All fun and games at Your Parent’s Basement
Reliving your childhood is something most people may have only thought about, but don’t have the time or the resources to do it.
Your Parent’s Basement at 106 S. Main St. opened its doors Friday, May 5, and aims to do just that and a lot more with a 1980s-themed tabletop board gaming, role-playing and wargaming event space.
Owners Ray Frenden, Jen Osborne and Mae McMillan in August began working on renovating the former PNC Bank building, which, according to Frenden, was built in 1925.
“The way it works, is people buy a day pass that costs $14.99 and get you access to all our board games and tabletop games, along with space to play the games,” Osborne said. “Upstairs they can rent the board room if they want to. If they have a large party and want a little time to themselves they can.”
A lot of elbow grease has gone into getting the business up and running Frenden explained, such as having the vault cleaned for members to store their belongings, to installing lights in the basement, which consists of cement walls where the escape room is.
“This place has presented some unique challenges when it comes to the build out,” Frenden said. “We are currently still building out the first escape room — it’s called the Babysitters Club. The idea is you’re a babysitter, someone else in the club is suspected of stealing the club’s money. You go in there and find the means, the motive and the money, and prove the crime in an hour.”
The Babysitters Club is expected to open by the end of May.
Under ground, the basement of the building also features a workshop that consists of two resin 3D printers, a 24“ vinyl plotter, a fully featured router/CNC with z-axis carving, a large format Giclee printer, a four-station screen-printing press and an embroidery machine.
“The basement is not just a place to play, but also a place to create,” Frenden said.
On the building’s main floor, where the bank lobby was, a large event space encompasses the area, with 500 board games and 400 role-playing game systems for participants to experience.
“The Dungeons and Dragons stuff basically is collaborative storytelling and improv with your friends,” Frenden said.
Osborne and Frenden are confident the revenue from admissions will be enough to cover the rent.
“After the initial investment in the books and games, which were mostly donated from our personal libraries, it just comes down to keeping the lights on,” Frenden said.
One of the more interesting aspects of the building is the bank vault on the main floor.
The plan is to use the 2,500 safety deposit boxes in the vault as storage compartments for members.
“This is likely what kept this place unsold for so long,” Osborne said. “You can’t take this out. It lives forever in here.”
Currently Your Parent’s Basement utilizes three floors of the building.
Frenden said there are eight floors in the building with tenants on the other five floors, leaving the potential to expand the business upward and bring in more activities for guests.
“We’ve talked about having duckpin bowling, arcade games and maybe a museum,” Osborne said. “We are an entertainment center at the core of it.”
Your Parent’s Basement is open 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
