Geeking out and about in Bakersfield

While Bakersfield’s most famous forms of entertainment are its country music, with artists like Merle Haggard being synonymous with the city, and its dining — particularly its affinity for sweets — the city does have other things outside of listening to sweet guitar twang and filling ones stomach with complex confections. On a lazy Saturday morning I find nothing more enjoyable than sitting down and immersing myself in a video game, comic book or just shooting the breeze with like minded individuals at one of these locations.

Gamestor: With three locations in Bakersfield Gamestor is the biggest non-corporate video game chain store in Bakersfield. The stores are set up as a combination video game store and lounge. While their selection of modern day games is decent its the chains dedication to retro-gaming that is their biggest draw. The stores carry consoles and games from the 1980s to modern day. For me, there was nothing more exciting than seeing a Super Nintendo Entertainment System sitting on a shelf next to a crate filled with slab gray cartridges. Even just thumbing through a pile of old games sends me back to the days of my childhood when I’d stay up until 5 a.m. playing through games like “Mega Man X” and “Final Fantasy III.” Gamestors selection gives me the ability to relive those days again.

The stores also repair video game consoles, iPods, iPhones and other electronics.

Leeters: Located inside the East Hills Mall, Leeters is one of the larger comic books stores in Bakersfield. The store has racks upon racks of comic books, an area set up for PC video gaming, pool tables, Dance Dance Revolution and areas for tabletop gaming.

The stores biggest draw is its lounge are. The store provides games for people to play free of charge. They range from more casual board and card games like Apples to Apples to more hardcore games like Warhammer 40,000. The store also regularly host tournaments for popular games and offers workshops to help get people into new and complex games.

Otto’s Video Games and More:  Located on White Lane Otto’s is the newest store on this list. While it doesn’t have the amount of sheer backlog  back catalog that the Gamestor chain does Otto’s have a very nice console gaming area, with very large screens, and a section set up for table-top gaming.

They are the largest supplier of Warhammer 40,000 in the area. Their table top and video game areas also offer more room than that stores mentioned above.

Correction: Information about Otto’s Video Games and More game release schedule was incorrect. Otto’s follows all official release guideline for its retail products.