Whanganui pair open D&D, Magic: The Gathering focused Mad Loot Games store

Nic Plane and Kelly Thurston have opened Mad Loot Games in Victoria Ave's Marketplace. Photo / Bevan Conley

Two local game enthusiasts have turned their passion and hobby into a store.

First-time business owners Nic Plane and Kelly Thurston have opened Mad Loot Games, a store focusing on Magic: The Gathering and D&D (Dungeons and Dragons).

Magic: The Gathering is a fantasy card game, with millions of players all across the world.

D&D is a fantasy tabletop game that rose to fame in the 1980s. The game focuses on storytelling and role-playing and usually has anywhere from four to eight players at a time. The game has had something of a revival across the world over recent years.

They opened their store this week in The Marketplace on Victoria Ave.

"It was a crazy idea in January 2020 and during Covid lockdown it developed into this," Thurston said.

Plane started playing D&D around two years ago with workmates and fell into the proverbial rabbit hole.

"It just hooked me from there," he said.

The pair are hoping to become a hub for local enthusiasts and have been doing surveys with people in an effort to organise future meetings and games nights.

Thurston said they have had a great response from locals, with many of them glad to have a store in town and not have to travel to Palmerston North for cards.

"It has been cool coming here and just getting into it," she said.

Setting up in The Marketplace for the next eight weeks, they're hoping to lay a foundation that will allow them to expand if the response from Whanganui is good.

"It was opening easy here. It's a good base to just us started and see where we can go.

"The ultimate would be a venue where we can hold tournaments. A lot of D&D groups have outgrown home venues and Magic players were looking for each other."