“There hasn’t been anything like this open for at least 10 years,” said Cody Dame, co-owner of the gaming outlet. “Actually there’s nothing like it in the surrounding cities and towns, either. North Platte, which is an hour away, is the closest, and their last card shop closed around the same time as our card shop in McCook.”

Two years ago, Dame’s business plan caught the eye of judges at the Hormel Business Plan Competition, winning the $25,000 grand prize. Dame and his friend/partner Tanner Lytle wasted no time transforming their gaming dreams into reality. Using the local bank to get lines of credit to finance their business, the duo already had a functioning game store on their hands by the time their Hormel winnings rolled in.

“Part of how they (Hormel Family Foundation) run that competition is the money is given in exchange for a stake in the business. So, they negotiate with you after you win about how much that $25,000 is worth in that particular business,” Dame said. “We hired a lawyer and had them go through the negotiation process. While that was happening, we went out and got our own funding and started the business. Within two weeks of opening the doors, we got the $25,000, which we used to pay off some of the loans we were using.”

2007 winners: Cody Dame & Tanner Lytle; Courtesy of Invest Nebraska

Initially, the Game on Games web site served as a mirror of the psychical store, allowing interested gamers to reserve items 24 hours in advance, and then pop by the store the next day to make their purchases. But soon, the site started getting hits (and orders) from well beyond Nebraska’s border.

“We started getting orders from all over the world,” Dame said. “We were shipping overseas, shipping all over the place, and it got to be too much. Mainly, because we were selling things online and then selling them again in the store, and inventory was getting messed up.”

To solve the merchandise mismatch dilemma, Game on Games retooled its web site, changing it from an online retail destination to a record of in-store promotions and gaming tournaments. However, the amount of comic-related web traffic coming in was sufficient to convince Dame and Lytle to start a second business, Comics To.Me.

“We were selling more comic books than anything else, so we actually created a side venture that’s all just comics,” Dame said. “Because of what happened with the store’s web site getting a little out of control, we still upkeep Comics To.Me, but we don’t actively try and advertise it.”

And with 155,831 comic requests since December of 2007, it’s obvious the Comics To.Me clientele is vibrant enough to keep the side project afloat without additional promotion. But at the end of the day, Dame said, it’s not about sales numbers or profit margins.

“This is my hometown — I’ve lived here my whole life,” he said. “I like it here, and I plan on being here from quite a while. Why not put something I want in the place where I want to live?”