This post is written by guest blogger, Steven Amrhein, Intern at Old Town Cape.

Over Easter weekend, I had the opportunity to take a trip to visit my grandfather. While going through some of his older things with him, I found something of mine - my Nintendo 64. I hadn't played this things in over ten years! This was the gaming system of my generation, which after my childhood I gave to my grandfather for all of my younger cousins to play with when they visited...but I remembered having a lot more games to play on it. Isn't it funny how things seem to magically disappear over time?

Like some of my favorite video game heroes, I was on a quest. I packed up the Nintendo and headed back to Cape Girardeau. Big retailers didn't carry what I wanted; only offering new games. I was about to give up hope, but as I was driving to work the other day I noticed a new business on Broadway - Gaming Grounds. I'd been to their Jackson location once, but had no idea that they opened a second location. Owner Shannon, a fellow video game lover, wanted to tap into the college life and chose downtown for the new location because of the lively atmosphere, good shops and lots of things to do. Once I learned that they cater all gamers from Atari to Xbox One, I knew I was in the right place.

Gaming Grounds offers a variety of services for someone looking to buy new games, trade in old ones, or just talk about future or past releases. One of the things that I enjoyed most about the store was being able to hook up my 64 to one of their flat screen TV's and test play some of the games. Since they have TV's for every system, you can play before you purchase or pay to play with full online access - how cool! They also host tournaments including Super Smash Bros, Halo, etc. but Shannon hopes to expand their services and start including more PC services and host tournaments bi-weekly in the near future.

Gaming Grounds prides themselves in having a great stock selection. I was amazed at how many Nintendo 64 games they had, all from trading in. And the best part? There was no pressure. I was able to casually browse and swap stories in a fun atmosphere. I also decided that I just couldn't live without purchasing a classic - Super Mario Bros - for my 64. I promised them that I would return in the future and purchase even more "new, old" games. If you're a video game junkie like myself, I encourage you to add them on Facebook to keep up with the new products, tournaments, etc.

This post is written by guest blogger, Steven Amrhein, Intern at Old Town Cape.

Comic book blockbusters are months away from being released on the big screen. Fans of Captain America, X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy, Transformers and Godzilla are excited for the highly anticipated movies, but how do they spend the time between now and launch? The answer? A comic convention! As a superhero fan and movie buff, I'm ecstatic for Cape Comic Con coming to the Arena Building in Cape Girardeau March 21-23.

My favorite comic book store, Coffey's Comics and Games, has only been open for less than a year, but quickly filled the gap in the comic and gaming world in town when Marvels and Legends Comics and Cards closed shop. Whether you're a comic enthusiast, fantasy game player, or just want to hear what's going on in the entertainment world, owner Matt Coffey is the guy to talk to. He is more than thrilled to be a vendor at Cape Comic Con this year after his attendance last year brought a lot of traffic back downtown to his store.

Cape Comic Con is a great opportunity for local vendors like Coffey's for many reasons. Setting up prior to the opening of the event gives them a chance to mingle with other vendors from bigger cities like Indiana, St. Louis and so on. Coffey loads up his entire stores and puts it all in his designated booth. Things that sit in stores for years can be brought to the convention and sold within minutes. many vendors, including Coffey's, will even come to the event with a prepared list of items that customers are in search of and keep their eye out for those collector items.

According to Coffey, Cape Comic Con has grown exponentially in the past three years. He says the kids love that it's only $15 for the entire weekend compared to the Comic Con in San Diego that costs over $200 per person. When I asked Ken Murphy, organizer for the event, how he gets so many people involved, he responded "I seek vendors who are professional and bring a nice setup to the event. I want a good mixture of comics, gaming, artwork, t-shirts, toys, posters, vintage collectibles, and crafts." Getting it started was interesting through. Luckily Ken knew Gary Friedrich, the creator of Ghost Rider and he agreed to be the first ever guest. Guests this year include Jerry "The King" Lawler (WWE Hall of Famer), Shane Davis (Illustrator of Superman Comics), Brian Koschak (Drawer of Star Wars comics), and Douglas Paszkiewicz (Trip Tank of Comedy Central).

Both Coffey and Murphy agree that their favorite parts of Cape Comic Con are the cosplayers. For those of us who haven't attended, cosplay is a sight to see where people pay tribute to their favorite characters in any genre and dress up as them for the event. One of the things Murphy likes to see out of his event is getting the locals and visitors to head out to the downtown stores while they are here - they have to eat, don't they? He says a lot of people that visit Cape for the weekend can be see in the downtown nightlife and keep coming back from surrounding states throughout the year because they enjoy their time here.

After seeing how much Murphy has put into Cape Comic Con, I too am anxious! Murphy left me with this "I am very thankful to have support from our community and those around the Cape Girardeau area. I plan to keep building the event and hope that it's one that we can enjoy and look forward to each spring." I think that we all can look forward to the convention coming to town this year, and I wish I would have known about it years ago. I can't wait to order my tickets, now I just have to plan on who I want to dress up as! Feel free to leaves suggestions for me in the comments section below.

Did you know that the largest silver artbar dealer in the world is in downtown Cape Girardeau? I sure didn’t, and until this week I didn’t know what a silver artbar was either. Mike Sprouse, owner of River City Coins and Jewelry and – the world’s largest artbar dealer – filled me in during a visit to his shop this week. I discovered that silver artbars are rectangular collector’s items made of silver with engraved artwork that were mostly produced in the 60’s and 70’s after the U.S. stopped using silver in coins which in turn caused an increase in silver interest and value.

During my visit to River City Coins & Jewelry, Mike was kind enough to show me around his shop, give me some coin collecting 101 and share his story.

When I walked in the shop, I carried in a trinket-box full of coins. The box, shaped like a heart with “Toni’s Things” painted on top, held coins that I had thrown in since I was 12 that I thought were interesting or that held special sentimental value. Mike said that people walked in on a daily basis with similar stories of coins they thought may or may not be worth something. We poured mine on the counter, and Mike thumbed through foreign coins, smashed souvenir pennies, a few buffalo nickels and a Kennedy half dollar. The verdict? My buffalo nickel was worth 35¢. Everything else was face value or less.

Since I wasn’t expecting any of my coins to be worth much, I wasn’t that disappointed, so we moved on to bigger and better things. I asked Mike about some of his favorite coins, and he pulled out a buffalo nickel with a 3 legged buffalo and a $20 gold coin. The buffalo nickel (sans one leg) was worth anywhere from $500-$1,000! The $20 gold coin was printed in 1924, and was now worth approximately $1,800! Mike explained that the intrinsic worth of the gold in the coin was $1,200, and the numismatic worth (collector’s value) added another $600 of worth to the coin. Many coins have a raw precious metal value (intrinsic) plus a numismatic value determined by how valuable collectors deem the coin. Mike proudly referred to himself as a numismatist - a student or collector of coins.

As I stood at the counter in River City Coins & Jewelry, I was most impressed with Mike’s knowledge of economics, investing and the precious metals market. As he told his story, I learned he had majored in Economics at SEMO and worked in the banking industry for 10 years before deciding to take a chance on his dream job: buying and selling coins and jewelry. He first opened his shop in Cape in 1985 and moved to the current location downtown in 1993. He laughed in disbelief, as I reminded him he was nearing his 30 year anniversary. Mike confessed that he had collected coins all of his life, and I could tell he had a true passion for the trade.

1. Collecting coins is a hobby that is literally worth something. 
2. I really need to add investing in gold to my list of strategies for retirement.