On a Sunday afternoon, a group of college students are out saving the world with the help of their dungeon master and a bag of dice. On a Monday night, people pass the bars on Welch Avenue with decks of cards in their hands, ready to cast spells and other forms of magic on the opponents they will be facing.

Role-playing and card games are a quickly-growing phenomenon – and Ames local businesses have taken notice.

Last year, 15-year-old Mayhem Collectibles, 2532 Lincoln Way, added a game room to accommodate the growing population of gamers.

“The game room has more space. Therefore, more people come and play,” said Erin Jones, an employee of Mayhem. “Also, more people can play at a time with the increase in space. Instead of two or three people playing, there can be games played with a large group of people.”

Jones said Mayhem offers a game night for every night of the week, highlighting games from Magic: The Gathering to Warhammer 40000.

Gaming has become so popular that the Ames Science Fiction and Fantasy Association has begun holding an annual convention, “CyCon,” for gaming.

“This is the second year of trying to revamp the con, which used to be an annual event 10 years ago,” said Rebecca Bryndal, junior in chemistry and association member. “The purpose of the con is to get our club and other clubs together to have a gaming weekend.”

The con has different types of games, movies and also offers Dance Dance Revolution, Bryndal said.

“It’s a weekend of fun to get to know everybody and to learn about the clubs on campus for gaming. It tries to show a different type of activity to participate in on campus,” Bryndal said.

Bryndal said the convention is free and is open for students and the community.

One reason gaming is so popular is because it’s a change of pace from typical college life, Bryndal said.

She said for a long time her social environment was going to parties and the bar, but it got old after a while.

“Gaming has a variety,” said Christopher Brodersen, association president and junior in computer science.

He said he likes gaming because it allows him to become several characters in a role-playing experience.

“It’s fun to change characters, especially since none of my characters are anything like each other,” he said.

One of his many characters is named Donk, an unintelligent character with a limited vocabulary and an affinity for shiny things. He also enjoys playing the part of more intelligent characters.

“Sometimes I’m a wizard – someone very intelligent and high class,” he said. “I have to switch from one personality to the next, depending on which character I use.”

For Bryndal, gaming started as something she heard about in high school and that was talked about so often she wanted to learn more about it. She said she was able to create a character, but found it hard at first.

“When role-playing, you are told to play a character who is the opposite of who you are, so it’s hard when first starting. Being someone who is nice and quiet, it was hard to play as an outspoken, nasty girl who is out for herself,” she said.

What started out as a challenge for Bryndal turned into something that was not only interesting, but something that helped her outside of the gaming world. Now, her “nasty” characters are what she enjoys playing the most.

“This character has helped me have more of a voice than I did before,” she said. “All I want to play now are characters that are evil, sarcastic, with a get-out-of-my-way attitude. I love it. The difference makes it fun.”

Brodersen said one of the biggest appeals of gaming is that it’s something that breaks the limits that other activities, like video games, have to offer. He finds it’s the best way to pass his time as he’s developing social skills – not sitting, fiddling with the controller. He also said he finds gaming is open to a multiple number of players who all bring in different ideas.

“You get to know everybody better. You get to see how they react in certain situations. You get to see them develop their characters,” Brodersen said. “It works with your mind and not your physical body. I can run the same campaign with the same people but get a completely different outcome depending on their reactions.”

Chealsey Thomas, junior in English, said gaming allows players to use their imagination to create characters, explore different worlds and figure out ways to make it through a variety of scenarios.

Brodersen said the games are also unpredictable, with the randomness lying in the combination of cards used or roll of the dice. The most important aspect of gaming, he said, is opening up your mind to the experience.

“[The] randomness lies in how creative the players are and what decisions everyone makes,” he said.