Story By Marla Ballard

Business owners Mike and Angel LaFever opened their game store Fever Dreams last year during Fort Payne’s Boom Days festival. The business was a dream of Mike’s. “I’ve always loved board games, and decided instead of waiting for someone else to open this type of business, I would do it,” said Mike LaFever. “I also wanted to open a business that would draw the community together.”

There are several aspects of Fever Dreams that make the game store unique. First, most game stores focus on electronic and computer games as their top sellers. Fever Dreams is about face-to-face playing by way of board games. “We sell close to 1,000 games and have everything from common games like monopoly to more complicated games like CATAN,” said LaFever.

Secondly, the game store is set up for customers to play games onsite. “We can seat approximately 30 people at tables in the store to play games,” said LaFever. “We have people coming here to play games all the way from Chattanooga. One of the most popular games here is TCG.”

TCG (trading card game) also known as CCG (collectible card game) is a type of card game that mixes strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards. The genre was introduced with Magic: The Gathering. Other successful CCGs include Yu-Gi-Oh! which is estimated to have sold about 35 billion cards as of January 2021, and Pokémon which has sold over 75 billion cards as of March 2025.

Thirdly, Angel shares her love of polished semi-precious stones at the business. “Angel has a dedicated corner in the store where she sells geodes, jewelry, collectibles, and carved figurines,” said LaFever. And lastly, guests are welcome to purchase a snack and drink at Fever Dreams to enjoy while playing games, or they may bring a snack or have pizza delivered.

LaFever said they opened the store to give the community an opportunity to come in and purchase a game and bring friends to play; or meet new people who also have a love of games. “We have a game library where people can come in and borrow a game or they are welcome to bring a game,” said LaFever. “We hope when others see a game being played they will think it looks fun and start playing it too.”

LaFever said one day he would like to make the opportunity for 24/7 game play with a membership similar to what gyms offer. “We have a future big announcement coming about our business,” said LaFever. “Follow us on Facebook to stay posted.”

Fever Dreams is located at 104 1st St W, Fort Payne. For more information call: 256-273-6161 or follow on Facebook.