Board games have no place tucked away on a dusty shelf. Not in Beaverton, anyway.

The niche world of puzzles and board games is experiencing a revival here with the help of a longstanding store and a recently opened museum. With a mission to keep structured play alive, the Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlrey, at 8231 S.W. Cirrus Dr., opened to hundreds of visitors on May 23.



"The golden era for board games has passed," says Kyle Engen, co-steward of the museum. "So it seems like a good time to start preserving that culture."



The museum is the brainchild of Engen and Carol Mathewson. They started it three years ago from their garage after decades of collecting historic board games, puzzles and other classic gaming items. They even took the museum, which they call IMOGAP, on the road to the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. The longtime gamers received their non-profit status two years ago, with a goal of saving an industry they felt wasn't well represented in an age dominated by the internet and video games.





Museum owners pick their favorite games:

Kyle Engen and Carol Mathewson recently opened Beaverton's International Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery.

Mathewson's favorite game:

RoboRally

Why:

"There's so many obstacles you have to get around. It's a game that makes you think."

Engen's favorite game:

Iron Dragon

Why:

"It's a railroad board game. It varies between rounds, it has great depth, and it's really satisfying to sit down and play for four hours with a bunch of gamers."

– Findley Merritt

"We're not trying to just be hobbyists. We're trying to share it in an accessible and philanthropic way," Mathewson says.

The Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlrey has more than 1,600 games, including traditional board games, collectable card games, gambling and parlor games, jigsaw puzzles and even some old video games. They display exhibits about gaming culture, including Native American games, such as a dice game made from animal bones. The front room of the museum has tables available for visitors to play any of the games from the vast selection in the back room.

What are the oldest items in the museum? Ninety-year-old children's bookshelf card games –small card games designed to sit on a shelf like a book. The best snap shot of history?

– "a game of cover-up and deception for the whole family."

"Board games are a great way to track historic social and cultural trends," Mathewson says. "People don't realize how much you can learn from a game."

They also track our growing nostalgia – even need – for simpler, lower tech pleasures. Matthew Trotter, who lives in

, wants to open

. "I think a lot of credit for the recent surge of interest in tabletop gaming goes to the

' hosted by Wil Wheaton," says Trotter, 25, who works at a nursery.

"Some episodes of the show have drawn in nearly a million views, and they introduce people to games they might not otherwise have known about. ... Add to that that so many of us work jobs where we stare at screens for eight or more hours a day, and so much of our social interaction occurs over Facebook, Twitter, etc. The opportunity to interact with other people without a screen in between is more attractive than some of us are willing to admit," he said in an email.

Beaverton's new Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery features more than 1,600 games, as well as exhibits about gaming culture and a play area for new and old games.

Five miles away from the Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlrey is another place specializing in board games. For 15 years

, at 18105 S.W. Tualatin Valley Hwy., has sold tabletop card games, board games, Euro-style board games, puzzles, graphic novels and customizable card games.

The owners, Steve Ellis and Jeff Abramson, wanted to open a store that involved the local gaming community. Gamers themselves, Abramson and Ellis met at a card-game event at a store in Northeast Portland that specialized in board games – the only such store in the area at the time, they realized. Ellis worked for the software and computer company

and Abramson worked at

until they quit and opened a 15,000 square-foot store.

The booming business has since expanded to 36,000 square feet and grown to five full-time and three part-time employees. The store holds events for schools and clubs, as well as provides play areas in the store for demo games. They host weekly viewings of "TableTop." While Rainy Day focuses on the retail, and more up-to-date, side of the board game business, Ellis says he appreciates Mathewson's and Engen's mission.

"It's a great concept," he says. "My hope is that the museum will get a lot of visitors."

For their part, Mathewson says she and Engen are trying to connect with the local community in similar ways to Rainy Day. They're reaching out to local Mahjong clubs and Russian and Turkish communities, for example.

"You can go to another country and not speak the same language and play a game together," she says. "We're trying to get a broader cultural interest as opposed to just the young, white nerds."

-- Findley Merritt