Article by Nick DeMent | Photography by Jennifer Louis | Owl Staff
Hidden behind Jiffy Lube and across the street from Sears at the Harford Mall is The Computer Marketplace. Most people haven’t seen it, as it is slightly obscured behind a Jiffy Lube and is a relatively small business. The Marketplace sells computers, parts, and other electronic odds and ends and also repairs computer equipment.
However, there is more to this seemingly small building. Like Batman, by day it is a simple shop, but at night it evolves into a dance floor/gaming shindig.
While the storefront takes up the front half of the building, the back end holds the other part of their business: Gamenet. Half of the room is cleared away for dancing and is sizeable enough to fit a lot of people while the rest of the space has a pool table, ping pong, and couches to hang out and play video games.
Even though my friends and I were the only ones on this particular Friday, Ben had fun dancing by himself and told me, “It’s a cool place and I’d definitely go back, [but] we gotta get more friends to come next time.”
“However, there is more to this seemingly small building. Like Batman, by day it is a simple shop, but at night it evolves into a dance floor/gaming shindig.”
On Fridays they have open nights where you pay $4.00 an hour and the place is yours and your friends to enjoy. After setting up an account, the money is transferred to time on your account, and you can save your time when finished, making all of your money count and no hours wasted.
The music selection should appease even the most discerning fans. Most genres are on the computer they use to play it from: rock, hip-hop and rap, alternative, black metal; they have it all. For gamers, they have the most recent Call of Duty titles, Rock Band, Dance Dance Revolution, and many other multi-player games. My time there was just a small taste since my friends and I were the only ones who showed up due to the hidden nature of the place.
Blowing up your friends in Halo or surviving the zombie horde in Left 4 Dead with Slayer blasting in your ear is a lot of fun that is well worth $4.00 an hour. To those who enjoy gaming and music, Gamenet is a treasure that shouldn’t stay hidden forever.