The ninth hour was quickly approaching.

The slumber party for gamers was underway and no one was going to sleep. Instead of talking about boys and listening to Ke$ha songs under the sheets, it was “Yu-Gi-Oh!” and … Ke$ha songs seeping out of speakers in the corner of the blue-walled room.

With no air conditioning, passers-by on Lincoln Way could feel the heat radiating off of Mayhem’s glass door while the 24-hour gaming session took place inside. White tables were set up all around and posters beguiled all who entered with their charm and splendor.

Apart from the chatter of those playing the different games, voices could be heard in animated-tones of elfish and altogether odd sounds that blended in with the shuffling of cards or role-playing and lingo of everyone in the space.

“Hi, Mom,” said a boy with a handful of playing cards of some sort spilling out of his backpack and hands while leaving the room. “I had to buy them to finish my collection. It was only $60, and plus, I still have $4 left.”

Coming up on 20 years of business, Mayhem Comics and Games on Lincoln Way in Ames has hosted the 24-hour gaming session for a little more than 15 years, said Rob Josephson, co-owner and manager of the store.

Sitting at the front of the store, adjacent to the game room where the session is taking place, Josephson says hello to the customers and what seem to be Mayhem family by now.

“Your mom just called,” he said to one younger man. “She wants you to call her back.”

With the beginning of a new school year, Josephson finds the 24-hour session provides an opportunity for new ISU students to meet each other and get an introduction to the store.

The event is usually hosted by the store twice a year; the next one will most likely take place in March when everyone is a little restless from the winter season.

Employees of the store are always relied upon to be at the event and bring board games or role-playing games so there is always something to play for those who come without their own. With a more casual approach to this year’s event, Josephson created a sign-up board and relied on word-of-mouth for attendance this year.

“There are gamers who will be very committed and stay the full 24 hours and those who will go home around 2 p.m., maybe 3 p.m.,” Josephson said.

While Josephson is speaking, the game room door opens and hot air pours into the room. Andrew Bircher walks into the heated room and sits down at a table where his friends are playing a card game.

“This is ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!'” Bircher said.

Bircher became a “gamer” when he was 12 years old. First it was “Pokemon,” then “Magic: The Gathering” soon after that. Now 25, Bircher finds himself coming to play a game at Mayhem at least once a week.

“This is usually how I spend my Saturday nights,” Bircher said. “I guess I could be out drinking. I guess I could do that afterwards, too. But this is how I met these two.”

Two men sitting at the table with him laugh and shake their heads. Sawyer Hade and Devin Rasmussen, whom Bircher have known since he came to Iowa State as a freshman in 2005, play their card game while Bircher recalls his favorite game, “Anachronism,” a card game involving figures in history fighting in an arena.

“I found my Chile Caesar and Cleopatra the other day,” Bircher said to Rasmussen.

The cards on the table are being flipped as fast they can. In the midst of the paper chaos, someone won the game.

“A face crushing definitely just occurred,” Rasmussen said.

As Rasmussen opens up his book filled with cards, he describes their value in a detail only a gamer could really empathize with.

“I’d say I’d be down about $1,500 if this book were to be stolen from me,” he said. “Gaming is expensive sometimes, but it doesn’t have to be.”

For many of the gamers in the room, gaming is the cliche “escape from the real world,” Hade said.

As the next “Yu-Gi-Oh!” match transpired, other games came to their climaxes in great volume.

“Oh, my God! That was unbearably cool,” shouted a man toward the back of the room.

Rasmussen looks up at Bircher with cards in their hands.

“Stereotypes are always involved in gaming,” Rasmussen said.

“Yeah, but it’s not like a bunch of dorks just come in here to play card games,” Bircher said, on the verge of laughter. “It’s so those dorks can find other dorks to play with them.”

Rasmussen peers up through his thick glasses and puts his deck of cards on the table.

“This is the one time of the week where you really can forget about everything and just play,” Rasmussen said.