A long road to Knowhere
Mitchell Bonds/Press Clockwise from left, Guy Rainey, Randy Beat, Dave Alverson, Bill Forman and James Lasso enjoy cooperative storytelling at Knowhere Comics, Coffee and Games on Sunday during a weekly session of “Vampire: Dark Ages,” set in the year 1202 A.D. At their point in the story, they’re trying to determine in which city the Fourth Crusade will begin as part of the “Bitter Crusade” adventure module. Alverson is 53, and has been playing roleplaying games for decades.
MITCHELL BONDS/Press Katrina Knight, 10, stands behind a display of Pokémon trading cards Sunday afternoon, her favorite thing at Knowhere Comics, Coffee and Games in Post Falls.
Mitchell Bonds/Press Store co-owner Logan Knight, left, teaches Jaykob Senninger how to play “Star Trek: The Customizable Card Game” at Knowhere Comics, Coffee and Games in Post Falls on Sunday.
Mitchell Bonds/Press A leaderboard at Knowhere Comics, Coffee and Games in Post Falls shows the winners of the “Magic: The Gathering” collectible card game tournaments held there weekly.
Mitchell Bonds/Press Katrina Knight, 10, shows off her Pokémon trading card collection Sunday at Knowhere Comics, Coffee and Games in Post Falls.
It was 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon, and as vampires and Knights Templar plotted the Fourth Crusade, a Borg cube was approaching Earth.
Such is an average day at Knowhere Comics, Coffee and Games in Post Falls, where fans of comic books, roleplaying games, trading cards and more gather in a relaxed atmosphere to enjoy the things they mutually love.
"We provide a safe, fun atmosphere for kids, where they're not going to get cussed out or bullied," Knowhere co-owner Logan Knight said as he and a patron, Jaykob Senninger, faced each other for a round of "Star Trek: The Customizable Card Game."
Knight's youngest daughter, 10-year-old Katrina, loves the shop and is especially proud of its selection of Pokémon trading cards.
"I'm really, really big on Pokémon," Katrina said, "but I also play Magic (the Gathering, a collectible card game) and 'Star Wars: Destiny.'" She grinned as she showed off and described her personal card collection. "Some of the Pokémon are like, that looks like ... hair? Others, I want to squeeze them till they die!"
The place isn't just for kids, either. A mixed-age group, ranging from their 20s to 50s, sat around a table near the front of the store on Sunday, trying to plot where the next Crusade would happen, complicated by the fact they were acting as characters who were vampires, and couldn't go out in the Middle Eastern sun.
Dave Alverson, the storyteller running a weekly game of the "Vampire: Bitter Crusade," set in 1202 A.D., is 53, and said he has spent decades enjoying the cooperative storytelling roleplaying games have to offer.
"There's nothing else that exercises the imagination quite like roleplaying," Alverson said.
"It's a pretty wide age group," Knight's oldest daughter, Leia, said. "Anywhere from kids to older folks. We keep it age-friendly."
Knowhere hosts several weekly games — from "Dungeons & Dragons" to "Star Wars" games — and is always on the lookout for new players and game masters since it is the only card and game shop left in Post Falls after Sack Lunch Comics, formerly on Sixth Avenue, closed on April 1 this year, the same day Knight opened Knowhere.
"It was open for a year, and no one knew where it was," Knight said.
Knight co-owns Knowhere with six others — Charles Radavich, Nick Grimm, Brandt Starosta, Kurt Wismer, and Knight's sons Kirk and Luke — who all live in the Post Falls/Coeur d'Alene area.
"We're all Christians, we go to three different area churches," Knight said. "We were all pulled together by a mutual love of this stuff."
The shop's name, Knowhere, is a reference to a wretched hive of scum and villainy — a smuggling outpost from the 2014 Marvel film "Guardians of the Galaxy." Because the haven for collectors and gamers is co-owned, Knight didn't pick the name himself.
"I hate the name. The kids did that," Knight protested with a laugh. "I got outvoted. I wanted to name it 'The Bat Cave' or something to do with comics. But I'm getting used to it."
Knowhere is located at 4274 Riverbend in Post Falls, in the former Factory Outlet shopping center, and can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/knowhereccg.