All Hail, Lair of Abraxas

It lies just north of Denver, Colorado. A haven one can’t find on every corner. The setting sun going behind the mountains, the red and orange sunlight to spill through the windows of this establishment. The minions who rule this place know that the geeks will be here to play soon. When you open the door, you’re greeted with a sense that this is no normal business. This is a place of enchantment and fantasy. This is the story of the Great Hall and Lair of Abraxas.

Lair of Abraxas Entry

So, what is Lair of Abraxas? Lair of Abraxas is geek sanctuary where one can come to relax, have a drink of tea, coffee and other drinks, smoke e-hookah (this allows them to provide nicotine-free options), play games like the ones from their board game library or bring your own, books line the shop walls, a D&D room with a roleplaying game book library, and where people can share and partake in the geek community. However, Lair is so much more than a place to play games. As I sat with co-owner, better known to the world as Red All-seer, enjoying a horn of mead, he explained, “We wanted to create a place that anybody can be happy, safe, feel loved, feel that they’re connected into a community that actually cares about them. That’s what our main goal was.”    

Red at the Gates

Sure enough, this place is a geek or nerds paradise, “We have a love for the geek community. The ones in our society that have been pushed aside and pushed down, LGBTQ, all of our geeks, it doesn’t matter who you are, all walks of life. We want people to know they are wanted and cared for.” Being a geek or nerd is starting to become mainstream now. That wasn’t the case ten years ago. “If you were geeky, you were abnormal. You were bullied. You were put in the lockers, pushed down into the dirt. For us, we wanted to create a place that’s connected into a community that cares for them.” Go ahead and show your inner geek and your pride. Even though Lair of Abraxas is a very geek-themed space, the doors are open to anyone who wants to come and enjoy what Lair of Abraxas has to offer.

Lair Lounge

What makes Abraxas so unique is they have multiple aspects of different shops combined into one. “We are not like most other game shops,” Red stated. “We took the route of having you come in and play games and to have a more social aspect of the community.” Some game shops around Denver have game rooms were players can choose from their library, but do you get to smoke e-hookah and drink tea or mead? Not really.    

Lair of Abraxas had a humble beginning, founded by a husband and wife who have been happily married for four years, Red and Riva All-Seer. When I asked him when the idea of Lair was first formed, Red’s eyes widen. “Oh gosh!” recollecting his memories. “It was a dozen dates in, sitting in a hookah lounge named Algiers up in Fort Collins and I said, ‘Wow wouldn’t this be great to have something down in Denver like this, but totally geeky’.” Both Red and Riva have had their own business and entrepreneur experience before they met. Riva had convention experience that helped for promotions. To them, it felt right and that they could do this together. As they strengthened their relationship together, the idea of Lair of Abraxas did as well. They would brainstorm their ideas of Abraxas back and forth with each other.

Game Library

The final push for them to make Lair of Abraxas a reality was “because of the lack of places like it.” It’s true. Not many geek sanctuaries exist. There are several throughout Colorado like Dungeons and Drafts in Fort Collins, Total Escape Games in Broomfield, and Enchanted Grounds in Highlands Ranch. There are plenty of comic book shops and other nerdy shops to be found in Denver alone. “Why don’t we try something new,” Red said with a proud smile.

Because they had such a unique vision of how Abraxas was going to look, it was completely self-funded by Red and Riva. They put their blood, sweat, tears, everything into their dream business. “That was the only way we could get it. Trying to approach a bank with what we geeks do, it’s really hard.” It didn’t take long for it to be a reality. It was a fast process, roughly taking 6-8 months from the final motivational push to when the business opened. Lair of Abraxas opened its gates in May of 2016.   

The first day they opened it was slow for them. They did most promotions as word of mouth from conventions the year before the opening and social media. That’s not bad though; they wanted it to be slow. “We wanted to give to best service we could, and we knew if we were slammed right off the bat it wasn’t going to help us. So, we wanted to ramp it up slowly, and make sure we are giving quality service.” So far, the business has been going strong, with a 4.8/5-star rating on Google and a 5/5-star rating on Facebook. In 2017 Lair of Abraxas won Westword’s best Geek Sanctuary in Colorado. Lair of Abraxas has been open for two years and will be celebrating its third-year anniversary this May.

When I asked Red if he was worried when Abraxas first opened, he replied, “Oh absolutely!” It’s the business that Riva and he put a lot of work into; no one wants their business to fail. “If it fails were out a lot of money. It was absolutely nerve-racking the entire process. I mean, even to this day we’re still nervous because we are still a new business compared to most.” Red and Riva’s biggest concern and struggle was making this business purely by word of mouth and not through advertising. They had to rely on other people telling others about Lair of Abraxas. In my opinion, I don’t think at this point that Lair of Abraxas will be going away anytime soon. They have loyal customers and new customers coming in every day to support them.

