City gets new ‘LAN center’

A Spokane business has opened in a converted garage downtown the first of several planned “LAN centers” catering to online video game players.

Inland Northwest Gaming & Systems, LLC opened the center in the former garage of the Luminaria Building, at 154 S. Madison.

Company principal Ted Brown and two partners, Nathan McDowell and Michael Pillsbury, renamed the business and relocated it after buying the assets of Surf ‘N Play, a north Spokane gaming center. The former business opened in late 2002 at the corner of Monroe and Indiana.

Inland Northwest Gaming’s second center will be located in the former East Sprague movie theater in Spokane Valley, said Brown. That theater, at the corner of Sprague and University, is also used as a teen center.

LAN centers have become a booming business in larger cities. Equipped with high-speed Internet connections, the centers allow teens and young adults to connect computers to a local area network and play online games.

The games include popular releases such as Counter Strike, Half Life 2 and Warcraft. Players can compete against others inside the room or against other players around the globe.

The service costs $4 an hour, although rates are lower for monthly or yearly subscribers.

Brown’s downtown center will have five workers. Hours will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Hours will be expanded later after several facility improvements are completed, Brown said.

The company’s long-term plan is to move beyond Spokane and operate LAN centers in Newport, Yakima and other Northwest cities, Brown added.

The Luminaria site will be equipped both with Ethernet network connections and wireless “Wi-Fi” broadband. Users who prefer not to play games but to plug in a laptop and browse the Web are welcome, said Brown.