Proof that in Singapore, a gamer's passion can find a way (PICS)

The twenty-year-old store called Rowell Home Entertainment is not the most inspiring of game retailers. Nestled deep in the Singapore suburbs, it sells consoles, console games and trading cards in one half of its unit, and mobile prepaid cards and accessories in the other. It opens out into a common corridor lined by a covered drain. The space outside was previously common walkway, but now has been covered up by tentage for shade, and furnished with simple tables and chairs.

Rowell Home Entertainment is not just a sleepy neighbourhood store. It’s also a gathering place for Vanguard trading card game players. And recently, it has been a venue for a large Pokemon video game tournament. The store played host to the Singapore leg of the Asia Cup Spring Challenge, a regional, fan-organized tournament that has hopes of being recognized by the Pokemon Company.

“Pokemon has been in the market for ten years. It’s [a game] from childhood. There are people still playing regularly, and we wanted to do a competition to let all these fans get together.”

That was what store owner, 48 year old Chong Sze Wen, said to me when I asked why he had decided to do the tournament together with the leading competitive Pokemon community in Singapore, Team Robo Video Games. It’s this same sentiment that has Chong keeping tables and chairs set up outside his shop just for Vanguard players to use during the week. It’s this same sentiment that ended up drawing 72 participants to his shop one sleepy weekend, surprising neighbouring shops and passersby.

What is really surprising is that Rowell Home Entertainment is not equipped to host many people, let alone a tournament. The players sit outside of the shop on plastic stools. There is no air conditioning, just fans. There are no power sockets. Staff and volunteer administrators of the tournament hand out power banks to players with dying consoles. When players finish their round, they stand up and report their scores manually to an admin.

Business at Rowell Home Entertainment is “neither good nor bad”, and one could argue that Chong hosts these tournaments to get a boost to his business. If that really was the case, though, then entries fees would probably be a lot more than they were (S$8, equivalent to about $6.25) and there wouldn’t be special prices on items for participants.

To this writer, the mild mannered shopkeeper whom us young’uns refer respectfully to as ‘uncle’, simply wants to see the kids he caters to have a good time. Check out pictures of the Asia Cup Spring Challenge Singapore tournament here:

UPDATE 23-01-2014: The article has been updated to include info on the Pokemon tournament itself.