Cody and the Great Hall

In addition to the Lair of Abraxas, there is also the Great Hall of Abraxas. “A 21 and up Viking themed bar with mead, ciders, beers, and wines. Just come in relax, have a drink, and play some games as well,” Red describes. The Great Hall sits adjacent to Lair of Abraxas. As you enter through the iconic blue box doors, a tribute to the classic BBC show Doctor Who, guests are greeted with long community tables and a faux fireplace with a trophy dragon head mounted over it. A full-service bar and buffalo horn cups to complete your Viking experience. “Honestly we wanted to have an alcohol establishment first because we are geeks who liked to drink,” Red stated as we both laugh. “It’s fun to game and drink, that was actually our initial goal.” As much as Red and Riva wanted the Great Hall first, with their business plans, they had to put it to the side for the time being to focus on Lair of Abraxas. Red knew that a lot of geeks and nerds are under the age of 21 or don’t drink so it could have felt exclusive to those who can’t participate.

Great Hall Lounge

Before the Great Hall opened, space was a doctor office that eventually shut down, leaving the space empty with no current takers. Red and Riva knew this was the time to create the Great Hall. First, they had to obtain their liquor license. Once that was acquired, it was the same story as Lair of Abraxas. Planning out the space, demoing from top to bottom, decorating, and that fun stuff. However, instead of self-funding the Great Hall as they did before, they had help.

Red at the Bar

Dragon Head

The Great Hall was funded through Kickstarter, a crowdfunding platform. “We requested $5000 to get us started, and we raised over $11,000.” Surpassing their goal, the extra funding was the push to make the Great Hall the daring vision Red and Riva wanted. “Luckily, with the Kickstarter and all our backers, we were able to create something that, I think for most, is quite memorable,” he stated as he looked around the Great Hall, remembering what they accomplished. The Great Hall opened Oct. 1, 2017, and will be celebrating its second anniversary.

Great Hall Sign

Lair and the Great Hall of Abraxas don’t plan on just conquering the iron throne of Westminster, Colorado, there are plans in the work for future sites. The plan was to open a new store every five years in a new place. However, life doesn’t always give you what you want. They decided to slow down that idea, but there are plans in the making to open a Denver shop within a year or two. But why stop there? “We’re looking into a few different states that are around us. There are geeks all over and this is a small niche that has been filled. We’re hoping to expand out and go from there.” We can expect big things from Lair of Abraxas in the future but for now, they’re happily thriving.

On an average day, you can expect all the amenities Lair of Abraxas and the Great Hall have to offer. They hold special events too. Their biggest events are the ValHalla nights, a 21+ event for the Great Hall. They have drink specials, live entertainment, local vendors, donations to charities, and are making sure everyone is having a headbanging time. Their next big Valhalla event will be in May of this year, to celebrate the three-year anniversary of Lair of Abraxas.

Abraxas Sheild

If you’re looking for something a little less intense, they hold Magic the Gathering events, D&D Adventure Night, trivia, themed karaoke, and fun activity classes for people to take. Check out their Facebook and webpage for more details.   

If you want to meet the masters Red and Riva, they will be at plenty of conventions here in Colorado and around the rest of the states. Here are just some of the conventions they’ll be at: El Paso Con, StarFest Denver, GalaxyFest Colorado Springs, KoboldCon Colorado Springs, Phoenix Comic Con, Salt Lake Comic Con, Denver Pop Culture Con, RageCon Vegas, LA Comic Con, and much more. Check your convention listing for them.

If you’re interested, Red All-Seer created a game called “Sea of War”, a strategy card game about ships at sea. It’s live now on Kickstarter. Two hours of the Kickstarter going live, “Sea of War” was completely funded for the original $2,500. Stretch goals have now been added. The last day to pledge will be Friday, April 26.

Lair of Abraxas and the Great Hall of Abraxas has had a crazy and enriching campaign these past three years. Red and Riva have poured their heart and soul into creating a safe and fun environment for geeks, nerds, and those alike who need a place to be themselves. Patrons who come in truly thrive in the environment they created. Although Lair of Abraxas and the Great Hall will have its struggles in the future, the place they provided for those who need it will return the favor and be there for them. We raise a horn of mead to three years of success for Red and Riva; may there be many more for them.

Riva and Red All-Seer