in as a kid. He even bought art, framed it and stored it in his basement, imagining it on the walls of a space that was only visible in his mind’s eye.
Last May, Old Guard Games opened at 3132 N. Downer Ave. in the former Panther/Follet’s bookstore and the dream materialized for Checota.
After a long renovation process inside and out, the two-floored, 5,700-foot expanse was ready to sell and host dozens of games including Dungeons & Dragons, Catan, Magic: The Gathering, Warhammer 40k, Middle Earth, science fiction games based on Star Wars and Star Trek, chess, backgammon, hobby supplies, books, dice and more.
Checota’s vision exceeded the retail aspect of the business. He wanted to create a community. Along with his staff and the hundreds who showed up to game from the first day of operations, he did.
After six months of success, Checota’s goals for 2025 are to further grow the community by providing more gatherings for people of all ages and skill levels; introduce people to new games; and overall offer a welcoming place for folks to hang out and meet new people.
Soon, Valentine Coffee Co. will open next door to Old Guard Games. The relationship between coffee drinks and gaming is symbiotic, and Checota looks forward to customers enjoying Valentine drinks and food both inside the shop and on the 12-table sidewalk patio during warm months.
In-person human interaction is important to Checota.
“The internet is great for so many things, but it’s made it difficult-to-impossible for many people to connect,” says Checota. “And it’s only going to get worse.”
Old Guard Games will host myriad Dungeons & Dragons events in 2025 in celebration of the game’s 50th anniversary. (Fun fact: Dungeons & Dragons was invented in Lake Geneva, Wis.) Historical game tournaments, organized chess playing and Pokemon card learning sessions for kids and their parents are also in the plans.
“We hope to take it up a notch and not only offer people’s favorite games, but also expose them to new ones,” says Checota.
Tabletop gaming has a diverse following, something Checota appreciated since his days at Napoleon's. “I’d show up and a cop, a garbage man, a UWM professor and a stay-at-home would all be playing together,” says Checota. “A mix of people who never in a million years would have stumbled upon each other, but they met through gaming and then developed real friendships.”
Inclusion and acceptance is a large part of the gaming community and integral to Old Guard Game’s ideology.
“Everybody accepts everybody – foibles and all. And it’s not because society is telling us we have to or it’s the right thing to do, it’s because we simply like to come together and play these games,” says Checota.
In recent years, the stigma against gamers has evolved. Checota says when he was a kid, he kept his love for Dungeons & Dragon a secret from most of his peers, because he didn’t want to get picked on. Today, “nerd culture” is respected and thriving.
“More and more people are realizing that these games can bring great joy to your life through the interaction with other people and the progress within the hobby,” says Checota.
Checota, who grew up on Milwaukee’s East Side and still lives within walking distance of Old Guard Games with his wife and children, worked for 25 years for his family’s development business. But he never stopped envisioning a game shop.
“This was always in the back of my head as something I wanted to do, and when I got into the position to do it – on the scale that I wanted to do it – I did it,” he says. “No one’s going to get rich owning a game store. This is a labor of love. A place I hope my kids want to hang out in someday.”
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Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
