Our Journey
Pop’s Game Asylum is a dream a long time coming. It is an idea born in the backroom of the home of Jack Neahusan (Pop), where Sean Neahusan and Hal Bush spent many of their teenage years playing Dungeons & Dragons, Axis & Allies, L5R, Magic: the Gathering, and so much more. Pop picked up his love of games in the U.S. Navy where he spent his free time playing card games like cribbage, pinochle, spades, hearts and more. He was also introduced to Dungeons & Dragons, among other things. Pop spent the rest of his life collecting games, cards and even gamers.
Pop’s Game Asylum will be much more than a game store. The double meaning of asylum shows the hope for what this store will be. Not only is the asylum a place where we are crazy about games, but we invite any and all to join us in a safe place to explore new worlds. Sean and Hal have many fond memories from those teenage years spent playing games and bonding (including creating a friendship that endures to this day). While Pop’s Game Asylum will be a game store, the hope is that it will be much more than that. It is designed to be a gathering place for people to come, spend time, enjoy the company of others and to learn new games and rediscover old games. For us, games have always been a fun method of engaging our imagination and learning.
Pop’s Game Asylum will also be the home of Asylum Games, the production arm of the operation. It is within this arm that Sean and Hal, and hopefully many others, will come to make the games that have been rattling around in their brains. With five games currently in various stages of production, Game Asylum will use social media to introduce these games and allow input into how to improve the products as the process moves forward. Along with this, Game Asylum will be striving to provide an opportunity for other game designers to have an audience and avenue to bring their dreams to life.
Game Asylum will sponsor and air on social media a game creation contest, similar to what Sean experienced at RageCon 2022 with his daughter Kylee and son Will. There they competed in a one hour game creation contest and thoroughly enjoyed it. As we build a following and receive interested applicants we will institute a reality style game show with followers providing much of the judging.
Pop’s Game Asylum will be a creative outlet for much more than just games. Since the beginning of board games, art has played an important role. We will be using our space to allow for introductions into many different styles and mediums. Pop’s will partner with many local artists and creative minds to introduce their art through Workshops and podcasts.
Pop’s Game Asylum will host regular podcasts and streaming. We will use this to introduce people to some of our favorite old games, as well as new games. We will look to offer Patreon style memberships that will allow special access to streams and many other benefits. There will be a private gaming room set up for streaming that will allow people access to gaming in real time with distant friends and family. Eventually this will have all the bells and whistles.