Looking for a cool place to hang out and play video games with your friends? Then Crazy Penguins Gaming is the place for you. Open since April 27th near Charryvale Mall, across from the Cherry Bowl, the center is a 5000 square foot facility that is focused on the social aspect of gaming.
Crazy Penguins Gaming has 21 cutting edge PCs, 25 console stations (including 100" projection alcoves), and even Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero. For a break from staring at the monitor they even have a room with billiard tables (talking about combining high and low tech). This place pretty much has it all.
While you might think of gaming as a solitary occupation, Crazy Penguins Gaming is based on the opposite concept. Owner Eric Osar believes that gaming is a social activity and is striving to create an environment that is conducive to that aspect of the pass time as opposed to the more competitive side of it. He feels that most gaming centers are structured around that competitiveness and that those "competitive components create hostility." That runs contrary to the concept at Osar's facility. He says that he wants to "create a place for teens and young adults to get together and learn social skills and team skills."
Another piece of the conceptual framework of Crazy Penguins gaming is pricing. Osar says that he wants to "provide a place for kids without a lot of money to go for fun." With that in mind patrons can use the entire facility for $2.50 an hour Monday through Thursday and 3.25 an hour on the weekend (headset rental is a dollar). If you look around at the prices at similar facilities you'll find that it's a bargain.
A quick look down a list of some of the games they have will show just how comprehensive the options are for having fun at Crazy Penguins Gaming. From the aforementioned interactive games (DDR and Guitar Hero II) to such games as Call of Duty (2 and 3), Dead Rising, Madden NFL 2007, Halo (1 and 2) and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 for the X Box 360 we're just getting started. They've also got Madden NFL 2007, Virtua Fighter 5, Resistance: Fall of Man, Sonic and the Secret Rings and more for Playstation 3 and options like Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Marble Mania, Wii Play and Wii Sports for the Wii system.
Those are just a few of the choices and the list doesn't even touch their PC games. A quick glance of those includes: Age of Empires III, Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars, Neverwinter Nights 2, Titan Quest, Unreal Tournament 2004, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade and World of Warcraft. As above, that's just the beginning of the options, there are many more.
Crazy Penguins Gaming is open noon to midnight every day. Stop by their location at 7164 Cherryvale Blvd to have a look for yourself. If you need more information you can check them out on the web at crazypenguinsgaming.com or call them at 815-332-9300. If you go there once, I'd bet it won't be the last time. | 
