WILLIAMSBURG, OH — Eric Tapp was feeling one of his lifelong loves fade when he finally made the big purchase.
Tapp, 54, was born and grew up in Montreal, where playing hockey was "the big thing," he said. But after he moved to the U.S., the lifelong hockey fan started to lose his connection to the sport.
Then, looking for a way to spend his time during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, he purchased his own state-of-the-art hockey table. The game was modeled after a real arena, even equipped with LED lights and a mini-jumbotron.
With time to spare, he took it a step further, building a special room in his basement in Williamsburg, about 30 miles east of Cincinnati. He painted it to look like the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, home of the Columbus Blue
Jackets.
Five years and $100,000 later, his basement looks a lot different. It's covered in customized hockey jerseys, has a bar and concession stand and each room models a different arena. It's also now home to a competitive and growing table hockey league that attracts players of all ages from across North America.
League started with an 'office party'
In table hockey, two opposing players control miniature players on a small, tabletop rink. The goal is the same as traditional hockey: get your players to hit a small puck into the opposing net. The game is also sometimes called bubble hockey or rod hockey.
Tapp said it all started as an "office party." For the 20th anniversary of his business, Tapp and Associates, he invited his clients and staff over to play. What happened next was "magical," Tapp said.
"We saw people that didn't know anything about hockey play hockey, laugh, high-five each other, sing, dance, put their phone away," he said. "This was right after COVID, when everybody was hungry for that, right? And we're like, 'we got a hit here.'"
A few months later, he started inviting more people to play. Then it "went wild."
He convinced his wife, Crystal, to let him convert the entire basement into a space to play and he purchased three more tables. Though Crystal Tapp told The Enquirer she wasn't originally thrilled about the remodel − she'd had to move her laundry room − she agreed.
Now, their Williamsburg home has four "arenas" and attracts so many visitors that he had to build a separate entrance to the basement. His basement also now has an official name, the T&A Center (named after his insurance group Tapp and Associates).
The T&A Center holds a league for local players that runs each year from February to September called the "Insurance League." The league has 12 teams, with two to four players each, and is sponsored by Rhinegeist.
Tapp also holds a tournament the last weekend of February or first weekend of March called "Super Cup." This tournament brings in about 100 people from teams across North America, and Tapp even hires a band to perform.
Players find new community at center
During the Insurance League's playoffs in September, the Blue Ash Bubblers were coming for revenge. The team played in the Insurance League's playoffs last year, but was knocked out in the second round.
But team captain Andrew Kozlove said the experience of even being in the playoffs last year − which were hosted at Rhinegeist Brewery's taproom in Over-the-Rhine − was rewarding enough.
"There's not too many opportunities in my 30s to really have those competitive moments in front of friends and family like that, so it was really awesome winning in front of everyone," he said.
As Kozlove set up his team's players on the board (each plastic player customized to have matching jerseys with the real-life humans). He told The Enquirer he loves the community he's gained from the T&A Center.
"If you look from a distance away, it's just like 'Oh, you guys are playing a little table game,' but (it's) so much fun and getting to know everyone," Koslove said. "It's just always sportsmanship first, I think, and just having a fun time rather than it being life or death or overly competitive."
'A fun excuse to come and hang out'
For some, table hockey is a family affair.
When Abby Persons, 26, first walked into the T&A Center, she had never played table hockey. Now, she loves the sport and center so much she shows up an hour before puck drop to help stock the fridge with beer before other players arrive.
She plays with her mom and dad on a team called the "Thundercocks." Her family bought their own Tofhgyn table and now hosts their own games. Persons lives in Cincinnati, but each weekend, her parents drive over an hour from where they live in Indiana to compete with her.
"It's been fun to be able to spend time with them this way," she said. "My grandmother comes and watches sometimes. It's a fun excuse to come and hang out with family and friends."
How to join
The T&A Center has a Facebook page, but for the last several years, news of the center has spread through word of mouth. Tapp said anyone interested in joining the leagues can message them on Facebook. He said they are always looking for new players and encourages people without experience to join.
Tapp said his wife, Crystal Tapp, has become the "superstar in the league," even though she had no knowledge of or experience playing table hockey prior. She recently traveled to Canada to compete in the "French Open," which her team won.
"Most of these teams are couples or families with different interests, different backgrounds, and everybody's having fun together," he said.
The next opportunity to play will be Super Cup, which will run from March 5-6, 2027.
One day, Tapp wants to create and host the world table hockey championships.
"We want to get teams from Europe, get the Russians here," Tapp said. "We want to get the Canadians here, the French, everybody under one roof."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: A suburban Cincinnati basement becomes a $100,000 table hockey haven
