Get Ready For Some Button Mashing

By NICOLA M. WHITE The Tampa Tribune
ZEPHYRHILLS – It already has insurance agencies, furniture stores and legal offices.
And now, Fifth Avenue has a black-and-red den of neon and plasma called Knight’s Kove.


It’s a gaming arcade where the younger crowd can compete against other gamers or slouch into oversized beanbags and play “Halo 2” or “Lost Planet” solo. The Xbox 360 games are shown on six flat-screen plasma TVs.
The Kove even has “Dance Dance Revolution,” the energy-expending dancing game fad from Japan.
The former sandwich shop also boasts air hockey and a couple of old-school, coin-operated video game stations.
For owner Bob Watson, it’s been easy to reach his customer base. The full-time, floating substitute teacher at Zephyrhills High School sees and hears firsthand what’s cool these days.
“I’m not a gamer at all,” Watson said. “I just watch them and watch them spend their money.”
When the downtown storefront became vacant, he took the plunge, opening May 1. The arcade, he noted, is within walking distance of the high school and Raymond B. Stewart Middle School.
Because he didn’t know much about video games, he hit the Internet to find out what’s popular. Then he stocked up on more than 20 Xbox 360 games, from shoot’em-ups to racing to sports games.
Knight’s Kove will host a “Halo 2” tournament Saturday. So far, seven teams have signed up and 50 people will compete. The top prize is $100.
Tri Vo, 14, a sixth-grader at Stewart Middle, is one of the guys who signed up. Even though he has a video game system at home, he likes coming to Knight’s Kove because “you can, like, hang out with friends.”