Atlantic Avenue gets its game on
Professional video gamers open pop-up play space in Boerum Hill
GAMING ELITE: From left, New York Excelsior’s Ben Nichol and Collette Gangemi. Photo by Colin Mixson
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BY COLIN MIXSON
It’s screen time!
A team of professional
video gamers opened up a
pop-up shop on Atlantic Avenue
where experienced nerds
can pay by the hour to dominate
noobs on top-of-the-line
gaming equipment, according
to the group’s game-player-inchief.
“We’re offering the opportunity
to have a really truly
premium gaming experience
over here on some of the nicest
computers in the world,” said
Ben Nichol.
Nichol, who die-hard gamers
may recognize for streaming
his gaming exploits as Mr.
Bitter on YouTube , now spearheads
events and business
development for pro-gaming
squad New York Excelsior,
which set up the temporary
NYXL play space between
Nevins Street and Third Avenue
that features 34 top-ofthe
line HP Omen gaming
desktop computers, which at
around $3,000 a piece, are each
roughly equivalent in value to
a well-maintained 2006 Volkswagen
Jetta.
Local gamers can swing by
the Excelsior pop-up on Fridays
and weekends through
Dec. 23, where they can rent a
computer for $10 per hour, or
$5 for students. The machines
are loaded with popular multiplayer
games such as Overwatch,
Rocket League, Call of
Duty: Black Ops 4, and League
of Legends.
The space is also equipped
with Playstation 4 and Xbox
One consoles, as well as with
retro machines including Nintendo
64, and its creators will
host tournaments and such
game-related events as cosplay
parties throughout its
run, Nichol said.
The pop-up also sells apparel,
including jackets,
shirts, hats, and even jewelry
from brands such as Undefeated
and Starter, as well as
rare merch made by Excelsior’s
in-house swag guru, Collette
Gangemi — who bears
no relation to deceased former
Bay Ridge Councilman John
Gangemi, and said that the
store will offer no more than
300 units of any given item.
“Everything is super limited
edition,” she said.
The New York Excelsior
squad is an eight-man team
of South Korean gamers that
represents New York City in
a newly formed professional
league that plays the fi rstperson,
team-based shooting
game Overwatch, which
kicked off its inaugural season
earlier this year.
The city club made short
work of its competition in regular
season play from January
through June, racking up
a stellar 34–6 record, but a rival
group from Philadelphia
knocked the hometown players
out of the competition in a
crushing semifi nals defeat in
July, according to Nichol, who
said the loss prevented Excelsior
from competing for the
league’s top prize during the
fi nals at the Barclays Center
later that month.
“That was a major drag,”
he said. “We really wanted to
play in front of a hometown
crowd.”
The New York gamers,
however, are actually based on
the West Coast, because Overwatch’s
regular-league play
took place at an arena in California,
Nichol said. But the
team’s owner, real-estate fi rm
Sterling Equities — which created
the club in 2017, and also
owns the New York Mets — is
looking to open a hometown
gaming venue, according to
Nichol, who said the odds are
good that facility will come to
the County of Kings as soon as
2020.